Truth is that we all need money to live a dignified life. For us to get food, shelter, clothing, water, medical care and other basic necessities, we need money. To meet other needs such as transport costs, entertainment and other leisure costs, buying books to read and so on, one must have money.

To be able to enjoy luxuries such as having a nice car, building a comfortable home or sending one’s children to a good school, one must possess money. Money is so important that even to buy a Bible in order to know God better one needs it.

I am not implying that money is the most important thing in life, but it is certainly one of them and that’s why I felt I should write about it. I wrote this article in an attempt to answer a hard question that people often ask me: "What can I do to become financially free?” I wish there was one magical answer I could give. I wish there was one magical button a person could press and the next minute he/she is rich. Unfortunately, financial freedom is a result of a painful journey of discipline, restraint and positive habits.

Whenever I am asked that question, my answer is always that to become financially free, one must take radical decisions that will lead to an increase in his/her income on one hand, while reducing or keeping constant expenditure on the other hand. This must continue until one’s income is greater than his/her expenditure and then whatever is saved is invested in profitable ventures. I mean profitable ventures; so don’t just keep your money on the bank account, in a tin or under your pillow and expect it to grow.

Increasing one’s income can be done through looking for a more-paying job, starting a side-business if you are employed or resigning and starting your own business. It could also be done by working a few extra hours every day such as by choosing to for 15 hours if you’ve been working for eight and looking for something productive you can do in those extra hours. It could also be done by discovering your natural talents, developing them and learning how to earn them. I will insist that there’s no one who does not have a talent and that there’s no talent which cannot be earned from.

I will be quick to remind you that normally, when our income increases, even our expenditure tends to increase. It’s as though there are always problems and other issues out there waiting for us to get money and then they show up. But to get financially free, we must make sure that while our income is increasing, our expenditure is either decreasing or at least remaining constant so that our power to save and invest is growing. 

Thus, the first step to cutting down expenditure is that there are many luxuries we have to forego at the moment until we can afford them. Beware of some deadly money-wasters that must be checked. They include fancy cars, boozing, gambling, unnecessary clothing, airtime, renting posh apartments, and oh, yes, weddings. Some people spend their monthly earnings in other people’s wedding-meetings! Then there are those who get loans to organise splash weddings only to spend five years paying back! What name should we give to someone who earns Rwf100,000 a month but wants to do a wedding of Rwf10m?  

Bake is the MD, World of Inspiration, & Founder of the Authors’ Forum in Uganda