9 Proven Strategies to Survive and Thrive in the Post-COVID-19 economy.
Once upon a time, all you needed to survive was to have a sellable skill, get a job, work your butts off diligently, and you will be just fine. And to thrive, you needed a really good education, get an almost guaranteed decent or good job, have a good dose of emotional intelligence, and of course, work your butts off. Not anymore.
Covid-19 may have permanently changed that forever.
The digital revolution had intensified competition, but COVID-19 has put even more pressure on both employers of labour, employees, governments, and about everybody else.
If you are an average Joe, getting through a regular day just became tougher. Most people would be satisfied with getting by or just being financially stable. But, if you must be comfortable in this post-COVID-19 economy, you can’t afford to be an average Joe. you need to be above average. You need to thrive.
But the question is, is it possible to thrive, particularly in the post-COVID-19 economy?
And the answer is a resounding yes!
While it may seem that the world is drowning under the collective groans of people who struggle daily to stay afloat financially, if you listen attentively, and look closely too, there are people who do not seem remotely affected by the economic impact of the pandemic.
This begs the question: what are they doing right?
How are they able to not just survive, but also thrive in this seemingly unfriendly economy? They practice strategies that are really not secrets. The consistent practice of these strategies over time ensures that they not only survive, but they also thrive in every kind of economy. Some of these strategies are lifestyle strategies, while others are financial strategies.
More than ever, it has become important to identify these strategies, and apply them, to ensure that you thrive in the face of the post-COVID 19 economic reality. I, therefore, present to you, nine strategies you need to apply to survive and thrive in the post-COVID-19 economy. In these 9 parts series, I will share the nine strategies you need to survive and thrive in the post-COVID-19 economy. These series is adapted from my soon to be published book titled: “BOOM”, and you can request for the full PDF of the book, or the podcast version at www.ikemba.ng In this article I share the first strategy.
Strategy №1: Urgently Acquire Financial Intelligence
You may acquire wealth without financial intelligence, but you can’t retain wealth without financial intelligence.
According to Robert Kiyosaki, author of the globally best-selling book: “Rich Dad, Poor Dad”, “If your financial intelligence is low, money will run all over you. It will be smarter than you. If money is smarter than you, you will work for it all your life. To be the master of money, you need to be smarter than it. Then money will do as it is told. It will obey you instead of being a slave to it, you will be the master of it. That is financial intelligence”.
If you want to be a pilot, you learn how to fly an airplane. If you want to be a medical doctor, you go through medical school. If you want to be a lawyer, you go to the university, and then law school. If you want to survive and thrive financially, it is only natural that you pursue the acquisition of financial intelligence. Unfortunately, no school in the world teaches financial intelligence. Most people, even with postgraduate degrees do not know the meaning of financial intelligence. Wikipedia defines financial intelligence as “a type of business intelligence constituted of the knowledge and skills gained from understanding finance and accounting principles in the business world and understanding how money is being used”. In a normal buoyant economy, if you do not understand financial principles and how money is used, you are in danger of being mediocre or financially average at best. In this post-COVID-19 economy, failure to understand financial principles and how money is used is tantamount to financial catastrophe! You can succeed and thrive, only as much as you know. On average, life is tough. In a post-COVID-19 economy, it is even way tougher if you are not financially intelligent. Therefore, the first step to survive and thrive in a post-COVID-19 economy is to get financially intelligent.
So how do you know whether you are financially intelligent? There are three indicators of your financial intelligence quotient.
1. Your Money Knowledge Quotient: This deals with how much you understand the dynamics of money
2. Your Money Perception Quotient: This deals with how you perceive money
3. Your money use Quotient: This deals with what you do with money.
So, how do you acquire financial intelligence?
1. Consciously study personal finance
You need to consciously study personal finance if you want to acquire financial intelligence. Perhaps one of the most popular of such books would be Robert Kiyosaki’s “Rich Dad, Poor Dad,”. There are many others.
2. Measure and track your net-worth
It is very easy to think you are getting richer if your means of measurement is a comparison between what you earn now and what you used to earn three years ago. There are many other factors that you may have not factored in. You may need to keep an eye on economic inflation and currency depreciation. You also need to assess your present assets and liabilities.
3. Track your spending
Nothing jars you to financial reality like tracking your spending. Suddenly, your eyes are open to realize the leaks in your ship. You would be surprised at the little things that take away a lot of your money. Mobile Recharge, Data, Betting, vanity purchases, unplanned sit-outs, soda or alcohol, the list becomes endless
4. Engage the services of a financial adviser
The wisdom behind engaging the services of a financial adviser is indisputable. This is because the very act of engaging a financial adviser is proof that you are getting financially intelligent and do not want to make a financial mistake, hence the engagement of the services of a financial adviser. By default, this action ensures that you are able to make wise, timely, and informed financial decisions.
5. Attend Specific Financial Intelligence Training
Nothing beats the good old classroom session, sequestered away from every all the hustle and bustle, and all the distractions of life, to bury one’s head in books, interact with other students, and sit under the tutelage of a teacher. While financial intelligence is not taught in any school as a course, increasingly, professionals and bodies have begun organizing training in financial intelligence. Thankfully, the training is usually not lengthy nor expensive.
6. Focus on your area of control
No matter how financially intelligent you eventually become, there is a limit to what your financial intelligence can help you achieve. Therefore, it is important that you focus only on what you can control. Your financial intelligence is only supposed to guide your planning, budgeting, decision making, and execution. But at the end of the day, life is a combination of many moving parts. So, focus on the part that is within your scope of control, and you would be fine. It is also a sign of financial intelligence to not try to take on everything.
7. Be Informed
In this age, information is indeed power, a weapon, and an advantage. It is very important to be informed if you want to be financially intelligent. Most people today seem to be more interested in only news or content that entertains. That is only one out of the three fundamental things which news or content does. The other two are to inform and to educate. The information and education part of content or news is the part that ensures that you are financially intelligent. What do you know about viable investment vehicles and industries in your country? What do you know about the foreign exchange rate of your country? What do you know about economic policies and agendas? What do you know about how economic policies impact your industry? Without information, you would not know all these, and you definitely would not be financially intelligent.
CONTINUES IN PART 2
