Hola…I have been out exploring the sights and wonders of Mexico. Will come back to update you on my trip later. First, let’s attend to your parents. I was reading an article online on Nairametrics about how you should invest your parents retirement. The one incredulous suggestion I saw listed on the article, was purchasing annuity from an Insurance company.
Your parents did not send you to school and
Let’s start with the basics. What is a Mutual Fund?
A mutual fund is a type of financial vehicle made up of a pool of money collected from many investors to invest in
stocks, bonds, money market instruments, and other assets. These funds are managed by professional money managers, and these organizations abound in the country.
If you are a low income earner, your safest bet in terms of investing is mutual fund. At the end of the month when your salary hits your bank account, it might be the current norm that you are participating in a casual form of ‘Esusu’ or in today’s parlance, ‘Co-operative’ with a group of friends or colleagues. The advantage of participating in a ‘Co-operative’, is the opportunity it affords to raise moderate to large sum of money, if you are investing for the future.
Assuming you have N5,000 – N10,000 monthly to allocate for investment, I will highly recommend you set aside this sum and invest in a mutual fund over a long period of time. You might want to ask ‘When can I withdraw from a mutual fund?’ As soon as your monthly income is doubled or tripled, you can withdraw your invested sum and start allocating it to any money market instruments you select.
Take a cursory glance when you walk into a office, perusing what the female employees are wearing and the color ‘Black’ , is a predominant color. Sometimes I think the official color for most Naija women is black.
My first job was at a leading financial institution. The official colors were black and dark navy blue. Gosh! How depressing it was back then. I remember thinking, “there is no way I am going to be stuck up in a black or navy blue suit all day, traipsing the streets of Lagos without a personal car”. The heat and humidity out there will suck the energy out of me.
My female boss who was light years ahead of her time, gave me the leeway to dress whichever way I please, so long as it was not vulgar, tight or transparent. I stuck to the bright end of the rainbow spectrum. Till date, I do not own a black handbag. While I own 2 pairs of black shoes, my shoe collection consists of orange, green, blue, pink, red, nude etc. No dull colors for me. Along the lines, female colleagues handed over cash so I could procure the same clothes for them. When the principal manager of the branch, felt my influence was rather pervasive, she approached my boss to complain and was told to back off.
One of the few things you can do, to aid your career growth in the workplace is to ditch a black wardrobe especially if you work in an office, filled with expatriates. The colors black, brown, navy blue completely washes you out. Keep in mind that your skin color is not a major consideration, by western manufacturers, when making these clothes. I am always at a loss anytime I am on vacation overseas, and see people of African descent, adorning black. Girl! YOU ARE INVISIBLE….No one and I mean no one sees you especially people of other skin colors.
This is the practical truth. The next time you are in a video conferencing call, seated in a room of expats which can range from Caucasian to Asians, take a cursory glance on the screen and see if you are visible or not. If you are wearing the colors mentioned above, chances are high that you are washed out on the screen. Let me give you a visual aid. Your hair color is black, your skin color is brown or a darker tone, you love the colors black, brown and navy blue. You need to put an end to this debilitating habit, as it makes you invisible along the corridors of power.
When a Caucasian or Asian wear black, you can interpret the fleeting emotions on their face. You on the other hand, have simply boxed yourself into a corner, as no one can interpret the emotions on your face, as you are completely washed out. The same thing occurs for Caucasians, when they adorn white and bold colors. These colors wash out their pale white skin.
Instead, adorn yourself in bold, bright colors. In the workplace, you must make it a habit of registering your presence in the minds of your expat colleagues, when you walk into any room. Bold, bright colors accentuate your skin tone and in a room filled with expats, no one will ignore you. Your opinions will be sought for. Just make sure you own your end of the intelligence angle. Trust me, you will always be remembered as the lady who leaves an impression with her color choices.
Remember, no se permiten flores de pared aquí….which means, “No Wallflowers Allowed Here”. For the month of March, I am offering great savings in your cart when you purchase here.
Glossary:
Guardarropa – wardrobe
If you are going to live the life you desire, on your own terms, without conforming to societal norms and expectations, ‘Financial Freedom’, is the main key. Now when I speak about financial freedom, its’ not all about having excess money, you’re not sure how to spend it all.
No, this is not the picture I want you to have in mind. Financial freedom will save you from making terrible, hurtful decisions. It will save you from terrible bosses, toxic workplace culture, abusive relationships where its’ mandatory to lose your individuality, so a little of your true self can survive. And in situations where you end up making terrible decisions, financial freedom will step in, to aid you in redeeming the situation. Irrespective of wherever you reside globally, this principle is a universal one.
How do you determine when it is enough and you can bow out of the corporate or whichever race you are on? It is relative to each individual. Assuming you want your kids to pursue higher education in a foreign land, you want to explore the world while retired or simply want to live out your days in relative splendor. If your current monthly expense range within N50,000 – N100,000 monthly, and passive income you are currently earning is within this range, will you consider this enough?
Some might while others’ won’t. My personal yardstick is once 20-30% of annual passive income earned, can take care of your daily needs, then you have passed the yardstick. Please pat yourself on the back and take out time to evaluate goals you have set for yourself this year. Financial freedom is around the corner.
Hello Ladies,
It’s been a while. I’d like to inform you all that this blog will be migrating to a new platform by Saturday. A warm hug goes to all the incredible ladies I have met over the years while running this blog.
Change is good and it’ll only get better. I’ve set up a new home for this blog and you can visit us by clicking here or here. We’re still available to attend to all orders tat come in through this blog but you can catch up with me on all news relating to hair matters and other stuffs as well.
Thanks a lot.
Jan
Products Used:
1. Prepoo with ORS Hair Mayonnaise. These days, I prepoo with a protein treatment on dry hair for 40 minutes with my heat cap. I’ve also stopped mixing oils with my deep treatment products. I use the product as it is. I don’t know if there’s a big difference between this huge jar and the regular size jar. This gave a lot of slip and easily penetrated my hair strands. I’ll be switching from this brand to Hollywood Beauty Carrot Deep Treatment soon. I’d like to compare both brands in terms of efficacy.
2. Once time was up, I rinsed each section with warm water before using the Garnier Fructis Hydra Recharge Shampoo. Tea rinsed and left my each section to dry using the hair clippers.
3. I applied Garnier Fructis 3minute undo dryness reversal treatment (it’s a moisturizing deep treatment), to each section focusing on my ends, and gradually working my way up to the roots. Sat under my heat cap for 50minutes. Switched off and waited for 10minutes more before rinsing out the deep conditioner using cool water.
4. Wrapped a cotton towel on my hair to absorb excess moisture for 20minutes.
5. On damp hair, I applied Chi Silk Infusion to each section before blowdrying with the KISS Handle-less dryer using cold setting.
The key to straight hair is to start with your ends and work your way up to the roots. If you start with your roots, you’ll end up with frizzy ends. One single pass across each section does the trick.
6. I proceed to apply Hollywood Beauty Mayonnaise Moisturizing Creme Oil to my ends and length. I also apply an oil mix consisting JBCO and peppermint oil on my scalp. I run through each section (25strokes) with the paddle brush and I’m done.
Have a great week ahead!
I’ve got an ongoing nasty habit. On days I wear my hair out, I often have my hand in my hair searching for a split end or single strand knots. Often times, I might not have access to my scissors and end up popping these offending hair shiznits (as I like to call them). The other habit is twirling my hair around my fingers once I’m behind the wheels driving. It’s a bad habit I know, but it’s become a daily ritual and I’m trying to wean myself off the wide path that leads to hair destruction.
To kick this habit to the curb, I’m indulging in some protective styles I came across on Pinterest. I still intend to wear my hair out but by the 2nd half of the day, it’ll end up in a messy bun held up by bobby pins.
To other matters, I’d like to give a special shoutout to a reader on this blog who has gone ahead to establish an online food delivery service within the heart of Calabar. If you’re on vacation or reside and work within this serene city, then it’s time to get your food groove on by placing an order with ‘Dineoutng‘. They’ve got a range of indigenous and international cuisine available.
They also cater for corporate organizations, weddings, bridal showers, baby showers and a whole lot more.
Wash days recently have become shorter. I’ve had to do away with methods like:
* Deep conditioning overnight
* Prepoo overnight
Less is simply more and I’m enjoying this new found relationship with my hair. My ends are in a better shape as I’ve done away with all the bone straight ends and only have texlaxed hair to deal with. I’d like to start texlaxing myself but it’s better I leave it to the hands of the hair stylist I can instruct. If there’s one thing I’ve learnt, keep it simple always.
My wash day routine now follows this pattern:
* Prepoo for 40 minutes with Trader’s Joe Virgin Coconut oil (simply love the thick coconut gooey goodness). I’ve also incorporated the use of Trader’s Joe Virgin Coconut oil for cooking as well. It adds a nice flavour to vegetable stir fry when you’re making Tortilla wraps.
* Wash in sections (using hot water) with a sulfate free shampoo or clarifying shampoo depending on the product build up I’ve got.
* Apply Roux Porosity Control to my hair for 5 minutes before rinsing out.
* Apply green tea rinse before deep conditioning.
* Use a protein (Aubrey Organic GBP; Naturellegrow Intense Deep Conditioner ) or moisturising deep conditioner (Hairveda Sitrinillah, Naturellegrow Marshmallow Root, Slippery Elm, Naturellegrow Mango & Coconut Water) alternating on a weekly basis.
* Rinse out the deep conditioner, wrap a cotton towel on my hair for 20minutes.
* Divide my hair into 4 sections, apply Chi Silk Infusion and proceed to blow dry on cool using the ‘Red by KISS Handless Dryer with the comb attachment’. It does a fantastic job of straightening my texlaxed hair including my roots.
* Apply Hollywood Beauty Mayonnaise Moisturizer to freshly blow dried hair.
* Whip out my paddle brush and proceed to brush each section 25 times (focusing on my scalp to stimulate growth).
Voila, I’m done within 3 hours.
Weekday Regimen:
During the week, it’s easier to maintain now by adopting the following routine:
* Pop 1 chewable microlozenge (5000 mcg biotin) daily. My nails have been sprouting like crazy. This is the last thing I take before going to bed as Stevie recommended cos when the body is at rest, it has the time to regenerate. I’ve gotten more than an inch since I commenced usage.
* Apply Hollywood Beauty Mayonnaise Moisturizer 3times weekly at night before going to bed. I simply divide my hair into 4 sections, apply the leave in and whip out my paddle brush. Proceed to give 25 brush strokes to each section focusing on my scalp (to stimulate growth). This leave in sinks in pretty fast and I don’t have to bother about staining my satin pillowcase.
I’m in a better place with my hair now I can see what’s working. I’ll be due for a monthly scalp check up with Stevie in about 3 weeks from now. Can’t wait to see and hear her reactions. I’ve been snapping pictures of my scalp, length and ends which I’ll be sharing with her.
Today's Naira 