When I was working in the Insurance industry, there was a lot of talk about target and how people are going extra miles to meet it.
However, I remember one of my colleagues who always maintain that target is not to be met but to be maintained. In other words, target is a driving factor. A motivation which most of the times turn out to be negative.
Perhaps target could be self-imposed. You may tell yourself that you must attain certain level of work. I often do that and it has helped me a lot of times.
For example, I blog on several social media at specified time and keep to this. But when I fail to meet up, I always feel bad.
In view of the above, I am tendering my unreserved apology for my inability to do my usual two blogs in the month of July 2012.
It is well.
Wednesday, August 1, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Save and Invest A-S-A-P
Listed and analysed below are series of salient points on the basics of savings and investment. The import of this paper is to enable you understand the importance of planning for your financial future.
Why Save and Invest?
We start with this question because many people believe it is impossible to save talk less of investing where you do not have enough to care of your immediate needs. It starts like this: we work; we earn; we chop; then…we ‘siddon’ look for our next pay cheque. Many people experience financial hard times when they get older because they never got the facts on saving and investing. In order to be financially healthy, you must create room for saving and investing.
The best way to achieve financial success is to plan for it. Maybe you would like to:
• buy a car when you graduate from the citadel of higher learning;
• have some money set aside for special occasions or emergencies;
• build or buy a house someday; or
• live comfortably in retirement.
Once you decide what you are saving for—and when you would like to have it—you can decide how you should save and invest.
The best time to learn about money is when you're young and/or still in school. But unfortunately, we seldom take this advantage when we are young. For instance, people in my generation (myself inclusive) learnt the art of money in the hard way.
However we were taught some mathematical concepts such as Simple Interest, Compound Interest etc while we are growing up. We never see the bigger picture in regard to these subjects. We are so much obsessed with learning to pass examination. Perhaps, all the mathematics, physics, economics etc that we studied in school are put in place to prepare us for the future. In order to buttress my point, let’s check out the magic of "compound interest."
What Is “Compound Interest”?
Compound interest is the interest you earn on interest.
Illustration Using Basic Arithmetic
If you have N10,000.00 and it earns 5% interest each year, you'll have N10,500.00 at the end of the first year. But at the end of the second year, you'll have N11,025. Not only did you earn N500.00 on the N10,000.00 you initially deposited - your original "principal" - but you also earned an extra N25.00 on the N500.00 in interest. Twenty-five naira may not sound like much at first, but it adds up over time. Even if you never add another dime to that account, in 10 years you'll have over N16,200.00 through the power of compound interest, and in 25 years you'll have almost N34,000.00.
The above is just an illustration using an amount as low as N10,000. Could you imagine the returns on millions of naira?
Here, we are discussing consumption versus savings and investment. Imagine you spend N1,000 on GSM recharge cards every week for say a period of 5 years, you'll spend N260,000 on recharge cards. If you give up or reduce your expenditure on that recharge cards by half and invest the money (ie N130,000) instead, earning 5% interest compounded every year for 5 years, you'll have over N165,916.60.
How Can I Save and Invest?
Many people get into the habit of saving or investing by following this advice: "Pay yourself first." Many people find it easier to pay themselves first if they allow their bank to automatically remove money from their salaries and deposit it into a separate savings or investment account. Other people pay themselves first by having money automatically deposited into an employer-sponsored retirement savings account (RSA) which is otherwise known as Pension contribution.
There are many different ways to save and invest, including:
• Savings Accounts
If you save your money in a savings account, the bank will pay you interest, and you can easily get your money whenever you want it.
• Endowment/Insurance Schemes
These schemes tend to offer higher interest rates than savings accounts.
• Fixed Deposit Accounts
You can earn an even higher interest if you fix your money while you promise that you're going to keep your money in the bank for a certain amount of time.
• Stocks
This may sound distasteful to you. But it remains a feasible cause to own part of a famous viable company that provides some of the services you and I enjoy. When you buy stock in a company-you become one of the owners while you secure your future. (Well, let’s move on as I leave this monumental topic for another day)
• Bonds
Many companies and government borrow money so they can meet their financial needs and be successful. One way they borrow money is by selling bonds. When you buy a bond, you're lending your money to the company or government so. The company and/or government promise to pay you interest and to return your money on a date in the future.
• Mutual Funds
This is another way to go. You can buy stocks and bonds by buying shares of a mutual fund. A mutual fund is a pool of money run by a professional or group of professionals who have experience in picking investments. After researching many companies, these professionals select the stocks or bonds of companies and put them into a fund. Investors can buy shares of the fund, and their shares rise or fall in value as the values of the stocks and bonds in the fund rise and fall.
• Real Estate
This is the new and latest bride in town. It is an acceptable norm that landed properties appreciate and never depreciate hence everybody wants to own land and houses. But this greatly depends on your diverse motive of owning these properties – asset or investment. As an investor you buy, hold and sell the property when it appreciates.
Risk and Return
Every item of savings or investment mentioned above has its advantages and disadvantages. Kindly note that every investment involves risks. Generally, some of the issues are:
• How fast you can get your money when you need it,
• How fast your money will grow, and
• How safe your money will be.
For example,
• Savings Accounts
Your money in Savings Account tends to be very safe because it's federally insured through the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), and you can easily get to your money if you need it for any reason. But there's a tradeoff for security and ready availability. Your money earns a low interest rate compared with investments. In other words, it gets a low return.
• Endowment/Insurance Schemes
With these products, your money is safe depending on the viability of the Insurance or Investment Company. However, your money is not readily available until the agreed maturity date. Return here is high.
• Stocks
For decades, the investment that has provided the highest average rate of return has been stocks. But there are no guarantees of profits when you buy stock, which makes stock one of the most risky investments. If the company doesn't do well or falls out of favour with investors, your stock can fall in price, and you could ‘lose’ your money.
You can make money in two ways from stock. These are:
1. Capital gain or appreciation - when the price of the stock rises as a result of its good performance.
2. Dividend - when a company pays out a part of its profits to its shareholders. This is not automatic as a company may decide not to pay out dividends, choosing instead to keep its profits and use them to expand the business.
One of the riskiest investments you can make is buying stock in a new company. New companies go out of business more frequently than companies that have been in business for decades or longer. If you buy stock in a small, new company, you could lose it all. Or the company could turn out to be a success. You'll have to do your homework and learn as much as you can about the company before you invest. And only invest money that you can afford to lose.
• Bonds
The company's "promise to repay" your principal generally makes bonds less risky than stocks. But bonds can be risky. To assess how risky a bond is you can check the bond's credit rating. Unlike shareholders, bond holders know how much money they will make, unless the company goes out of business. If the company goes out of business or declares bankruptcy, bondholders may lose money. But if there is any money left in the company, they will get it before shareholders. Bonds generally provide higher returns (with higher risk) than savings accounts, but lower returns (with lower risk) than stocks.
• Mutual Funds
The risk involved in Mutual fund is determined by the stocks and bonds in the fund. No mutual fund can guarantee its returns, and no mutual fund is risk-free.
• Real Estate
The risk here is limited and human. You may encounter risk when you buy property from swindlers. Also, you can not rule out the unscrupulous ‘omo onile’ factor.
Conclusion
Always remember: the greater the potential return, the greater the risk. Risk is scary because no one wants to lose money, but there's also such a thing as "too safe." We all know that prices go up. That's called inflation. For example, a loaf of bread that costs fifty naira today could cost one hundred naira ten years from now. If your money doesn't grow as fast as inflation does, that's like losing money, because while fifty naira buys a whole loaf of bread today, in ten years it might only buy half a loaf.
How to Handle your Risk and Return
1. Diversify
One of the most important ways to reduce the risks of investing is to diversify your investments. It's common sense: don't put all your eggs in one basket. If you buy a mixture of different types of stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, your savings will not be wiped out if one of your investments fails. Since no one can accurately predict how our economy or one company will do, diversification helps you to protect your savings. If you had just one investment and it went down in value, then you would lose money. But if you had ten different investments and one went down in value, you could still come out ahead.
2. Manage your money
Many people do not understand what personal finance or budget means. They neither believe nor operate one. For you to excel financially, you need to plan your inflow and outflow adequately.
You should be accountable for every naira that goes in and out of your pocket.
Do not jump at every offer thrown at you by banks. Some of them might turn out to be a Trojan horse. Very prominent examples are credit cards which have entrapped and enslaved a lot of people due to high charges and interest rates.
I am not condemning credit cards. If you owe money on your credit cards, the wisest thing you can do is pay off the balance in full as quickly as possible. You may only have problem with the cards when you do not repay in full.
Once you can manage your money, then you can save and invest.
3. Make a Plan
The key to financial security is to have a "financial plan." That means you should set financial goals and start saving or investing to reach those goals. While that may sound hard, it doesn't have to be. You'll first need to figure out where you're starting from – for example, how much do you owe, how much money have you saved already, how much money will get from your job or your parents. Next, you should set goals. Do you want a car? A further college education? New clothes? Once you know what you want, when you want it, and how much it costs, you can figure out how much you need to save each week or month or year.
4. Save and Invest for the Long Term
Perhaps the best protection against risk is time, and that's what young people are fortunate to have the most. On any day the stock market can go up or down. Sometimes it goes down for months or years. But over the years, investors who've adopted a "buy and hold" approach to investing tend to come out ahead of those who try to time the market.
5. Investigate Before You Invest
Another way to reduce risk is to do your homework before you part with your hard-earned cash. Consult financial experts and regulators to check up on the background of any person or company that you're considering doing business with. Find out as much as you can about any company and that landed property before you invest in it. And beware of "get rich quick schemes." If someone offers you an especially high rate of return on an investment or pressures you do invest before you've had time to investigate, it's probably a scam.
6. Avoid the Costs of Delay
I believe you are all familiar with these assertions: delay is dangerous; procrastination is a thief of time, ‘time na money’; delay is the deadliest form of denial etc. But we rarely take them serious. As important as time is, it can be the most important factor that will determine how much your money will grow. If you saved 1,000 naira a week at 8% interest starting from the time you were eighteen years old, you would have N1,679,532 saved by the time you're 50. But if you wait until you're 30 years old to start saving, you'll have to save N2,933 a week to catch up. In fact, just one year's delay – waiting until you're 19 years old to start saving 1,000 naira a week at 8% interest – will cost you a whooping sum of N135,995.81 by the time you're 50.
Thank you.
Why Save and Invest?
We start with this question because many people believe it is impossible to save talk less of investing where you do not have enough to care of your immediate needs. It starts like this: we work; we earn; we chop; then…we ‘siddon’ look for our next pay cheque. Many people experience financial hard times when they get older because they never got the facts on saving and investing. In order to be financially healthy, you must create room for saving and investing.
The best way to achieve financial success is to plan for it. Maybe you would like to:
• buy a car when you graduate from the citadel of higher learning;
• have some money set aside for special occasions or emergencies;
• build or buy a house someday; or
• live comfortably in retirement.
Once you decide what you are saving for—and when you would like to have it—you can decide how you should save and invest.
The best time to learn about money is when you're young and/or still in school. But unfortunately, we seldom take this advantage when we are young. For instance, people in my generation (myself inclusive) learnt the art of money in the hard way.
However we were taught some mathematical concepts such as Simple Interest, Compound Interest etc while we are growing up. We never see the bigger picture in regard to these subjects. We are so much obsessed with learning to pass examination. Perhaps, all the mathematics, physics, economics etc that we studied in school are put in place to prepare us for the future. In order to buttress my point, let’s check out the magic of "compound interest."
What Is “Compound Interest”?
Compound interest is the interest you earn on interest.
Illustration Using Basic Arithmetic
If you have N10,000.00 and it earns 5% interest each year, you'll have N10,500.00 at the end of the first year. But at the end of the second year, you'll have N11,025. Not only did you earn N500.00 on the N10,000.00 you initially deposited - your original "principal" - but you also earned an extra N25.00 on the N500.00 in interest. Twenty-five naira may not sound like much at first, but it adds up over time. Even if you never add another dime to that account, in 10 years you'll have over N16,200.00 through the power of compound interest, and in 25 years you'll have almost N34,000.00.
The above is just an illustration using an amount as low as N10,000. Could you imagine the returns on millions of naira?
Here, we are discussing consumption versus savings and investment. Imagine you spend N1,000 on GSM recharge cards every week for say a period of 5 years, you'll spend N260,000 on recharge cards. If you give up or reduce your expenditure on that recharge cards by half and invest the money (ie N130,000) instead, earning 5% interest compounded every year for 5 years, you'll have over N165,916.60.
How Can I Save and Invest?
Many people get into the habit of saving or investing by following this advice: "Pay yourself first." Many people find it easier to pay themselves first if they allow their bank to automatically remove money from their salaries and deposit it into a separate savings or investment account. Other people pay themselves first by having money automatically deposited into an employer-sponsored retirement savings account (RSA) which is otherwise known as Pension contribution.
There are many different ways to save and invest, including:
• Savings Accounts
If you save your money in a savings account, the bank will pay you interest, and you can easily get your money whenever you want it.
• Endowment/Insurance Schemes
These schemes tend to offer higher interest rates than savings accounts.
• Fixed Deposit Accounts
You can earn an even higher interest if you fix your money while you promise that you're going to keep your money in the bank for a certain amount of time.
• Stocks
This may sound distasteful to you. But it remains a feasible cause to own part of a famous viable company that provides some of the services you and I enjoy. When you buy stock in a company-you become one of the owners while you secure your future. (Well, let’s move on as I leave this monumental topic for another day)
• Bonds
Many companies and government borrow money so they can meet their financial needs and be successful. One way they borrow money is by selling bonds. When you buy a bond, you're lending your money to the company or government so. The company and/or government promise to pay you interest and to return your money on a date in the future.
• Mutual Funds
This is another way to go. You can buy stocks and bonds by buying shares of a mutual fund. A mutual fund is a pool of money run by a professional or group of professionals who have experience in picking investments. After researching many companies, these professionals select the stocks or bonds of companies and put them into a fund. Investors can buy shares of the fund, and their shares rise or fall in value as the values of the stocks and bonds in the fund rise and fall.
• Real Estate
This is the new and latest bride in town. It is an acceptable norm that landed properties appreciate and never depreciate hence everybody wants to own land and houses. But this greatly depends on your diverse motive of owning these properties – asset or investment. As an investor you buy, hold and sell the property when it appreciates.
Risk and Return
Every item of savings or investment mentioned above has its advantages and disadvantages. Kindly note that every investment involves risks. Generally, some of the issues are:
• How fast you can get your money when you need it,
• How fast your money will grow, and
• How safe your money will be.
For example,
• Savings Accounts
Your money in Savings Account tends to be very safe because it's federally insured through the Nigeria Deposit Insurance Corporation (NDIC), and you can easily get to your money if you need it for any reason. But there's a tradeoff for security and ready availability. Your money earns a low interest rate compared with investments. In other words, it gets a low return.
• Endowment/Insurance Schemes
With these products, your money is safe depending on the viability of the Insurance or Investment Company. However, your money is not readily available until the agreed maturity date. Return here is high.
• Stocks
For decades, the investment that has provided the highest average rate of return has been stocks. But there are no guarantees of profits when you buy stock, which makes stock one of the most risky investments. If the company doesn't do well or falls out of favour with investors, your stock can fall in price, and you could ‘lose’ your money.
You can make money in two ways from stock. These are:
1. Capital gain or appreciation - when the price of the stock rises as a result of its good performance.
2. Dividend - when a company pays out a part of its profits to its shareholders. This is not automatic as a company may decide not to pay out dividends, choosing instead to keep its profits and use them to expand the business.
One of the riskiest investments you can make is buying stock in a new company. New companies go out of business more frequently than companies that have been in business for decades or longer. If you buy stock in a small, new company, you could lose it all. Or the company could turn out to be a success. You'll have to do your homework and learn as much as you can about the company before you invest. And only invest money that you can afford to lose.
• Bonds
The company's "promise to repay" your principal generally makes bonds less risky than stocks. But bonds can be risky. To assess how risky a bond is you can check the bond's credit rating. Unlike shareholders, bond holders know how much money they will make, unless the company goes out of business. If the company goes out of business or declares bankruptcy, bondholders may lose money. But if there is any money left in the company, they will get it before shareholders. Bonds generally provide higher returns (with higher risk) than savings accounts, but lower returns (with lower risk) than stocks.
• Mutual Funds
The risk involved in Mutual fund is determined by the stocks and bonds in the fund. No mutual fund can guarantee its returns, and no mutual fund is risk-free.
• Real Estate
The risk here is limited and human. You may encounter risk when you buy property from swindlers. Also, you can not rule out the unscrupulous ‘omo onile’ factor.
Conclusion
Always remember: the greater the potential return, the greater the risk. Risk is scary because no one wants to lose money, but there's also such a thing as "too safe." We all know that prices go up. That's called inflation. For example, a loaf of bread that costs fifty naira today could cost one hundred naira ten years from now. If your money doesn't grow as fast as inflation does, that's like losing money, because while fifty naira buys a whole loaf of bread today, in ten years it might only buy half a loaf.
How to Handle your Risk and Return
1. Diversify
One of the most important ways to reduce the risks of investing is to diversify your investments. It's common sense: don't put all your eggs in one basket. If you buy a mixture of different types of stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, your savings will not be wiped out if one of your investments fails. Since no one can accurately predict how our economy or one company will do, diversification helps you to protect your savings. If you had just one investment and it went down in value, then you would lose money. But if you had ten different investments and one went down in value, you could still come out ahead.
2. Manage your money
Many people do not understand what personal finance or budget means. They neither believe nor operate one. For you to excel financially, you need to plan your inflow and outflow adequately.
You should be accountable for every naira that goes in and out of your pocket.
Do not jump at every offer thrown at you by banks. Some of them might turn out to be a Trojan horse. Very prominent examples are credit cards which have entrapped and enslaved a lot of people due to high charges and interest rates.
I am not condemning credit cards. If you owe money on your credit cards, the wisest thing you can do is pay off the balance in full as quickly as possible. You may only have problem with the cards when you do not repay in full.
Once you can manage your money, then you can save and invest.
3. Make a Plan
The key to financial security is to have a "financial plan." That means you should set financial goals and start saving or investing to reach those goals. While that may sound hard, it doesn't have to be. You'll first need to figure out where you're starting from – for example, how much do you owe, how much money have you saved already, how much money will get from your job or your parents. Next, you should set goals. Do you want a car? A further college education? New clothes? Once you know what you want, when you want it, and how much it costs, you can figure out how much you need to save each week or month or year.
4. Save and Invest for the Long Term
Perhaps the best protection against risk is time, and that's what young people are fortunate to have the most. On any day the stock market can go up or down. Sometimes it goes down for months or years. But over the years, investors who've adopted a "buy and hold" approach to investing tend to come out ahead of those who try to time the market.
5. Investigate Before You Invest
Another way to reduce risk is to do your homework before you part with your hard-earned cash. Consult financial experts and regulators to check up on the background of any person or company that you're considering doing business with. Find out as much as you can about any company and that landed property before you invest in it. And beware of "get rich quick schemes." If someone offers you an especially high rate of return on an investment or pressures you do invest before you've had time to investigate, it's probably a scam.
6. Avoid the Costs of Delay
I believe you are all familiar with these assertions: delay is dangerous; procrastination is a thief of time, ‘time na money’; delay is the deadliest form of denial etc. But we rarely take them serious. As important as time is, it can be the most important factor that will determine how much your money will grow. If you saved 1,000 naira a week at 8% interest starting from the time you were eighteen years old, you would have N1,679,532 saved by the time you're 50. But if you wait until you're 30 years old to start saving, you'll have to save N2,933 a week to catch up. In fact, just one year's delay – waiting until you're 19 years old to start saving 1,000 naira a week at 8% interest – will cost you a whooping sum of N135,995.81 by the time you're 50.
Thank you.
Saturday, June 30, 2012
MISPLACED TRUST
One of Don Moen's lyrics state "Trust in the Lord with all your heart..." In other words, trust in man could be nothing but vanity. It is not out of place for us to adore some few individuals in our societies and communities as our role models.
Respect is indeed mutual. Some people are admired and respected even while they do not notice. In this case, of what level of proficiency could these people safeguard their repute.
As a matter of fact, humans will always be humans.
Respect is indeed mutual. Some people are admired and respected even while they do not notice. In this case, of what level of proficiency could these people safeguard their repute.
As a matter of fact, humans will always be humans.
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Who Cares?
“I appeal to those responsible for the violence to immediately stop the spilling of the blood of many innocents.” GEJ from Rio in Brazil. Hmmm...how I wish to reserve my comments. But it good to note that we are on our own. People earn huge salaries and allowances to cater for the welfare of the Nigerian citizenry; to defend the unity of the country by ensuring security of lives and properties; to defend the sovereignty of Nigeria by upholding the Constitution at all times, but what do we get? Nothing!!! I read in the press this morning that Mr President can rule from anywhere. Gosh, my heart bleeds. War isn't more than this. Call people in Kaduna and Damaturu and confirm what I'm saying. I just spoke with my friends and families in Damaturu...huh, things have fallen apart! But we won't stop, we'll continually pray because they've affirmed to us that we are 'on our own'.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
LEADERSHIP & TEAMWORK
Leaders think, consider and then make decisions. How they think, what they choose to consider and the criteria they use in making decisions colour the organisation’s entire modus operandi. Depending on the level of challenges and support from the management, variables in an organization interact on the basis of culture that exists within the organization. It was emphasized that we get the culture that we deserve.
Leadership has to be authentic and sustainable. However, authenticity and sustainability are trust based. Without trust there is no foundation for permanent success. Teamwork and organizational success are based principles, ethics and values that are inherent in every individual and organization. It was held that values which are most times misconstrued for preferred behaviours can only be upheld and appreciated when they are challenged. This section was concluded with the assertion that - for leaders to get result they should always concentrate on the team and individual members of the team rather than the task.
NEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
It was observed that many people see negotiation as an art of argument which involves two or more people trying to outsmart one another. It is indeed far from that. It is a business activity, if well managed could create business relationship. However, negotiation is depicted as skill which can be learnt.
For effective negotiation, clear objective and goals are required. On Conflict Management, the term conflict is described in two perspectives:
a) Functional Conflict – constructive incongruity which improves performance.
b) Dysfunctional Conflict – destructive and hinders organizational performance.
On general note, it was advised that win-win form of negotiation and conflict management should be engaged at all times. In the same vein, the faculties tutored us on Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and their effect on sustainability. In practical terms, we are advised to see regulation as a guide and not a constraint. We should always endeavour to see the big picture beyond what the rules say. Having explored the biographies of great leaders, five lessons are deduced:
• Stay Positive
• Stay Action Orientated
• Stay Organised
• Stay Focused
• Stay Flexible
In order to drive home their points, the faculties elucidated the subjects by analyzing number of case studies in class. CONCLUSION A leader is said to be resilient. He should be a 360 degree personality who knows his onions. In addition, a resilient leader is required to understand change; promote change; cope with change and value change at all times.
-Segun-Martins Ogunyemi REPORT ON LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME: A FOUR-DAY TRAINING SEMINAR ORGANISED BY PSYNTECH LIMITED AT PENINSULA HOTEL, LEKKI, LAGOS ON 21ST – 24TH MAY 2012.
Leadership has to be authentic and sustainable. However, authenticity and sustainability are trust based. Without trust there is no foundation for permanent success. Teamwork and organizational success are based principles, ethics and values that are inherent in every individual and organization. It was held that values which are most times misconstrued for preferred behaviours can only be upheld and appreciated when they are challenged. This section was concluded with the assertion that - for leaders to get result they should always concentrate on the team and individual members of the team rather than the task.
NEGOTIATION AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT
It was observed that many people see negotiation as an art of argument which involves two or more people trying to outsmart one another. It is indeed far from that. It is a business activity, if well managed could create business relationship. However, negotiation is depicted as skill which can be learnt.
For effective negotiation, clear objective and goals are required. On Conflict Management, the term conflict is described in two perspectives:
a) Functional Conflict – constructive incongruity which improves performance.
b) Dysfunctional Conflict – destructive and hinders organizational performance.
On general note, it was advised that win-win form of negotiation and conflict management should be engaged at all times. In the same vein, the faculties tutored us on Corporate Governance and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and their effect on sustainability. In practical terms, we are advised to see regulation as a guide and not a constraint. We should always endeavour to see the big picture beyond what the rules say. Having explored the biographies of great leaders, five lessons are deduced:
• Stay Positive
• Stay Action Orientated
• Stay Organised
• Stay Focused
• Stay Flexible
In order to drive home their points, the faculties elucidated the subjects by analyzing number of case studies in class. CONCLUSION A leader is said to be resilient. He should be a 360 degree personality who knows his onions. In addition, a resilient leader is required to understand change; promote change; cope with change and value change at all times.
-Segun-Martins Ogunyemi REPORT ON LEADERSHIP DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME: A FOUR-DAY TRAINING SEMINAR ORGANISED BY PSYNTECH LIMITED AT PENINSULA HOTEL, LEKKI, LAGOS ON 21ST – 24TH MAY 2012.
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Values vs Preferred Behaviours
Values are important and enduring beliefs or ideals shared by the members of a culture about what is good or desirable and what is not. This is a general view. In real sense, values are defined by the way we see them. In preferential order, one may category honesty as his primary value while the other would say his is compassion.
Most of the times we mistaken values for preferred behaviours which are tend to change in the face of stiff challenges.
Value is a concept that depicts the beliefs of an individual. Values are considered subjective and vary across people and cultures. As a result, it is determined or influenced by various background such as social and educational background. Also, values may be ethical, moral, doctrinal, ideological, political, religious, social and aesthetic based.
Monday, April 30, 2012
Personal Finance
Personal financial planning consists of three general activities:
-Controlling your day-to-day finances to enable you to do the things that bring you satisfaction and enjoyment.
-Choosing and following a course toward long-term financial goals such as buying a house, sending your kids to college, or retiring comfortably.
-Building a financial safety net to prevent financial disasters caused by catastrophic illnesses or other personal tragedies.
The first and most important aspect of personal financial planning is budgeting.
Why Should I Budget?
Controlling your financial affairs requires a budget. For many people, the word "budget" has a negative connotation. Instead of thinking of a budget as financial handcuffs, think of it as a means to achieve financial success.
Whether you make thousands of dollars a year or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, a budget is the first and most important step you can take towards putting your money to work for you instead of being controlled by it and forever falling short of your financial goals.
To those of you who think you know where your money goes without keeping detailed records, I issue this challenge: keep track of every cent you spend for one month. I promise you'll be surprised and perhaps shocked by how much some of your "small" expenditures add up to.
For an eye-opening illustration, try the American Express Saving or Spending Big Calculator. Enter the cost and frequency of a habit or indulgence and how many years you expect it to continue. Click a button and see not only how much you'll spend over the specified time period, but how much that same amount would grow to if you invested it at various rates of return. Mind-boggling!
Budgeting and tracking your expenses gives you a strong sense of where your money goes and can help you reach your financial goals, whether they are saving for a down payment on a house, starting a college fund for your kids, buying a new car, planning for retirement, paying off the credit cards, or saving for that trip to Aruba.
Since financial matters are one of the leading causes of marital discord and divorce, getting a handle on your spending, implementing a budget, and saving for the future can also have positive effects on your relationship with your spouse or partner.
-Controlling your day-to-day finances to enable you to do the things that bring you satisfaction and enjoyment.
-Choosing and following a course toward long-term financial goals such as buying a house, sending your kids to college, or retiring comfortably.
-Building a financial safety net to prevent financial disasters caused by catastrophic illnesses or other personal tragedies.
The first and most important aspect of personal financial planning is budgeting.
Why Should I Budget?
Controlling your financial affairs requires a budget. For many people, the word "budget" has a negative connotation. Instead of thinking of a budget as financial handcuffs, think of it as a means to achieve financial success.
Whether you make thousands of dollars a year or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year, a budget is the first and most important step you can take towards putting your money to work for you instead of being controlled by it and forever falling short of your financial goals.
To those of you who think you know where your money goes without keeping detailed records, I issue this challenge: keep track of every cent you spend for one month. I promise you'll be surprised and perhaps shocked by how much some of your "small" expenditures add up to.
For an eye-opening illustration, try the American Express Saving or Spending Big Calculator. Enter the cost and frequency of a habit or indulgence and how many years you expect it to continue. Click a button and see not only how much you'll spend over the specified time period, but how much that same amount would grow to if you invested it at various rates of return. Mind-boggling!
Budgeting and tracking your expenses gives you a strong sense of where your money goes and can help you reach your financial goals, whether they are saving for a down payment on a house, starting a college fund for your kids, buying a new car, planning for retirement, paying off the credit cards, or saving for that trip to Aruba.
Since financial matters are one of the leading causes of marital discord and divorce, getting a handle on your spending, implementing a budget, and saving for the future can also have positive effects on your relationship with your spouse or partner.
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