When you understand that money is not an end, but a tool or vehicle that should convey you to an end, then you will understand how to leverage on other people’s money to achieve your financial goals.
Financial institutions have an excellent understanding of what money is and that is why they continually leverage on my and your money to strengthen their institutions to achieve their financial plans.
Although you may be glad to have a safe-house for your money, away from your spontaneous spending habit, banks are super glad when you keep your money with them. This gives them the audacity to trade with your money on financial platforms that is available to them; such as giving out your money as loan to third party (customers) who will quickly multiply and return it with sizeable interest.
Stock broking firms, insurance companies and fund managers know how to quickly trade with your money, over a certain period of time and are glad to share a very small percentage of the return on investment with you. At least, they are willing to share part of the profit with you.
Other sets of people who are so gifted in leveraging on other people’s money are the excellent business owners. They are risk takers who can access other people’s money through loans from financial houses, invest it in their businesses and tirelessly work hard making sure the businesses yield profits. And they will gladly return the borrowed capital to the bank over a period of time that will not pose any unnecessary stress on them or their businesses.
Now, you know it is possible to use other people’s money to achieve your financial plan, but I will give you two basic advice you must not ignore. Firstly, make sure you have a thorough knowledge of money, most especially when it comes to liability and asset. And you will have to strongly focus on reducing your liability while increasing your asset.
You don’t want to be like that foolish entrepreneur who won a sum of N10 million from the Government You-Win Programme and went straight to cloud seven forgetting his original mission. He got the first batch of the money and bought himself a luxury car.
Such myopic entrepreneur probably was fortunate to win such money, but lacks the knowledge of money, which is the key to multiply your money. Now, the business is suffering because the government representative body of You-Win will not give him the second batch of the money until they see a reasonable result from the last batch and of course a luxury car is the least of what they want to see; it is a liability.
My second advice is that you have the knowledge of the investment you intend to invest the borrowed money. This cannot be overemphasised. If you don’t have the specialised knowledge, pretty soon, you will lose the borrowed money and be in trouble with your creditor. And what you envision as a thought out plan to financial breakthrough will backfire and you might lose your personal belongings.
So as a salary earner you stand a better chance of leveraging on other people’s money compare to a micro business owner. As a salary earner make sure you are working in an established organisation where your basic salary is stable. Then you will need to approach a financial consultant that can equip you with the right knowledge to investing.
Afterwards, you will need to creatively draw out your financial plan and strategy on how you intend to invest the money. Then approach a financial house borrowing a sizeable amount. Invest such loan in a viable investment platform; watch your money grow while you gradually pay back your debt from your monthly salary over a given period of time that won’t put you on edge.
If you can successful adhere to the payment plan of the loan, at the end of it, you would have become that intelligent person who leveraged on other people’s money to achieve his or her financial plan.
As a micro business owner who wants to leverage on other people’s money, you must make sure to have create a system that will help you generate steady and growing profit for your small business.
Once this is done, you can approach your banker, leverage on other people’s money through loan, and invest it to expand your business or leverage on a viable financial platform.
As you watch your borrowed money grow, your business will be paying back your loan without posing any stress on you or the business. And once you have succeeded in paying back the loan, you will be the one smiling with a bigger business or growing investment portfolio for you have intelligently leveraged on other people’s money.
Alfred Ade-Ijimakinwa
