Year 2009:The Survival Strategy!

After all the Pageantry, the Frills and Grills that characterized the ushering of the New year, it is now time for all and sundry to really have an insight on how to survive the Year against all odds.
Year 2009 has been prophesied as a year of Famine, it has been predicted as a Year where Nations will groan and some of the rich will commit suicide .
Listening to my Pastor the other day, I couldn’t agree less with his submission, not with the Financial gloom, Food Crisis, Downturn in the Oil Price coupled with other fundamental problems this nation faced in 2008.The Prediction to most of us who is hopeful of the year 2009 is shocking bearing in mind the losses in Salaries and various Investments we experienced in the year 2008.
According to the Popular saying: He who fails to plan , Plan to Fail. The reality on ground is that the world is in a troubled state and without adequate planning, Year 2009 will have many causalities. Tagging the year as a year of Famine is not to condemn the year, rather it is to throw caution to the wind, to prevent us from living in self delusion, to reconstruct our character and to improve on our steadfastness and commitment to God.
It has also been said that an individual who cannot cater for his Family outside his present Job or income throughout the year is an endangered species, reason being that more Jobs is expected to be lost this Year. Pondering on this, How many of us can survive if we lose our various Jobs today? Can we settle the recurrent bills of this year from our savings alone? If your answers to these questions is No, then you are an endangered species who urgently need to sit and plan .This is not also to say that those who have the resources to absorb the challenges of the year do not also need to plan, we all need to do things right this year irrespective of our Financial status.
How do you Plan for the Year?
1. By Reconstructing Your Character: Are you guilty of self delusion-Living the important things undone to take care of the unimportant? Are you guilty of Procrastinating? Do you do things because others are doing it? Are you investing your resources in things you don’t understand or rely on people to handle your money?
It is time for you to change the “WHO” in you this year. It is never too late because year 2009 is not smiling at all. It will only smile on those who plan early enough for its challenges.
Our actions an inactions today will surely affect our tomorrow.
Character reconstruction is important because it is that which separate the Just from Unjust, the Qualified from the Unqualified and the Professional from the Unprofessional. Your conscience is the minister of internal affairs of your destiny and he whose character does not match his words is a Fraud.

2. By Diversifying Your Investment Portfolio: There is an old financial advice that one shouldn’t put his eggs in one basket. Having a diversified investment portfolio will prevent your fortune to disappear . It has been predicted that the economy gloom being witnessed today will get worse by the day. There is the need for us to change our ways of doing Business. You need to look at other areas you can invest your time and money in other than the usual Practice of buying Stocks, Commodities, Mutual Funds, Forex and Fixed Assets.
Don’t ever think you know what a market will do at any given point in time.
One of the biggest advantages for a sound money management is “Knowing that you don’t know” what a market will do at any point in time.

3. By being Prudent :A car is a means of Transportation to get you from one Place to the other. Many people consider it a reflection of themselves and spend money on it at every given opportunity instead of driving the car for its entire useful life and invest the money saved.
Others buy things they don’t need. Take a look around your house; Bedroom, Bathroom, Kitchen, Sitting Room, Wardrobe and Drawers and see if there are things you haven’t used in the past one year, if there are, chances are that the money you spent in purchasing all those things are wasted money that could have been used to improve your net worth.

It is really important to invest your savings wisely this year in order for it to give you a handsome ROI(Return On Investment).Put that empty space in your House to good use, Cultivate the habit of drawing your scale of Preference and Prioritize your spending this year and the end will justify the means.
3. By Being Wise: Bulls make a little, Bears make a little and the Pigs get Slaughtered is a popular guide to investment in the financial market. The meaning you can deduce from this is that you need to be wise with whatever financial dealings you are involved .Don’t be Greedy this Year, greed has ruined many potential Business men. Also have it at the back of your mind that any fool can get into a market but it is the real Pros that know when to get out.
On the other hand, we should invest our resources in Knowledge acquisition this year for it is the surest way out of Poverty. That first degree that earned you your present Job can only get you employed but will never guarantee the Job for long or make you become wealthy.
A willingness to learn, to improve your career and finances is essential if you want to eventually become wealthy this year.

4. By Embracing the Attitude of Giving: It has been said by men of God that there is no Supernatural Miracle that can be performed or experienced without a supernatural sowing of seed. This fact is what the likes of Warren Buffet, Larry Ellison and Bill Gate realized that made them resolved to give to the needy and also to churches even though they don’t attend church services. The popular U.S Oil Mogul-John D. Rockeffella Fella wrote in his will that A “Perpetual “ Tithe and Offering should be given to the Church while he is dead, how many of us can be that magnanimous?
Think about what will be the faith of the motherless, the widows and the Homeless in view of the challenges that are to come in the year 2009. The reality is that whatever we earn, no matter how small our income or savings are, we need to share it with people in want.
Irrespective of the fact that you are categorized as the Haves or the Have-nots , you should cultivate the attitude of giving because it’s the only secret of receiving.

Conclusively, Let us all put our trust in God. He is the alpha and the omega. We need to commit our strategy for the year in his hands. There is also the need for us to embrace that which is righteous in his face so that we can take dominion of the goodies of the year 2009 as is expected of a true child of God.
May God help us all this year(amen).

Oyepeju Oyewale,
Http://oyepejuoyewale.blogspot.com.