To achieve financial independence, Parkinson’s Law needs to be violated. The law states that “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion.” This saying, written in 1955 by Northcote Parkinson, is so common and natural an occurrence that all of us, at some point, have experienced the law in our lives.
Remember that Saturday you woke up bright and early to spend 3 hours cleaning the house / fixing the car / tending the garden / doing the plumbing? What was supposed to take you no more than 3 hours ended up taking you the whole day! Parkinson’s Law.
Or that assignment you were given 3 months ago at the start of term, which you tossed somewhere until 4 days before it was due? Only you know the colour of the midnight candle(s) you had to burn in order to hand in your paper by the deadline. Parkinson’s Law.
But it doesn’t stop there. Parkinson’s Law also manifests in our finances, such that no matter how much money we earn, it appears that there just isn’t enough to cover our expenses, let alone pursue our goals.
Think about it this way.
If you are working your first job, you may already be living a lifestyle noticeably different from the one you had as a student, when your finances were down. Gone are the garri, guguru and ekpa days. Levels don change!
If you have been working for some time, there is a high chance that the ratio of your expenses to your earnings has gone up over time, whether your salary has remained constant or has increased.
Parkinson’s Law says our expenses (work) will expand to fill (consume) the money (time) available for its completion (execution). Our expenses will continue to defy gravity, unless and until we pressure Parkinson’s Law.
This pressure (of the Law) is inversely related to our financial freedom. If we are determined to move our financial lives forward, we need a wedge between our earnings and our expenses. This wedge is our savings. We secure it when we lock our expenses down to a definite % of salary, and savest the rest. Over time, our earnings may grow, due to salary increases, or income from investments. As long as our expenses are under control, any additional earnings help us widen the wedge, and bring us closer to financial freedom.
A wedge enables us to achieve financial freedom. Break the law, yes Parkinson’s Law.
About the author:
Obiocha Eze-Emaeyak studied corporate finance and strategy at Manchester and IE Business Schools. She practises personal finance at Me & Myself.
Follow her @K1YUS3V3N
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Good evening, can I get an explicit illustration of how much to invest, how much is the interest rate and for how many days or duration to earn such interest.
Thank you in anticipation of your response.
Ibrahim Muhammad T.
Hi Ibrahim,
You can invest any amount.
Mutual Funds work differently depending on the type you invest in, we have them categorized by risk level.
Please find out more here – http://cowrywise.com/mutual-funds
With conservative mutual funds, you earn based on annual interest. While with the other fund categories – moderate and aggressive – you earn based on capital gains.
There are no fixed interest rates as they change daily, depending on the performance of the market.
We advise you to invest for the long-term so that your investments can yield above-average returns over time.
I don’t recommend any one to invest in any mutual funds on Cowrywise because the interest rate is not even up to 1% it is extremely low. I invested 10000 naira and am getting 1naira everyday as ROI, So after 30days my total ROI would 30naira
is still better than keeping your money in the bank or how much do you think bank will give you?, this is not a quick rich scheme.
Hi Wilfred,
Thank you for your comment. However, this is inaccurate information.
Some funds were performing lower than usual due to market performance, however, not all funds were performing at 1%.
Some were much higher and please remember that we always advise thinking in the long-term.
Mutual Funds work differently depending on the type you invest in, we have them categorized by risk level.
If it’s a conservative fund, you earn based on interest. Interest rates for conservative funds are not fixed, it changes daily.
The other fund categories: moderate and aggressive earn based on capital gains which also changes daily.
This means that performance can be low today and high tomorrow.
If you’re investing for the long-term, more often than not, your investments will yield above-average returns despite the highs and lows of the market.
Good evening, please I need details of how I can invest and what is the interest rate. Also the duration of the investment.