Your Money or Your Life: 4 Reasons Wealth-Building is not Optional

It might seem optional when you think about it, but if you aspire towards a good life, wealth-building is not.

Now, “good life” may mean different things to different people, but whatever it means to you, money plays a key role in getting you there.

In fact, your well-being, quality of life and ability to merely survive and thrive as a human depends to a large extent on money. It depends on your ability to speculate, navigate and react to economic situations. It depends on your ability to make informed money decisions, take calculated risks and be financially literate. 

Your survival may be hinged on these.

Here are 4 reasons why:

1. Money trouble causes stress

Have you ever seen any of those “grass-to-grace” before and after pictures? Do you see how huge the glow-up is? You can argue that maybe there are just better cameras now, but the point still remains.

The energy spent running away from creditors could be spent on a treadmill in a gym. The time spent blocking creditors from your WhatsApp status could be spent searching for a good deal on flights for your next holiday.

You probably don’t even need to be told that stress affects your health, but this research found that stress reduces life expectancy by almost 3 years. Three whole years! Do with that information what you may.

2. Wealth affords you a better quality of life

When we talk of “quality of life”, it really depends on the way you see it. To some, it may be to have chefs and housekeepers at their beck and call on a faraway island. To others, it could be to pay to outsource their work, so they can spend more time with family.

Your inability to afford the kind of life you want definitely affects your mental and even sometimes your physical health. You’re constantly working hard, sometimes taking more jobs than you can afford to do per time. In extreme cases, not having enough can be the reason you have to stay in a very low-quality apartment in a subpar neighbourhood.

There are many ills associated with these, all of which wealth-building and financial fitness could have helped you avoid.

3. Everyone needs food to survive, and it’s not cheap

Malnutrition and food insecurity are some of the world’s biggest problems, especially among children. With the right plan and habits, you won’t have to eat noodles every day for a week until you receive your allowance/salary.

When we talk about wealth-building, it may seem as though we refer to buying diamond-studded toilet bowls or gold-plated door handles. No, that’s not it. Wealth-building is a process that sets you up for financial freedom.

To be able to do what you want when you want to. To be able to eat what you want when you need to. And to be able to go where you want when you have to. These are the simple luxuries wealth-building affords you. Food – good food – is one of them.

4. Healthcare is not free, unfortunately

While we battle on the political front to ensure that we have leaders who provide us with accessible healthcare, we also need to stay prepared for healthcare demands and emergencies.

Of course, these emergencies cost money. This is why you need an emergency fund.

Imagine a person losing their life because they couldn’t afford medicine of 2,000 naira or a transplant in millions. That’s such an unfortunate scenario, but the truth is that it happens. Healthcare costs money, and sometimes, the difference between life and death could be 1 million naira for urgent surgery or even less for a minor procedure.

Basically…

These and many more are the reasons wealth-building is not optional. If you thought wealth-building was only for people who wanted to live large and party all day, think again. You deserve financial freedom, and with the way the world is currently set up, wealth-building is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.

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