Money myths are as old as the hills.
When I was much younger, my favorite hangout spot was newspaper stands.
Newspaper stands are places where curious minds gather to read newspapers free of charge.
And discuss global and local events in the papers.
Like me and many others, a certain man came there to free-read every day.
From my chats with him, I figured out he was intelligent and well-read.
But he looked tattered and hungry. Every. Single. Day.
This puzzled me. How can a learned man be so hungry and tattered?
Then, one day, the reason became clear to me.
During a heated debate on how to build wealth in Africa, he broke down int0 . . .
“You think making money in Africa is easy? No, it’s not. Most people who have lots of money are ritualists. Or political and internet thieves. Or even drug barons.”
While I wasn’t so naïve to think making money an easy task, I could also recount how many people I know made it in the same Africa.
And they built wealth without dabbling in rituals, theft, Ponzi schemes or drug pushing.
This man I am talking about is not alone. There are many like him in every country on the African continent.
These people not only share myths of people with money being ritualists, thieves, and drug barons.
They share other dangerous myths, too. Myths that keep most Africans broke.
1) Money makes you mean
This is far from the truth.
Money doesn’t change people; it only makes their masks fall off.
If a broke person with a repressed mean attitude comes upon some money, this part of the person breaks loose.
People are mean with or without money. A broke jerk always turns into a rich jerk.
2) Money is the only way to build a network
Many Africans believe that once you have money, you can connect with anyone at any level.
This is so not true.
Let me tell you a story.
Growing up, I became friends with a wealthy man in my hometown.
The man was wealthy, but he didn’t have any formal education.
He couldn’t read letters, spell his name, or write bank cheques.
Whenever I came visiting, I’d help him out with these tasks.
One evening, he told me he was unhappy and unfulfilled, despite his enormous wealth.
Source of unhappiness?
With all his money, he couldn’t play at the level a professor from our hometown was playing.
The professor had the ears of top shots in both the State and the Federal Government.
Even the international community respected his opinions.
My wealthy friend had no such influence, and this depressed him.
Despite several attempts, he couldn’t break into the professor’s network.
His lack of formal education always gave him away.
People in our hometown only respected him for the money he gave them, not for the content of his mind.
So, the praise singers were the only network he had.
He wanted more. Only he didn’t have what it takes to break in.
Moral of the story?
You can have all the money in the world and fail at connecting with people you care about.
3) Money can’t be made through debt
There is a sense in which the age-old aphorism is true:
“He who goes borrowing, goes sorrowing.”
But for the most part, this is a myth.
Growing wealth through debt is possible. Just that it requires top-notch financial discipline.
Part of the reason people fail at building wealth through debt is financial recklessness . . .
For example, people take loans for a business. Instead of using it to grow the business, they use it to finance their lifestyle – buy a new car, pay rent, and get married.
Why won’t they call debts the gift of the Devil?
4) Money brings more worries
Poor people think about money all the time.
Rich people think about happiness most of the time.
A broke man has no business thinking about what happiness means.
To him, happiness means survival. Nothing more.
Take the World Happiness Index.
Countries in the bottom five are those with many poor people, whereas countries in the top five are those countries with many well-off people.
The truth?
Poverty brings worries that will kill you.
Money brings freedom to do what you want, when you want, and how you want.
Having more worries, when you have money, is a choice.
Or how can you explain why the top worry of a wealthy person is often happiness? Or purpose? Or Passion?
And it often has nothing to do with what money can buy.
5) Money makes you a target for heinous crimes
Again, this is not true.
Fame and show-off make you a target. But not money.
The problem with some people is that they like to show off.
In the age of social media, this is the new normal.
You could learn all you need to know about some people from their social media feeds.
Many people with money aren’t famous. Nor do they show off.
And they live amongst us without any qualms.
Don’t believe me? Try reading The Millionaire Next Door.
You might realize your neighbour who lives simply is not as broke as you thought.
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