Every time financial gurus talk about you paying yourself first. It always seems easy, and they give you multiple reasons why it is achievable, but at the lowest point of my life, I don’t think I can pay myself first because it’s almost impossible, if not impossible. How can you pay yourself first when the money or the salary you’re being paid at the end of the month is not even enough to pay for your basic needs, I know some people in my comment section will believe I’m making this up, but if you live in Nigeria and Nigerians in this community can testify to it
I have been in the stage in my life where I find it difficult to pay for my basic needs, and it is not as if I’m not working, but the salary was so small that I have to let go of some of my basic needs so that I could put food on my table and when I mean food, this time is not even three square meal, most time I have to skip some of my meal. Sometimes I will not eat breakfast or lunch, I will only take dinner. This is how strict and how Little my salary was.
Paying yourself last
In a country like Nigeria, where the currency is going down every day, and the salary remains the same and everything in the country as an increase over 100 to 200% you can't pay yourself first most times you’ll be forced to pay yourself Last, and this is not because you don’t want to pay yourself first, It is because you can’t even pay for your basic needs with all the money. Everything you are receiving can only pay for 50% of your basic needs. The remaining 50%, you have to find ways to live without them.
This is one of the problems with many jobs in Nigeria. You don’t have control over anything, you lose control to develop yourself, to develop skills, and to even look beyond your job. It is very difficult to go outside your job, but if you’re living in a foreign country, you can do multiple jobs, but in Nigeria, they will pay you just a small money, and they will leave no room for you to take another job. That’s why to pay yourself first is almost impossible, and most people opt for paying themselves last.
Don't just do what you don't know
I know there’s a saying that if your country is not working, it is better to leave the country and go to another country, but to leave Nigeria is even more difficult because you need a lot of money. How can somebody who cannot afford basic needs plan to leave the country? It is crazy. It is easy for you to judge people, but if you were in their shoes, you would know that it is very difficult to leave their life.
With the country situation, some people are still making it, and the story can change, but to pay yourself first for a group of people is impossible. All they can do is to survive, and paying yourself first is most likely an unrealistic thing to them. They pay themselves last, you can say you want, but things are hard and getting harder day by day.
Thanks for your time.