I was born in the U.K. and taken back to Nigeria when I was still a wee one 😊

When I think back to the years growing up, I remember my mum (R.I.P) as the woman who trained and worked as a registered nurse in the U.K. in the 1960’s (based on pictures I have seen and stories she told) and then in the 1970’s relocated back to Nigeria (having sold their house in U.K.) with four kids in tow.  Alongside my dad, they clearly had their hands full and a huge responsibility to keep a roof over all our heads and put food on the table.

I look back and remember my dad always being a lecturer in the University while over the years my mum in Nigeria, worked various jobs – in a hospital as a nurse, in a primary school as a teacher and then became self-employed – first as a childminder, then a supplier/contractor (of food products and house building materials like cement, sand, etc.), a major distributor of some of the largest household companies of the time (like Tate & Lyle, Matchco, etc.), a shop owner, a market stall owner and the list goes on …. Talk about evolving and grinding!  A hustler she sure was and she taught us kids to keep trying our hands at new things.  She (I guess like most African parents) always also used to say to us, save your money.

Where did the lesson to save go when I relocated to the U.K., I ask myself now!  I became exposed to the world of credit cards and easily obtained bank loans and alongside it, grants (non-repayable) were given by my borough for being a University student.  Then there were the sales (Christmas Sales, New Year sales, summer sales); real bargains, unlike you find in the sales of today!  And boy, did I spend in the sales – designer shoes, bags, clothes, the best for my kids, etc.!  Where are they all now … but more importantly, I was left with huge credit card bills and repaying the interest only with no understanding of why my balance was not reducing!

After the exuberance of being exposed to all the money wore off, I tried to make use of some of the cash and credit that was available to me, so I ventured into the world of buying and selling (travelling to Italy and U.S. to buy and sell clothes, shoes, jewellery, etc.), but most of my sales were made on credit to friends and family, with verbal agreement to pay back in instalments!  I loved the travelling (it was so much easier to take a flight back then, than it has been post-911 and now COVID) and shopping; two of my favourite past times!

I would get on the train to New York with my friend’s husband when he was going to work and trail the streets of Manhattan looking for bargains until he finished work and we met up at the train station to travel back to New Jersey. On other days, my friend would drop me off in various malls in New Jersey, and I’d spend the day walking through shops, trying on clothes and shoes and picking up bargains, until she picked me up late at night.  Then the days of travelling to Italy to buy jewellery to sell  – gold, silver, semi-precious stones – those trips were mostly done with one of my dearest friends, so the travelling, looking and admiring, buying and sisterhood/friendship/bonding time were all such a pleasure.

The delights and pleasure I got out of the travelling and shopping kept me trying to make a go at it for as long as I did, more than any profits I was making!  I eventually had to give up as payments were made in dribs & drabs and I never really managed to recoup up to half my investment in any one trip.  Since then, I have stuck to being an “employee” – followed in my dad’s footsteps it would seem.

Amidst it all, just before the 2008 financial crisis, I took advantage of a grant (yes, another one; perhaps one of the last few that were easily obtainable) being offered by the council and gave up my council flat – a £10K grant which would serve as a deposit on a purchased property.  Of course, it was a time when my credit wasn’t fantastic, but given the financial climate at the time brokers were able to secure mortgages for people like me and the only way I could afford it, was as an interest only (rather than repayment) mortgage.

… and so I became a home owner with a mortgage!

Originally written during my early reflections on financial literacy and freedom. First shared under my old blog, bitalks. Preserved here as part of the journey that shaped Life’s Riches.