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May 25, 2025

Financial Freedom: At What Point Will Your Money Be Enough?

What does it even mean to have financial freedom?

Being financially free means having enough money, so you don’t have to worry about paying for the things you need.

Imagine having a bank account that’s so loaded that you can use it to buy food, pay for your house, and get the things you want without stressing about running out of money.

This is what financial freedom means.

When you’re financially free, you can choose how you spend your time instead of working to pay bills. You might still work because you enjoy your job, but don’t have to work to survive.

Being financially free helps you live a happier and less stressful life.

When you don’t have to worry about money all the time, you can focus on the things that matter to you, like spending time with family and friends or doing hobbies you love.

For me, attaining financial freedom means living freely with close friends and family around. I will be able to spend weeks watching anime (maybe One Piece at a stretch) without my conscience judging me. I will also have enough money to go to the concerts of my favourite music artists anywhere in the world.

Defining what financial freedom means to you is important.

The 7 Levels of Financial Freedom

The truth is that financial freedom comes in stages or levels.

Understanding these levels is like climbing stairs. You must reach each step before you can get to the next one. When you know how much money you need to be financially free, you can always adjust and see if you’re doing better.

Level 1: Clarity

Know exactly how much money you spend every month.

Write down what you pay for rent, food, black tax, data subscriptions, and everything else. Find out how much you currently spend monthly. Then write out your ideal monthly expenses.

This level is important because you can’t get better with money if you don’t know how you’re spending it. It’s like trying to lose weight without knowing what you eat.

In this level, figure out where you are and where you want to go.

Level 2: Self-Sufficiency

This is when you earn enough money to cover your expenses on your own.

At this level, you have saved up enough money to pay for one whole month of expenses. If you spend 20,000 Naira every month, you have 20,000 Naira saved up.

This is important because it means you can survive for one month if something bad happens, like losing your job. You won’t panic right away because you have a little cushion.

To achieve this level, you have saved your monthly expenses.

Level 3: Breathing Room

In this level, you escape living from salary to salary.

Now you have enough money saved to pay your bills for 3 to 5 months. Using the same example, you’d have 60,000 to 100,000 naira saved up.

This level gives you time to breathe and think if you lose your job or when your business is down. You don’t have to take the first job you find because you have time to look for something better.

The path is clear here – Save 3 to 5 times your monthly expenses to complete Level 3.

Level 4: Stability

This is when you have six months of living expenses saved and your debts repaid.

You have expenses saved up for the next 180 days. This means you can go half a year without working and still pay all your bills.

This level makes you feel secure. Most emergencies or job losses get fixed within six months, so you’re protected from most problems that might happen.

To achieve this level, you have saved 6 times your monthly expenses.

Level 5: Flexibility

In this level, you have two years of living expenses invested.

At this level, you have saved up twenty-four months’ worth of expenses. That’s a lot of money! It means you can live for two whole years without working.

This gives you amazing freedom. You can quit your job to start a business, go back to school, or take care of a sick family member without worrying about money.

Remember again – you need your monthly expenses saved 24 times to be financially flexible.

Level 6: Financial Independence

This is when you can live off the income generated by your investments till the day you die.

You have so much money invested that it makes enough profit to pay for your living expenses forever. You never have to work for money again if you don’t want to.

This is the dream level you must aim for. You can choose to work because you love your job, not because you need the money.

I love this level because work becomes optional at this point.

Level 7: Abundant Wealth

Here, you have more money than you’ll ever need.

Your money is too much at this level. You can buy almost anything you want and help lots of other people, too.

At this level, money isn’t something you think about anymore. Simply focus completely on doing things that make you happy and help make the world better.

I also talk about how to identify your skills and keep moving up these levels of financial freedom in Personal Wealth Maximizer. Check it out if you are truly ready to start your journey in being financially free.

Why is it Important to Know These Levels?

Knowing these levels helps you in three big ways:

First, it shows you exactly where you are right now with your money. You might discover you’re already at Level 2 and didn’t even know it!

Second, it gives you clear goals to work toward. Instead of just saying “I want to save money,” you can say “I want to get to Level 3 by saving up four months of expenses.”

Third, it helps you stay motivated. When you see yourself moving from Level 1 to Level 2, you feel proud and want to keep going.

Again, at what Point will you be financially free?

To be financially free, recognise these 7 Levels and complete them one at a time.

Clarity (know your monthly expenses)
Self-sufficiency (Save 1x monthly expenses)
Breathing Room (Save 3 to 5x monthly expenses)
Stability (Save 6x monthly expenses)
Flexibility (Save 24x monthly expenses)
Financial Independence (Make enough money to pay for your living expenses forever)
Abundant Wealth (Have more money than you’ll ever need)

Ultimately, the amount you need comes down to the life you want to live, where you want to live it, what you value, and what brings you joy.

I hope this helps.

Godspeed and Cheers.

Zamai.

May 18, 2025

Social Wealth: Why Relationships Might Be Your Real Net Worth

Social wealth is the connection to others in your personal and professional worlds.

The more people who love and support you, the more social wealth you have. It’s the depth and breadth of your relationships to those around you. Social wealth is having good friends and family who care about you.

Having a meaningful human connection is important for a fulfilling life.

Prioritising relationships is essential to your happiness and well-being. Fortunately, there is a framework for building Social Wealth through three core pillars: Depth, Breadth, and Earned Status.

This is still a review from Sahil’s book – 5 Types of Wealth: A Transformative Guide to Design Your Dream Life.

From his book (now a bestseller), I will share the practical systems and hacks for improving your social fitness and developing stronger connections.

The Core Idea is Prioritising People

Deep, meaningful relationships are the foundation of a wealthy life.

No matter how you focus on your career or financial success, your achievements in other areas will feel empty without strong social connections.

Do you really picture yourself alone on that plane or yacht? What good is the big house if there is no love to fill it?

Human connection is ultimately what provides the lasting texture and meaning in life.

The Three Pillars of Social Wealth

Your Social Wealth is built across three core pillars.

1. Depth: The Front-Row People

This is the connection with a small, inner circle of people with whom you share deep, meaningful, and durable bonds.

These are your Front-Row People. You can rely on them for love, support, and connection during good times and bad.

How to Build Depth

Be Honest: Share your inner truth and weaknesses and truly listen when others do the same.
Show Support: Be present and supportive during difficult times. Sit in the darkness with those who are struggling.
Have Shared Experience: Engage in positive and negative experiences together. This will strengthen your bonds and build resilience in all your relationships.

Your circle of depth is not limited to family.

Meaningful connections can be found anywhere.

Your circle of closest and irreplaceable people must not be static. It can evolve and change over time as relationships grow or fade. But note this, depth is crucial for a happy and fulfilled life.

Your depth of social wealth provides a foundation of support and love that makes anything possible.

2. Breadth: Belonging to Something Bigger

Your breadth of social wealth is connecting to a larger circle of people for support and belonging beyond your inner circle.

You achieve this by participating in communities or having more individual relationships. Community is very important. It provides a sense of belonging and connects you to individuals you may not have physically met.

Belonging to communities also lets you connect to something larger than oneself. And communities can be formed around various interests, such as cultural, spiritual, local, or professional affiliations.

How to Build Breadth

Join Local Clubs or Communities: Participate in activities related to your hobbies and interests. It can be book clubs, art clubs, or gyms.

1. Attend Spiritual Gatherings: Engage in faith-driven activities if you are a spiritual individual. It can be church programs, gospel artistes’ concerts or volunteering for evangelism.
2. Sign up and join Digital Meetups: You can join online communities that focus on causes you care about.
3. Coordinate Walks or Hikes: Organise regular outdoor activities with others in your area.
4. Attend Networking Events: Overcome shyness and attend events that can lead to new connections.

Expanding your breadth of social wealth requires trying new things and being open to the world.

To do this, you must be generous and not expect anything in return. Both are essential for building meaningful connections within a broader network.

3. Earned Status: Social Currency That Lasts

This is the third pillar of your social wealth.

Earned status is the respect, admiration, and trust you receive from your peers based on your actions and character, rather than acquired possessions or social symbols.

There is a big difference between bought and earned status.

Bought Status is achieved through acquired status symbols such as club memberships, expensive cars, jewellery, or private plane flights.

Earned status is achieved through hard-won treasures like freedom to choose how to spend your time, loving family relationships and purposeful work. It can also be accumulated wisdom, adaptable mind, fit physique, professional promotions, or company sales.

Focus on Increasing Your Earned Status

Lasting, durable satisfaction comes from pursuing earned status.

Genuine respect and admiration (from those whose opinions you value) comes when you focus on improving your earned status.

Bought status is fleeting and provides only temporary social positioning. On the other hand, earned status is durable and lasting, providing a solid foundation for Social Wealth.

Concentrate on what must be earned rather than what can be bought.

This is how you will live a life of abundant Social Wealth.

The Social Wealth Guide: Systems for Success

There are actionable systems for building Social Wealth.

These systems are not one-size-fits-all, so feel free to select those that resonate and align with your personal goals.

First, there are some anti-goals you must avoid. Don’t allow the pursuit of financial success to damage deep connections. Don’t neglect local relationships and community ties.

Now, here are ten Proven Systems for Building Social Wealth

1. Social Wealth Hacks I Wish I Knew at Twenty-Two:

1. Happiness is direction, not destination; whom you travel with counts.
2. People are made for love.
3. Political disagreement doesn’t preclude close relationships.
4. Happy people love people, use things, and worship the divine; unhappy people do the opposite.
5. It’s a bad trade to prioritize being special over being happy.
6. Approach disagreements as a “we,” not a “me.”
7. Happiness requires generosity in love and allowing yourself to be loved.
8. Talk to people unlike you to expose yourself to new perspectives.
9. Treat fighting like exercise.
10. Focus on relationships, not leaving them to chance.
11. Expand your time horizon with love.
12. Entrepreneurs risk their hearts by falling in love.
13. Say exactly what you mean.
14. Don’t treat family like emotional ATMs.
15. Make friendship an end, not a means.
16. Don’t spread misery.
17. Put on your oxygen mask first.
18. Don’t focus on looks and status in others.
19. Let people know when you think something nice about them.
20. Tell your partner one thing you appreciate about them every day.
21. Ask intimidating people what they’re most excited about and then listen closely.
22. Offer unwavering support during tough times.
23. Record video interviews with your parents.
24. Send a book you love as a gift.
25. Always carry a pocket notebook.
26. Never keep score in life.
27. Avoid overly transactional friendships.
28. Wait twenty-four hours before acting on strong emotions.
29. Compliment a stranger every day.
30. Focus on being interested, not interesting.
31. Do things worthy of stories to tell your kids someday.

2. The Relationship Map (Pillars: Depth and Breadth):

List your core relationships (10-25).
Assess relationships based on if they are supportive, ambivalent, or demeaning, and by their frequency.
Map the relationships on a grid with Relationship Health (demeaning to supportive) on the x-axis and Relationship Frequency (rare to daily) on the y-axis.

Then put your core relationships into these zones:

Green Zone: (Supportive, frequent) – Prioritize and maintain.
Opportunity Zone: (Supportive, infrequent) – Increase interaction frequency.
Danger Zone: (Ambivalent, frequent) – Manage impact or improve interactions.
Red Zone: (Demeaning, frequent) – Manage or remove the relationship.

3. Two Rules for Growing in Love (Pillar: Depth):

Rule 1: Understand Love Languages: Words of affirmation, Quality time, Gifts, Acts of service and Physical touch.

Recognize and show love in your partner’s preferred language.

Rule 2: Avoid the Traps (The Four Horsemen): Criticism, Defensiveness, Contempt and Stonewalling

Use antidotes like gentle start-up, taking responsibility, building appreciation, and physiological self-soothing.

There is also some additional relationship advice you can adopt.

Avoid scorekeeping, maintain separate interests, understand that it can’t always be 50/50, avoid involving non-professional third parties in disagreements, prioritize your spouse, and accept each other without needing approval from others.

4. The Life Dinner (Pillar: Depth):

Have a monthly date with your partner to discuss personal, professional, and relationship progress, challenges, and goals.

5. Helped, Heard, or Hugged (Pillar: Depth):

When someone comes to you with a problem, ask if they want to be helped (solutions), heard (listening), or hugged (comfort).

6. The Four Principles of a Master Conversationalist (Pillar: Breadth):

Create Doorknobs: Use questions or statements that invite storytelling.
Be a Loud Listener: Use sounds, expressions, and body language to show engagement
Repeat and Follow: Repeat key points and add insights or questions.
Make Situational Eye Contact: Deep while listening and organic while speaking.

7. The Anti-Networking Guide (Pillar: Breadth):

1. Principle 1: Find Value-Aligned Rooms: Put yourself in places where you’ll meet people with similar values and interests.
2. Principle 2: Ask Engaging Questions: Start conversations with personal questions.
3. Principle 3: Become a Loud Listener: Focus intently while the other person speaks and listen to understand.
4. Principle 4: Use Creative Follow-ups: Show effort beyond a typical exchange.

8. The Brain Trust (Pillar: Breadth):

Build a personal board of advisers (5-10 people) with diverse perspectives for feedback and advice.

Focus on their genuine interest in your success. They might each have a particular archetype, such as senior executive, inspirational leader, or contrarian thinker.

9. The Public Speaking Guide (Pillars: Breadth and Earned Status):

During Pre-Event Preparation: Create clear Structure, practice your key moments and study the best speakers you want to emulate.

During Pre-Stage Preparation: Address the Spotlight by confront your worst fears about what could go wrong. Then get into character and eliminate any form of stress.

During Delivery: Cut the Tension with jokes, use big, confident gestures to hype yourself up and move purposefully.

10. The Status Tests (Pillar: Earned Status):

When seeking status, take these two tests:

The Bought-Status Test: Would I buy this if I couldn’t show it off?

The Earned-Status Test: Can the richest person in the world acquire this easily?

Tailor Your Social Wealth to Fit What You Truly Need

The exact levels of social depth and breadth appropriate for an individual can vary by person.

You may be more naturally extroverted and desire high degrees of social breadth and depth. Or you might be more introverted and prefer fewer, deeper connections.

This means if you are a natural extrovert, you need significant breadth and depth of connection to keep loneliness at bay. If you are a natural introvert, you will need only a few close relationships to do the same.

Your goal is to look at the three pillars of social wealth and know where to improve.

The plan is to prioritise relationships and build a life rich in meaningful connections.

I hope it helps.

Zamai

May 11, 2025

Time Wealth: How to Invest Your Finite Moments

When you use your time well, you say your time is well spent.

Time is an asset. It’s one of the currencies of life. Controlling your time is crucial for happiness and fulfilment.

Sahil goes further to call it Time wealth.

You can increase your Time Wealth by focusing on awareness, attention, and control. It’s no longer about focusing on money, i.e., financial wealth. You must also prioritise how you spend your limited time.

Time Wealth Quote

The Big Question: How Many Moments Do You Have Remaining?

Time is finite, especially when it concerns your relationships.

For instance, you have limited moments left with loved ones. Cherishing time spent with family, children, friends, and partners is important. We often take small moments for granted and only value them when they are gone.

Confront this reality and take action to invest your time in meaningful ways.

Choosing a partner to share life with is critical, as is finding meaningful work with energising coworkers. As people age, time spent alone increases, and it should be cherished rather than feared.

The Two Types of Time

There is a modern obsession with busyness, which is often equated with worth.

People are busier than ever but have less control over their time due to digital distractions and societal pressures. This perpetual busyness leads to scattered attention and a lack of fulfilment. To understand better, there are two ways to describe time.

There are Chronos and Kairos.

Chronos refers to sequential, quantitative time, while Kairos refers to qualitative time, where certain moments are more significant than others. Recognising and capitalising your kairos moments is crucial for achieving disproportionate growth and results.

The key is to identify moments of greatest time leverage and focus attention on them.

The Three Pillars of Time Wealth

There are three pillars for building Time Wealth:

Awareness: Understanding the finite nature of time as a precious asset.
Attention: The ability to focus on things that matter while ignoring distractions.
Control: The freedom to choose how to spend one’s time.

Awareness is Recognizing Time as Your Most Precious Asset

Awareness involves recognising the impermanence and value of time.

When young, you are a “time billionaire,” but this wealth diminishes with age.

Now, your goal is to value time before it becomes the only thing you value at the end of life.

Attention is Unlocking Results that are Bigger than your Efforts

Attention is the application of mental energy to create progress.

Focused attention is more powerful than scattered attention, leading to concentrated, extraordinary outcomes. Having focused attention involves dedicating yourself to high-leverage opportunities, projects, and people.

This requires careful selection and rejection of tasks.

Control is Your Ultimate Goal

Control allows you to choose what and when to do with your time.

With control, you own your time and make decisions about its allocation. Without control, your time is dictated by others. Combined with awareness and attention, you shift from being a “time taker” to a “time maker.”

Indeed, you can dictate your time and how it is spent.

The Time Wealth Guide: Systems for Success

There are twelve systems for building Time Wealth.

These systems address common anti-goals such as spending too much time on low-value activities, being too busy to prioritise loved ones and losing spontaneity in life.

The Time Wealth Hard Reset (Awareness)

This exercise involves calculating the number of remaining times one will see a loved one based on current frequency and age.

By confronting this numerical reality, you are inspired to create more time with those you care about.

The Energy Calendar (Awareness and Attention)

This system involves tracking daily activities and categorising them as energy-creating (green), neutral (yellow), or energy-draining (red).

Based on this, you can prioritise, delegate, or adjust activities to optimise your energy levels. Energy-creating activities should be amplified, neutral activities maintained or delegated, and energy-draining activities minimised or adjusted.

The goal is to improve your green-to-red ratio, enhancing overall energy and focus.

The Two-List Exercise (Awareness and Attention)

This exercise helps identify and focus on your top professional and personal priorities.

Create a comprehensive list of professional and personal priorities and narrow each list to three to five items. Separate the circled priorities from the rest, labelling them as “Priorities” and “Avoid at All Costs.”

This creates a clear distinction between what to focus on and what to delegate or delete.

4. The Eisenhower Matrix (Awareness and Attention)

This matrix categorises tasks based on urgency and importance:

Important and Urgent: Do now! These tasks require immediate attention and contribute to long-term goals.
Important and Not Urgent: Plan. Focus on these tasks to build long-term value.
Not Important and Urgent: Delegate. These tasks drain time and energy without contributing to long-term goals.
Not Important and Not Urgent: Delete. Eliminate these time-wasting activities.

The Eisenhower Matrix

The Index Card To-Do System (Attention)

This simple system involves preparing a 3×5 index card each night with a short list of 3-5 tasks for the next day.

The list should include important tasks that align with long-term goals. Its simplicity promotes focus and momentum. This allows you to accomplish more of what matters.

Parkinson’s Law (Attention)

Parkinson’s law states that work expands to fill the time allotted for its completion.

By establishing constraints and shorter time frames, you become more efficient and productive. You work like a lion. Short sprints of focused work followed by rest.

Repeat this pattern till task completion.

The Anti-Procrastination System (Attention)

This system involves three steps to overcome procrastination:

Deconstruction: Break down intimidating tasks into smaller, manageable steps.
Plan and Stake Creation: Develop a plan of attack with specific, time-bound micro-tasks. Create stakes, such as public declarations, social pressure, rewards, and penalties, to drive better outcomes.
Action: Start with the first action to create initial movement, using techniques such as planning a sync session, rewarding initial movement, or using the lion technique.

8. The Flow State Boot-Up Sequence (Attention)

This system focuses on creating a routine to enter a flow state, a state of deep, focused work.

Here, you build a personal boot-up sequence using the five senses:

Touch: Engage in a specific movement or body action.
Taste: Consume a specific drink, chewing gum, or snack.
Sight: Focus on a specific visual element in the environment.
Sound: Listen to a specific sound in the environment.
Smell: Inhale a specific scent in the environment.

The Flow State Boot-Up Sequence

Effective Delegation (Attention and Control)

This system emphasises the importance of delegating tasks to create time leverage.

The three core principles of effective delegation are:

Appropriate Task Profiling: Delegate low-risk, high-reversibility tasks that require minimal oversight, and high-risk, low-reversibility tasks that need significant oversight.
Clear Expectations: Establish clear expectations for every task, including deliverables, timelines, feedback loops, and risk profile.
Infinite Feedback Loops: Establish continuous, iterative feedback loops to enable participants to learn and improve.

Delegation can be implemented at three levels: direct, semiautonomous, and autonomous, allowing for increasing independence and efficiency.

10. The Art of No (Control)

Learning to say no is crucial for taking control of your time.

Two shortcuts to do this are:

The Right Now Test (Personal): When deciding whether to take on a personal commitment, ask, “Would I do this right now?” If the answer is no, decline the commitment.

The New Opportunity Test (Professional): For professional commitments, first, reference the two lists from the earlier exercise. If it’s not aligned with professional priorities, then say no. Then ask, “Is this a ‘Hell yeah!’ opportunity?” If not, decline the opportunity. If it’s aligned, then consider it will take twice as long and be half as rewarding as expected. If the opportunity is not worth it, then decline it. This streamlines commitments and helps individuals focus on what truly matters.

How to Manage Your Time: Time-Blocking and the Four Types of Professional Time

Allocate specific time windows for distinct tasks, managing life through a calendar rather than a to-do list.

The four types of professional time are:

Management: Meetings, calls, presentations, and email processing.
Creation: Writing, coding, building, and preparing.
Consumption: Reading, listening, and studying.
Ideation: Brainstorming, journaling, walking, and self-reflecting.

Starting on a Monday, at the end of each weekday, colour-code the events from that day according to this key:

Red: Management, Green: Creation, Blue: Consumption & Yellow: Ideation to understand which elements are dominating.

An optimal balance is:

Batching Management Time: Allocate discrete blocks for Management Time.
Increasing Creation Time: Carve out distinct windows for Creation Time.
Creating Space for Consumption and Ideation: Schedule dedicated blocks for reading, listening, learning, and thinking.

How to Fill Your Newly Created Time: The Energy Creators

The ultimate question after creating new time is how to fill it.

Choose activities, pursuits, and people that align with your goals and values. These additional energy creators give insights on pursuing what makes you happy.

Time Wealth: The Energy Creators

Use Your “Time Wealth” to shift perspective.

By cultivating awareness, attention, and control, you reclaim your time and invest it in meaningful relationships, fulfilling work, and personal growth.

The systems provided offer practical strategies for building your time Wealth and achieving a more balanced and purposeful life.

That’s all for now. You can read the other forms of wealth here: Beyond Money: A Guide to the 5 Types of Wealth