FULIZA: A Mastery of Discipline in Financial Management and Stability in our Resources.

Today’s world has changed in how we view, handle and access money. From an individual point of view to a business’s point of view.

Tech disruption in the financial sector is happening so fast that we are having a problem catching up on just how easy and fast it has become to access credit.

My personal experience has taught me that if you can survive in the Kenyan market as an entrepreneur, then you can survive anywhere in the world.

The Kenyan entrepreneurship realm is the toughest there is in the world and surviving Nairobi as a resident should be included in the Survivor TV series.

Lack of Self-Discipline and Control

The primary reason for financial problems in life is the lack of self-discipline, self-mastery, and self-control. They say that a man who can control himself is more powerful than a man who can kill a lion with his bare hands. This indeed is true.

Self-discipline, when it comes to money matters is very difficult if not impossible. It is the inability to delay gratification in the short term, the need to please people who do not matter with things that are useless that drives us beyond our financial boundaries.

It is the tendency for people to spend everything they earn and a little more besides, usually supplemented by loans and credit card debt that leads to financial mess and suicides. The ease of access to credit, inasmuch as is a good thing, the negative ripple effect of the same if dire and needs to be addressed.

Money and emotions are like oil and water

The primary reason that most Kenyan adults have financial problems is not that of low earnings. The reason is the lack of self-discipline and the inability to delay gratification. This is the KEY reason and why such an innovative service like FULIZA would be turned into a negative service so fast.

When the purse becomes empty, the mind becomes full of issues. Reason takes the back seat and emotions take over. Something that is dangerous when money is involved.

Money, like emotions, is something you must control to keep your life on the right track. Remember how difficult it is to manage your emotions when you are happy and when you are sad. Both states demand discipline from us to be able to live through them. Same goes for the essence of money. Money does not dictate your lifestyle. It simply reveals your character that is held prisoner by the chains of poverty. It reveals your weak points and your strong points. It’s what you do to get it and how you manage your finances that determines your lifestyle.

ALSO READ: FULIZA: The magic of credit access in Kenya

Finding maturity on financial matters does not come easy and it means that you have some experience under your belt and furthermore, it means that, when it comes to resolving your inner conflicts around money, it’s easier and manageable.  It really comes down to discovering a sense of ease around money and this ease comes only from painful experience of having money and losing it or by reading the lessons of others and internalizing their lessons to heart, which is normally harder to do hence learning from our own experiences.

Money grows in an environment that adores discipline and circulation

I see on social media people asking how managing money in the new economy is different from managing the same in the old economy. I think what they mean is, how did our parents do it with so little yet they gave us everything we needed and now, we make so much more than them and we can hardly provide for your one or two kids yet back then we were more than four of us to a family. From my personal experience, it’s more or less the same. It’s about the financial discipline of the bottom line, understanding how much you make, segmenting your needs from your wants, understanding what emergencies are and what joy rides are and being able to build a world-class management aspect around your money for ease of being able to budget, save, invest and spend without emotions and without stress.

Fuliza has me laughing so hard from the comments am reading online on social media and I am not laughing at them, I am laughing with them. It reminds me of me when I was younger, 15-20 years ago and how managing money was such a herculean task to me that I got into serious trouble over and above. Fuliza by the end of this year will be registered into the Oxford Dictionary as a new word in the financial realm. It’s meaning…’stuck in a rut and no one to borrow or ask for help… Fuliza your way out of it like a landrover defender 110 from a muddy spot…’’.

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Balancing your money is the key to having enough. If we are to learn anything from our parents, then it’s to learn how they balanced the little they had to give us the best of what we needed, take us to the best schools that money could buy and do it so comfortable without the luxury of access to many loans and overdraft facilities that we have today over and above the much more money that we make. I believe my mother was a miracle worker when it came to taking care of us and her money.

If you don’t take care of your money your money won’t take care of you and taking care of your money means spending it right and properly. Something my mother taught and the lesson came to me when I became a parent. Money is like the flow of energy in a cosmos kind of cycle and giving that cycle between you, others and the source. Now let it flow kindly, fairly and mindfully means spending it well and prudently on what matters.

Rasheed Ogunlaru once said that people who can manage their time can also manage their money. After all, managing minutes and managing money is the same exact principle. He added that Sharpen and trust your judgment: learn when spending is a shrewd investment and when it is merely an indulgence. Most of us spend our money on mere indulgences.

By the time we realize that we need to make shrewd investments, the money is gone and the cycle of regeneration is dead. We have choices and we do have control. The question is, how we exercise the same.

Fuliza, the innovative Digital approved an overdraft

An overdraft is an extension of credit from a lending institution when an account reaches zero. In this case, the lending institution is Safaricom PLC in partnership with KCB and CBA banks. The account in this aspect is your registered MPESA line. An overdraft allows the individual to continue withdrawing or using money in their mobile account, read MPESA even if the account has no funds in it or not enough to cover the withdrawal or spending. Basically, the Fuliza MPESA overdraft means that Safaricom PLC allows its registered M-PESA customers to borrow a set amount of money for a set period of time.

Debt: Need or Want

When you Fuliza, you’re getting into debt. A debt that must be repaid first before you can access your money without being charged. A debt that takes priority over all your other spendings and emergencies. If you must Fuliza, then it had better be a need with the denominator of an emergency that Fuliza is that only solution.

A Fuliza overdraft should be for short-term borrowing or emergencies only. Such emergencies include but not limited to;

It’s important you manage the Fuliza overdraft like any other debt to make sure the costs don’t spiral out of control. The Fuliza overdraft will allow you to borrow money through your registered MPESA account at a charge. Being cognizant of these fees and charges is very critical so that you can be able to understand the need to manage the debt with clarity.

Fees Levied on Fuliza MPESA

Fuliza is an authorized overdraft: you make it authorized by signing in via dialing on your phone *234# and following through the prompts. MPESA will automatically calculate your limit and alert you of the same and you can spend the money up to that limit through all the normal payment methods except withdrawing the amount and buying credit or airtime. There are fees that one needs to read on and understand just how much they will be paying per day so that you do not come to regret and hate on the service.

You will be charged 1% access fee and a maintenance fee on the outstanding balance as per below table. Normal M-PESA transaction charges apply.

Such a facility as Fuliza MPESA is beautiful, especially in an economy like ours but understanding how it works, reading upon its terms and conditions is key but of NOTE is to remember than Fuliza MPESA overdrafts should only be an emergency fund or short-term credit option. This is something that needs to be driven by the brand Safaricom PLC to educate its consumers on this.

To understand better how Fuliza MPESA works and what are the frequently asked questions around it, so that you don’t feel as though you are the only one going through it, please read this link.

The SECRET to financial security is not to have more money, but having MORE CONTROL over the money we presently have.

ALSO READ: How to Access an Overdraft from Safaricom’s Fuliza