Kenya as a whole is deep into a financial crisis and that translates to us the taxpayers being in distress too therefore intentionality is a tool that is crucial to have during these times. Time and over again through books and online spaces, we have been introduced to this term which loosely means to be aware, to be informed, and to be deliberate. Being intentional in this case is to be able to reclaim your power by choosing where your coins go and ultimately who they will benefit.
Generally, the popular notion is that people are aware of where their money is going but that is far from the truth because once you delve deeper you realize on our quest for survival we pay bills by default (which is all you can do sometimes) but not always. Avenues exist where we all have the full freedom to choose and decide about our hard-earned money especially here where brands thrive through minimal differentiation of their products without any actual difference in the final product.
An intention for example to reduce one’s monthly expenses means that the said person will make it a point maybe to walk to work, buy ordinary bar soap because its sole purpose is cleaning clothes or even move from your current neighbourhood to a cheaper one. This will mean that you will be on the lookout for sales and discounts in order to achieve your set goal. Intentionality ensures that even before you sign up for car insurance you have shopped around at length and understood what type of cover suits you best and why. One can go further and be intentional with the number of expenses they want to cut back and ultimately how they intend to utilize the extra money that they gain.
Additionally, besides cutting expenses one can be deliberate with investments. Time and again there’s the hype of a particular investment opportunity, recently cryptocurrency (bitcoin) was the trend that most people chose to go with simply because of its popularity. An investment’s popularity has no direct correlation with its feasibility most of the time and it is therefore upon the investor to educate themselves about investments and what will most work for them. Our needs vary, thus investments are diverse and therefore being aware of every detail ensures you make great use of your savings set aside for investment purposes.
Investments and expenses are only a portion of our finances and I believe by applying the same mentality we will be in a place able to account for each shilling. Through intentionality, you are able to decide what corporate deserves your money and hence you don’t fund discriminative organizations or those whose values (say on the environment) do not align with yours. We work extremely hard for our money and we should try and have complete authority over what happens to it and who benefits from it. Every shilling’s purpose should always be known and that is only achievable by being intentional.
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