WHY MOST PEOPLE ARE “BAD WITH MONEY” (THEY’RE NOT)

How bad is your bad?

Many people believe they are bad with money. They say it casually, as if it’s a personality trait they’ve accepted. 

But look closely, and you’ll find that many of them are not careless at all. They work, earn honestly, try to budget, and still find themselves asking the same question before the month ends, “Where did all my money go?”

The uncomfortable truth is that for many people, what they earn simply isn’t stretching as far as it used to.

Imagine earning ₦200,000 a month. Transport takes its share, and food isn’t getting cheaper. Data, electricity, fuel and other bills need to be paid. Then there’s rent, family responsibilities, school fees, medical expenses, the occasional emergency and, of course, the very human desire to enjoy your own money sometimes. By the middle of the month, crickets — ‘I’m broke.’ And it’s not because you’re on a spending spree. Instead, one source of income often has to cover more than it realistically can.

So, are you actually bad with money? Not necessarily. At times, the problem is not that you spend too much. It’s that there isn’t enough room between what you earn and what life currently costs. This is where popular budgeting rules like the 50:30:20 rule can feel disconnected from reality. The rule suggests:

• 50% – Needs: rent, food, transport, bills.
• 30% – Wants: personal spending, gifts, extras.
• 20% – Savings: emergency fund, goals, investments.

For someone earning ₦200,000, that would mean:

On paper, it looks simple. But in real life? Not always. Your actual monthly expenses might look more like this:

By the time everything essential is covered, there’s little room left for wants, and even the ₦5,000 remaining may not necessarily make it to the end of the month.  It’s easy to look at this and think, “I’ll save when I earn more.” But this is where we need to be realistic about money. The 50:30:20 rule is a guide, not a test you have to pass. If your essential expenses already take up more than 50% of your income, forcing yourself to fit into the split may only leave you feeling like you’re failing at money management.

But that doesn’t mean savings should disappear completely.

Save what you can. It doesn’t have to be ₦40,000. It could be ₦2,000 every week or ₦5,000 a month, or whatever amount you can consistently set aside without putting your essential expenses at risk. It may not feel like much at first, but it counts. 

The point isn’t to save some ‘impressive’ amount every month. Start with what you can actually afford and, more importantly, leave it alone. The problem starts when your savings and spending money are together. Because somehow, there’s always one reason to touch it. And once you touch it, e go hard o. 

 So, where do things usually go wrong? 

• No Clear Plan Before Spending

When that alert drops, it’s easy to start paying things as they come up and hope everything somehow works out. But without a plan, it becomes difficult to tell what you can actually afford. A good place to start is identifying your non-negotiables first. Once you know what has to go out, you can make a more realistic decision about what is available for savings and personal spending.

• Small Expenses Add Up 

₦1,000 here. ₦2,000 there.

Another transport fare. Another food purchase. A data renewal. A subscription you forgot about. None of these expenses looks alarming on their own. Still, over several weeks, they can eat up a significant part of your income. This doesn’t mean you shouldn’t enjoy your money. It simply means small spending is still spending. Knowing where those little amounts are going gives you a better idea of what you can actually afford.

• Money Doesn’t Come With a Manual 

Most of us didn’t exactly get a crash course in personal finance before entering adulthood. Nobody really sat us down and said, “Welcome to adulthood. Here is how to budget, track expenses, prepare for emergencies, and still have money left to enjoy your life.” So it makes sense that managing money can feel overwhelming.

The good news is that money management is a skill. And like any skill, it gets better with practice.

WHAT YOU CAN DO

1. Prioritise Before You Spend

Once that alert drops, resist the urge to wait for bills to show up before deciding what to do with your money. List the things that must be paid first: food, transport, bills, rent, family responsibilities and other essentials. Then decide what you can realistically put away before the rest gets absorbed by everyday spending.

2. Track Where Your Money Goes 

You don’t need a complex plan. Start with simple categories for spending. When you can actually see where money goes, it stops feeling like it disappears randomly. For instance, you may notice subscriptions you barely use, frequent small purchases, or areas where you can cut back without feeling like you’re depriving yourself.

[Use the Budget Tracker]

3. Use Tools That Give You Clarity

When payments, transfers, bills and balances are scattered across different places, keeping track of everything can become stressful. Having your everyday money activity in one place gives you a clearer picture of what has been spent, what needs to be paid and what you actually have available. With Kegow, you can send and receive money, pay bills and manage your everyday transactions while keeping a clearer view of your spending. You don’t need to become a ‘money guru’. You just need to know what you have, where it’s going and make intentional decisions with it.

Some months will be easier than others.  At times, the math just won’t be mathing the way you want it to. You may not be able to control the rising cost of everything, and you may not be able to increase your income overnight. But you can still pay attention to what you spend, prioritise what you need and put something aside when you can. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be realistic enough to work for you.

Start with what you have. Save what you can. And give yourself room to do better as the situation changes.

Damilola Oluyemi