Why Most Young Working Class Nigerian Bachelors Are Broke
A lot of young bachelors in Nigeria face serious issues with financial difficulties despite having relatively little responsibilities when compared to their married counterparts.
This can be a real problem for an economy that is fast transforming as more and more graduates are churned out from over 100 tertiary institutions in Nigeria to replace our ever ageing workforce. Why is being broke such a problem for bachelors? Here are some reasons put forward:
1. Cars and Houses
A familiar characteristics of a young thriving bachelor is owning a nice car and living in a rented apartment. These require huge outlay of cash as landlords collect a minimum one year rent upfront and cost of good cars are also not cheap. They endup borrowing from their offices or banks at very high rates to pay back over time. The loan repayment including interest leaves them with little or no money to save. Whereas if they had saved first, they would have had enough money to at least fund either of a car or a house.
- Poor disposition towards saving
Most bachelors I know hardly cultivate the habit of saving. This could be because they do not feel any level of responsibility to a spouse or even children. Therefore, every income they receive they channel towards maintaining their lifestyle leaving them with little or no disposable income not to talk of an savings. One other reason could be that there is this deceptive belief that there is no goal. As a Bachelor, you must inculcate the habit of saving at all times. Rather than think you have no goals that warrant savings, you should save towards marriage, unborn kids’future, house, cars and even insurance. -
Reckless Lifestyle
The way some Nigerian bachelors engage in reckless living would ultimately leave them broke. The reckless life of drinking (popping champagne, serve them round), partying, traveling and being a spend thrift. These habits are inimical to a good saving culture as they are hardly compatible.
- Family Pressure
Young bachelors alsofeel the intense need to give back when they employed. They have parents, younger ones and even relatives who nmow rely on then for some source ofliving. This puts immense pressure on the finances of young Nigerian bachelors while they seldomly think of getting married at this point. in some cultures in Nigeria, it is required that a newly employed young bachelor gives complete first month salary or part to his parents as hior her first fruit. After which a particular percentage must go to the family every month. With this trend there is hardly anything to save at the end of each month. Well it is said that alot has been given into the education of the younf bachelor so giving back should not be hard. But is it?
- Peer group influence
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Women and fashion
This needs no introduction or explanation. Nigerian young bachelors are usually drawn to the temptation to invest in these things. The ideology that they dont want to be left behind rules in their minds. In the Nigeria of today, these things are expensive to keep up with. To keep a woman is expensive, to keep up with the fashion is extremely expensive. When you are thinking you are getting a hang of the fashion trend, the next it changes and you are left to start allover again (a rat race).
- Education
Acquiring further education in Nigeria is very encouraging. The sole purpose of which is to increase the monthly pay. But to acquire such degrees come with a huge cost tag either locally or internationally. It is a huge investment of time, energy and money. The risk here is that alot of money goes into this, some also resign their jobs in order to go full time for the postgraduate degree but forgetting that their are no jobs in the already saturated employment market. Upon graduation the become job seekers and become broke leaving themin a crisis of depending on their families and relatives to survive or go into some shady deals.
