A Capital That Young People Starting in Life Need Before They Need Money

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People are significantly in a hurry nowadays. They make it seem like we do have less than twenty-four hours.

So, if you don’t have time to read this article, you can still get the idea from a single quotation in this article. Just skim through and find in the book entitled “Education”, then continue with your busyness.

A rough start, is it? Well, I’m just being kind. I want to ensure the eagles who pick and fly back into the exosphere catch the right prey.

However, this may not grant you the benefit that will accrue to diligent readers. I mean, those who will spare five minutes to read every word in this piece.

Let’s get reading, covering:

• From My Undergrad Economics Class, Emphasized Solomon’s Wisdom
• Poor Background and Breakthroughs
• The Capital You Need Before Money
• Dare to be Different

From My Undergrad Economics Class, Emphasized Solomon’s Wisdom

From my Undergrad Economics class, I remember a profound statement by my professor as we were discussing the project cycle.

The good professor of Microeconomics made a statement I still remember: “You don’t start a project by faith.” My good friend Boaz Opama, in the same school of thought, holds the opinion that “Faith is not a strategy.“

The good professor and Mr Opama, seem to ask for more than just hoping things will fall into place. They are saying that you put up a strategy, then you wait by faith, trusting the process.

If you have no execution plan, things are unlikely to fall into place. Without a sustainability plan, hoping alone is insufficient. This is not faith but presumption. Faith means doing everything you are supposed to do. Then, you rest on the promises of God to bless the efforts employed.

King Solomon, in his book, “The Ecclesiastes”, had this to say:

“Feasting makes you happy and wine cheers you up, but you can't have either without money” (Ecclesiastes 10:19, GNT).

Anytime you want to venture into something new, the most crucial factor is capital. It is the spark of life that sets the systolic and diastolic sequence of projects. If you think of a new project, whether it’s a business or community empowerment project, you must be aware of the financial aspect. Whether it’s an academic pursuit or even dating, you need to consider the financial implications.

You must not escape some questions. Who will fund it? How are they going to fund it? When are they going to fund it? And to what extent will they fund it?

Let’s now look at the vicious cycle of poverty claims.

Poor Background and Breakthroughs

Most people, especially the young, blame poverty for their struggles and seemingly unbreakable cycles of pauperism. And they have a point. When you don’t have a deposit or bequest to start with, it is difficult to obtain your breakthrough.

But what if you have neither? Does it mean you can’t change the story?

You see, the mindset of blaming a poor background is skewed towards a certain mindset: Because you don’t have readily available capital, you can never work on any project that can make you more useful in life. When you think about capital, your mind is focused on the $ & £ signs, and you can’t think of anything else. 

But is there something else that can make you more valuable before money humbles you? Let’s now get to the heart of the matter.

The Capital You Need Before Money

I am not deconstructing the importance of finances in funding a novel project or even cushioning sustainability. We all need money. That is why we wake up early and go to bed late.

But what makes money, money?

It is what makes money, money, that makes it challenging to make it the sole option for capital. It is scarcity. Money is scarce. If money loses the attribute of scarcity, it ceases to be money. It is not readily available to everyone who needs it. Worse still, some people inherit roadblocks and challenges. This situation almost makes their poverty unconquerable.

Therefore, it should be good news that there is capital better than money.

For this capital to edge past money, it must address the challenges posed by money as the traditional capital. 

The greatest question you are eager to get answered must be, what is this capital. Some itchy ones could have skimmed through, looking for this ‘motivational talk…’ especially because they think it is unrealistic that money can be outsmarted. Well, irrespective of your way to this paragraph, we’ve got you covered. 

I will start with a quotation that summarizes this whole idea. 

“Even in this age of passion for money getting, when competition is so sharp and methods are so unscrupulous, it is still widely acknowledged that, for a young man starting in life, integrity, diligence, temperance, purity, and thrift constitute a better capital than any amount of mere money.”

—Education P. 137

In this respect, the capital better than Money is “integrity, diligence, temperance, purity, and thrift”.

When you read this, you could be reminded of my post of 11^th October 2021, “Skilled but Unemployable.”  I would tweak it to say that there is something better than money. I want to demystify the idea that money is the problem, no, never. But I want to present something far better than money.

The safest combination would have been having “integrity, diligence, temperance, purity, and thrift” and something good on top in the form of financial muscle.

But strangely enough, money is scarce, yet no one can be too poor to develop a moral backbone. No one can claim that their questionable integrity, intemperance, and wastefulness are due to poverty. We have a choice of working on ourselves to either be reliable or useless. 

The world’s greatest challenge is not a lack of finances. Rather, a lack of men and women who can be trusted with duties. There are people who are too rich for their needs and who are willing to give out with purely altruistic motives, but the question is,  ‘Who can be trusted?’ People will squander even those monies meant for orphanages.

Society is terrorized by questionable characters, and we are unsure how to respond.

The young people attempting to create a name for themselves in these chaotic and turbulent waters are almost persuaded that they can only be successful by joining the discord being sung.

Must it be so?

Young people should realize that it is possible to be somebody in life through integrity. Did you know these questionable methods are not easy and, worse still, very costly? Money is good, but it can’t compare to good character and usefulness.

Dare to be Different

Everyone is looking for money, and many people are willing to get it, no matter the cost. You can make a difference by limiting your options to only those that harmonize with your ideals.

I think it is a life wasted if one can’t earn money and has a questionable character at the same time. But, way more to be desired, is usefulness, backed by the fruits of diligence.

Money is scarce, but the capital of character is within everyone’s reach. It is a capital that will be appreciated everywhere, even by the corrupt. It may take time to be rewarded, but it will always be worth the patience. 

And don’t forget this timeless wisdom, by the preacher:

“Wealth gotten by vanity shall be diminished: but he that gathereth by labour shall increase" (Proverbs 13:11, KJV).