20/04/2020
Five Steps To Better Saving
June 15, 2019 | by Samuel Ukah | 1

By Samuel Ukah
(If you always have to send money home or to friends then read this because I’ll show you better ways of paying the black tax without becoming broke at the end of the month.)
Being born the first son and having four younger ones made me understand the reason behind the logic “black tax”.
As a first child, it’s almost difficult to say no to any request from any of your family members. You see everyone as yourself and hence feel naturally obliged to take care of them.
This is even made worse by a belief in Africa that the child has to take care of his parents. Please don’t get me wrong. I know this is Biblical but I’ll show you something shortly on how we’ve abused it.
If your parents send you to school, you’re automatically their retirement investment. I remember a Nollywood movie I saw not quite long ago where a man depended totally in his son to finish school, get a big job and then come take care of him.
Well, this guy finished with a first-class degree and after a couple of years when no job was forthcoming, all hell was let loose in that family. The guy became a disappointment and frustrated at life.
What led us to this situation?
Well, It’s been there for hundreds of years but it was different then. People didn’t have to look for jobs, they just needed to be strong to farm. That way, parents were never disappointed in their children.
Black tax became clearer to me after I finished from the university and couldn’t boast of up-to N500,000 as an investment. This was demoralizing because, with about 4 scholarships, I had enough money as a student.
A certain year, I was paid close to N1 million by different companies. I couldn’t account for how I was spending my money. I didn’t know how to save. Everyone’s problem was my problem so I gave until I didn’t know when to stop.
Haven’t you experienced something similar?
This is what is called “black tax”. Having to carter for y
