The document discusses the three aspects of money: make money, manage money, and multiply money. To make money, one must earn an income through employment, business ownership, or other means. Strategies for making more money include increasing skills and value, expanding one's network, taking on additional work, and placing a high value on one's time. Managing money well is crucial, as it is the only time one has full control over funds. Effective money management involves knowing spending, creating a spending plan, prioritizing savings, automating finances, and using practical savings tips. The final aspect is multiplying money through investment. Low-risk options include money markets, while higher-risk options include

1. The Three Aspects of Money
The first time I heard 3Ms of money, I actually thought it was one of those cliché – meaning
Money! Money! Money! Another thought that came to mind was; Make More Money! But
when Pastor Mathew Ashimolowo of Kingsway International Christian Centre, London,
started explaining the 3ms of money, I was stupefied by the share ingenuity of coming up
with such a simple but powerful way of helping people understand money or to put it in
today’s parlance helping people to be financially literate.
The 3Ms of money is more like the circle of money or flow of money. So what is this 3Ms? –
they are Make Money, Manage Money and Multiply Money. The purpose of this two part
piece is to look at these three aspects of money and suggest appropriate strategies for
achieving success in each to ensure overall financial success. This is very important as the
beginning of a new year invokes the feeling of a fresh beginning. Beginning the year with a
deeper understanding of money should enlist one for financial success
Make Money. To make money is to earn money or get money. This is probably the easiest
part of the cycle. The truth is everybody earns or makes money. You can earn money by
exchanging you time and skills. You can have money bequeathed to you. Young people are
given allowances for simply being a member of a family. Children earn money in form of
money gifts from families and friends, holiday jobs and sometimes by helping at home. But
our focus today is on people who earn salaries from being employed or running their own
businesses.
The main challenge at this point of the money cycle is how to earn more or make more
money. The word money connotes scarce resources, hence it will never be enough and that’s
why the richest man in the world has not stopped making more money. And if he has not,
why should you? The following can be adopted as strategies for making more money:
1. Increase your Ability to Create Value. It is often said that money usually goes to
wherever value is being created. Improving your skills on your job makes you more
valuable to your employer and this can be compensated by increase in salary. But
sometimes you may need to ask for a raise if your organisation is not a multinational
where structures and career paths are well defined.
2. Read More and Read Widely. Today’s organizations are always looking for leaders at
all level. Security officers with leadership skills; new recruits with leadership abilities;
managers with excellent leadership capabilities. One way to become a leader is

2. through reading. Reading actually help you hone your leadership skills and soon the
need will arise and because you are prepared you will be given the position and you
will earn more income. More often than not increased responsibility comes with
increased take home.
3. Expand your Network. Join professional associations and participate in their activities.
Don’t just be a member by subscription alone; contribute your knowledge and
expertise to the pool. You can learn a lot through interaction and also access
privileged information about recruitments for higher positions. Taking up such can
help increase your income. Use the social media and interact as often as you can.
4. Sell More Goods and Services; If you are a business person selling more of your goods
and services will help you increase your income. Though this may not necessarily
translate to profit but under normal circumstances, more cash sales should mean
more profit. Engaging your customers and offering good customer service will earn
you referrals which can translate into money very quickly
5. Take a second job – like teaching in the evenings two or three days in a week or during
weekends. You can also use your knowledge to help small organization solve specific
challenges for a fee. Be a freelance or a consultant. This could be a precursor to
starting a small business of your own on the side to ensure multiple streams
6. Start placing a higher value on yourtime. Time is more valuable than money. You can
always get more money for your time, but you can never get more time. It is possible
to become twice as valuable, and earn double the money in the same amount of
time. I know a drive who earns more than ten times the salary of an average driver. He
drives a car like others, spend the same time like other drivers but earn ten times
more. You can do same, if not ten times; you can start with at least an increase.
The reality of this part of the cycle is that you are never in complete control of money. Your
employer determines how much to pay you. Your customer determines the amount of money
that flows into your business by choosing to buy or not. Even when you have a contract of
employment in place, your employer could still delay the payment even after you have
worked for the month. Bottom-line, you are not in charge here; you will only be in control of
what you get from your employer or your customer. It is amazing how people wait for 30days
to receive a salary and spend same within a few days or a week; that is financial illiteracy.
I counselled a young professional who earns a very good salary but has been having serious
financial challenges for a while. As he narrated his story and how he believed something
diabolical was going on with his finance. I tried to convince him otherwise bur couldn’t until I
asked if he could recall his major purchases for the past few months. By the time we were
done it was clear that he spent the money rather unconsciously or impulsively. Happily now,
after a couple of counselling session things started looking up for him as he now adopts the
BBB model I suggested. BBB is an acronym for ‘Budget Before Buying’
My common advice is ‘if you cannot increase you income, reduce your expenditures and Save!

3. Part two
Still in the mood of the new beginning and the need to make this New Year more financially
rewarding, let’s now discuss part two and step two on our journey to financial freedom. The
second M of money is – Manage Money.
Manage Money; Managing money is the hub of the whole process. Success or failure at this
point may determine the overall outcome of the entire cycle. This is the only time you have
full control of your money, what you do with it determines whether you enjoy financial
freedom or suffer financial bondage. So if you earn so much and you do not manage it well
you might end up poor or in debt. It is often said that it is not how much you earn that
matters but how you manage it or what you do with it.
The question now is; what exactly is money management? There are varying definitions made
available by different organization but this one puts it in its simplest form. It says ‘Money
management is the process of knowing where you are spending your money today and having
a well-thought-out plan in place for where you want it to go in the future or what you want to
achieve with it’. There are three key things in the definition which addresses the major money
challenges people face. Many people don’t know where their money goes! Many more don’t
have a plan as to where and what they want to achieve with their money. The last thing is
that majority of people don’t plan for their golden age.
The key issues mentioned above are what make managing money the crucial part of the
money cycle. This is the only time you have full control over your money. This is where
financial literacy is most relevant. The ability to make informed decisions about your finances
is not a child’s play it requires adequate skills and knowledge. Unfortunately, many culture
abhor talking about money, families hardly discus money, in fact we try to avoid the topic of
money as much as possible and probably hopping that by not discussing money we can cover
up our greed and materialism.
Our hush about money will not remove the fact that it is a crucial part of our life and we must
develop strategies that can help us manage it better and reduce poverty and financial stress
in our society. Zig Ziglaronce said “Money isn’t everything, but its right up there with oxygen.”
How true? So needless to say that more emphasis should be on teaching and empowering
people with financial knowledge that can help them manage their money and make well
informed financial decisions. Every financial decision you make affect your life in more ways
than one so making well informed decisions reduces the odds against you.
The following are some money management strategies or tips that are crucial to achieving
financial success
1. Be Frugal; Being frugal is simply living within your means. If you earn say one hundred
thousand, being frugal is ensuring that your lifestyle is within the eighty thousand
region so you have savings towards emergency funds and savings for investment. This
is probably the oldest money principle but the most abused especially with the credit

4. system of buying now and paying later. Cut down on things that are not needful and
spend more on investing for the future.
2. Budget and keep to your budget. Budgeting is simply the process of creating a plan to
spend your money. The plan help you determine where your money should go and
what it should achieve for you. Cultivating the habit of creating spending plans for
your money will help you maintain control over your money. If you budget and keep to
your budget as much as possible you will suddenly realise that you have develop the
discipline required to make wealth
3. Always make savings a priority. To put it in another way – pay Yourself First. If you
live for 70years, you most likely would have worked for 35years. Simple mathematics
show that every year of work should equal two years of life. That is; every month
salary should take care of you for two months of life. Though this might look a bit
harsh, that is why financial wisdom require that you save at least 20% of your income
to ensure
4. Automate everything. When it comes to saving and investing, you are probably your
own worst enemy. So remove yourself from the equation. Automate your savings, bill
payments and investments. You'll save time and hassle--and be less inclined to
impulsively spend your emergency funds or retirement savings.
5. Take Responsibility for your finance.Don't make excuses. Don't blame the president,
the economy or your business partners for your financial situation. Read and learn
more about how money works and position yourself to take advantage of
opportunities in the economy. The truth is that nobody cares more about your money
than you do, don’t leave everything to a third party. It is always good to use a
professional especially for investment planning but you should learn more so you can
be assured of better returns on your investments. The key is to ask questions and ask
more questions
6. Use Practical Money Savings Tips. There are numerous savings tips that you can use
to save money on daily basis. Deploy the ones that are relevant and practicable for
you. Tips like packing lunch for office can save you a lot of money. Other tips like
thinking before buying any item can also save you tone of money. Many times we
spend our hard earned money because someone is blackmailing us to buy something
that we may have no need for. The television advert, the hawkers in traffic, the
handbills, the attendant in the shopping mall and our friends that sell in the office, all
have one aim in mind to get us to buy now and think later. They deploy all manner of
strategies to achieve their aims including harassment and blackmail. Please be wise
don’t fall for their tricks
The third aspect of money is Multiplying your money or investing what you have saved for
the purpose of increase. It is this aspect that helps you generate residual or passive income.
This is the litmus test of your money strategies. The reality is that the more of your money
that get here the better for you and the better your chances of achieving financial freedom.
Though you cannot control the market whether it is the stock market, the money market or
even your customers buying preferences you can make intelligent decision that will ensure

5. you achieve financial freedom. Some of the strategies you can deploy for multiplying or
increasing your networth are enumerated thus; your
1. Invest in the money market: The main goal at this point is to increase your money. So
the first rule you must bear in mind is the security of your money. It is always better to
have a little increase with your money intact than much and lose your money. There
are many money market instruments you can invest in. Ask your banker to advice you
on this but remember the ultimate decision is yours.
2. Invest in the stock market: Today many people will not touch the stock market even
with a long stick because of experience of the last global financial crisis but the stock
market still remain the most veritable means of acquiring wealth. Learn the tricks,
don’t try to outsmart the market, invest for the long term and diversify your
investment to reduce the risk. If you are not too sure, invest in mutual funds. Most of
the richest people in the world today multiplied a whole lot of their money in the
stock market, you can do same
3. Start a Business: I have always believed that at one point in life or the other every one
of us will start one business that will help generate more income for us. Starting a
business is no mean fit but it is one of the surest ways of multiplying your money and
creating sustainable wealth for you.
4. Invest in commodities – You can equally multiply your money by buying gold, and
other crops, though it is highly speculative. You can quickly multiply your money in the
commodities market. It is however not an all comers affair so ensure you are equip
yourself by learning the how-to before committing your money.
In conclusion your journey to financial freedom, achieving your financial goals and having
pleasurable life in retirement starts with understanding the three aspects of money and
deploying appropriate strategies for making, managing, and multiplying it.
Financial education leads to Financial Literacy: Financial literacy leads to financial capability:
Financial capability leads to financial freedom.