The 24-year-old sex worker in this #NairaLife left home at 18 in search of a better life. She’s achieved that goal. Now as her family’s breadwinner, her new focus is building an even better future for her siblings.

This 27-year-old got into photography at university after his dad lost his job and could no longer pay him an allowance. Eight years later, he’s still at it. Add that to his 9-5 as a communications officer, and he earns an average monthly income of ₦1.4m. With things looking up, he’s confident about his finances hitting the next level — $10k/month — in the next four years.

The 28-year-old mobile engineer in this #NairaLife has come a long way in his relationship with money. He’s gone from careless spending to building an impressive $80k safety net by living below his means. He’s now navigating the insecurity that comes with a tech career, after surviving two layoffs in seven months.

The 31-year-old artist in this #Nairalife has had her share of terrible luck in businesses and relationships. In 2015, she lost a lucrative detergent business after an ex-partner defaulted on a ₦450k loan. Then, in 2022, an agribusiness she co-owned with another partner went belly up after a series of bad decisions plunged her into a ₦13m debt, getting arrested and losing her apartment.

In 2021, the 33-year-old admin officer in this #NairaLife was forced to leave her seven-year marriage with her two children. Years of financial abuse had begun to evolve into physical abuse. She also went from having zero income for years to juggling three jobs and then solely providing for her children on a ₦45k salary. Her life is much better now, and it started with one job change.

The 41-year-old software developer in this #NairaLife had built considerable wealth over a 10-year career and was on his way to achieving his second-passport dreams when he lost his entire life savings to a botched crypto project and cryptocurrency exchange in 2022. Two years later, he’s rebuilding his savings and investment portfolio and chasing a $1m/month payday.

The couple in this week’s NairaLife previously broke up because of their different financial situations. But they found their way back and have now been married for three years. Francis* (32) earns ₦400k/month and Helen* (29) earns ₦365k/month. They’ve decided that the trick to navigating their very different money habits is by equally splitting their joint expenses. How’s it working out?

This 28-year-old banker’s ₦165k/month salary isn’t what pays the bills. He’s a self-taught dog breeder and dealer who got into the dog business by chance in 2018. Now, he makes up to ₦1m monthly and doesn’t see himself ever going broke again. This is his #NairaLife.

In February 2023, this 25-year-old UI/UX designer had three jobs. A month later, she lost two of them. She’s currently unemployed, but runs a thrift business and YouTube channel. She hopes to add cocoa farming to that list one day.

Interesting fact about this 25-year-old freelancer: She once sold personal items to afford food in uni. No, she wasn’t poor. She just had a spending problem that continued even after she began making a decent income in 2022. She makes better financial decisions now; what changed?