#MoneyByZikoko: Is Your Career in the Way of Your Funds?

Vol 11 | 02-01-2023

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Happy new year!

If you’re resuming work this week, I’m sending hugs. Why can’t our capitalist bosses leave us for the first week of the year?

Or… are you a capitalist boss?

If you’re like me, money is a big part of your 20223. Making money, spending money, investing money, everything. For everything you need to know about money, don’t forget to check your inbox every Monday for Money by Zikoko. We have some gems planned for you this year.

For this year’s first Naira Life, we spoke with a university-trained architectural engineer who decided to chase tech after his parents had spent over $100k on his education. He was even meant to take over his dad’s architecture company. Last year, he had where he made $14k as a software dev working from home.

Did he make the right decision?

In this letter:

The #NairaLife of the Software Dev That Only Thinks in Dollars
Game: #HowMuchLast
Money Meanings: “Liability”

Last Year
In Money

₦875=$1 That was the highest black market exchange rate for the dollar last year — in November. As a nation, we had to fall to our knees and beg our currency to fight back. We’re currently at around ₦736=$1. What’s the lowest/highest we’ll do this year?

Red, green and blue Those are the new colours of our recently redesigned ₦200, ₦500 and ₦1000 notes, respectively. We’ll see them in full use this year. One thing we’re certain of — Nigerians do not like the new notes. We also had some kind thoughts on the redesign.

₦20k Effective January 9th 2023, that’s the most money you can withdraw from an ATM or POS in a day. In a week, it’s ₦100k. If you want to withdraw more than ₦100k in a week, you have to do it over the counter. And you’ll pay a 5% processing fee. That’s only a small part of Meffy’s new cash policy. We broke it down here.

The #NairaLife of the Software Dev That Only Thinks in Dollars

After five years in university and over $100k in fees, today’s subject on #NairaLife decided in his final year that he didn’t want to work in architecture again. Clearly, his parents weren’t happy. But maybe their minds are changed now that he’s making tech money.

An excerpt: “I didn’t want to look back at 30 and regret not going into tech. In my head, it was: worst case scenario, I end up with a really high-paying job; best case, I create a product that makes me a billionaire. Win-win”

Read His Story Here