This is the story of how I cleared a 10-year mortgage in 2 years In the year 2000, I signed for my first mortgage KSh 2.7 million, repayable over ten years, with a monthly installment of about KSh 37,000. At the time, it felt significant but manageable. Like many young professionals, I believed the difficult part was getting approved. Once the bank said yes, I was ready to sit back and relax knowing that in 10 years i will be a home owner. That is what traps most people. When many people secure a mortgage, they celebrate the approval rather than confront the obligation. They upgrade furniture, expand their lifestyle, and slowly adjust their expenses until the monthly payment blends into routine existence. Ten years quietly becomes normal. The loan stops feeling temporary and starts feeling permanent. I had a mentor who refused to let that happen. Stewart Henderson, who was serving as CEO of Old Mutual at the time told me something that permanently changed my understanding of debt: a mortgage is not a commitment it is an emergency. Then he introduced a rule that, at the time, felt extreme. Every month I earned commissions, I had to bring my statement to him before spending any money. We would sit down together and allocate it. The bank required KSh 37,000. Stewart ignored that number. Instead, he focused on capacity. Whenever income rose, payments rose. Whenever earnings improved, we attacked the loan. He called it 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐠𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧, treating debt as something to eliminate quickly rather than manage comfortably. The first few months were uncomfortable. The natural instinct after earning more money is to reward yourself. Income creates a feeling of entitlement to enjoy what you worked hard for. But discipline does not negotiate with feelings. Every additional shilling was assigned before it reached my pocket. Something surprising happened. As my income grew, but my lifestyle did not. Because expenses stayed controlled, every increase in earnings accelerated repayment. The balance started shrinking visibly not yearly, but monthly. What had been structured as a ten-year obligation began to feel temporary. Two years later, I made the final payment. Now here’s the surprise, after I serviced the mortgage to completion, my mentor did not congratulate late me. He simply told me to start looking for the next property. Most people follow a familiar sequence: earn, spend, then save what remains. I learned to earn, allocate, then live on the balance. The house was not paid off by income alone; it was paid off by priority. Over the years, advising many individuals, I have noticed a consistent pattern. Nearly everyone wants financial freedom eventually, but very few accept financial discipline immediately. The distance between the two is not measured in years it is measured in habits. Your path does not have to begin with a mortgage. In fact, for many people the smarter starting point is elsewhere, structured savings & investments, or disciplined accumulation strategies that eventually position you for homeownership without pressure.

One of the most expensive financial mistakes a parent can make is waiting until their child is ready for university to start thinking about how to pay for it. By then, the dream is clear. The child has worked hard, the university has been identified, and the family is ready to take the next step. But there is one problem: 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐞𝐝. Parents know their children will eventually need an education. What many do not appreciate is the amount of money required to finance that education, particularly when a child wants to pursue a specialised course such as medicine or engineering. The mistake is not necessarily failing to afford the education. It is failing to prepare for the cost early enough. Think about it this way. When a child is born, a parent has approximately 18 years before university enrolment. Those years are not just a countdown to school admission. They are an opportunity to build a fund towards a clearly defined goal. This is where financial planning changes the conversation. Instead of asking, “Where will I get the money when my child is ready for university?” the better question is, “𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐈 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐯𝐚𝐢𝐥𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐢𝐭?” When I advise parents on education planning, I encourage them to establish a target, determine their investment horizon and identify a structured way to accumulate the required funds. If the goal is to have 10,000,000 million available in 18 years, the plan must account for the amount required, the time available and the effect of inflation. The cost of education today may not be the cost of education 18 years from now. The earlier you begin, the more time you have to build the fund gradually. You also have more room to adjust your contributions as your income grows and your circumstances change. But there is another consideration that parents must not overlook. A good education plan must account for what could go wrong, not just what you hope will go right. Imagine a parent who has been consistently setting money aside for a child’s education. Then, along the way, the parent experiences a disability, a critical illness or dies before the target is reached Without appropriate financial protection, years of disciplined saving could be disrupted, leaving the child’s education exposed to circumstances beyond the family’s control. Now, what if your child is already in primary or secondary school and you have not started? My advice is simple: 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐧𝐨𝐰. You may not have the same amount of time as a parent whose child has just been born, and achieving the same target may require substantially larger contributions. But delaying further only reduces the time available to prepare. Your child should not have to abandon a well-earned opportunity simply because the financial preparation began too late. Your child’s education deserves a plan, not a last-minute scramble.

You can work hard for money your entire life and still struggle financially if you never learn what to do with it

However, there is an important distinction: knowing more does not automatically make you wealthier. Applying what you know is what turns information into results. You can read every book on investing and still fail to invest. You can attend every financial seminar and continue spending without a plan. You can know the importance of saving for retirement and still postpone it for another year. Information becomes valuable when it is put into practice.

A man cannot make more money than his level of information. The more you know, the more you earn.

To be successful you must overcome two things: The fear of failure and the urge for fast results.

The polished shoes, the expensive perfume and the impressive job title may tell you that someone is doing well. Their bank balance, outstanding loans and investment portfolio might tell a very different story. Look closely at some of your salaried friends. They dress well. Their suits are sharply pressed, their dresses are elegant, and they smell of the finest perfumes. They drive to work, attend meetings and carry themselves with the confidence of people who appear to have their finances in order. From the outside, they seem to be doing well. But look a little closer. Some are knee-deep in debt. Their salaries arrive with several claims already waiting: a bank loan, a car repayment, rent, school fees, mobile loans and money owed to friends. They have little in savings and barely any investments to their names. Yet, because a salary arrives every month, they feel financially secure. Until the salary runs out. The last week of the month becomes a struggle. Unexpected expenses trigger panic. Borrowing becomes a temporary solution, and the next payday offers relief before the cycle begins again. This is the uncomfortable reality of financial sickness: you can look financially successful while your finances are quietly falling apart. Imagine working for twenty years, earning progressively better salaries, only to reach a point where losing your job means you cannot maintain your household for even three months. What exactly have those twenty years of earnings built? This is why I encourage people to look beyond their salaries and examine what remains after the money has done its work. How much debt have you accumulated? What savings have you built? What investments are growing in your name? How prepared are you for retirement? If your income stopped today, how long could you maintain your lifestyle without borrowing? One statement I hear repeatedly is that budgeting is impossible unless you earn a certain amount. “You cannot budget on that salary!” Someone earning 30,000 says they cannot budget. Another earning 80,000 says the same thing. Sometimes, even someone earning 200,000 insists that their income is too small to accommodate a financial plan. There is a difference between earning too little to comfortably meet your essential needs and spending without a clear understanding of where your money goes. A budget will not magically make an inadequate income sufficient. It will however help you see your situation clearly. It can reveal whether your essential expenses exceed your income, whether your lifestyle has become too expensive, whether debt repayments are consuming too much of your salary and where adjustments may be possible. Without that information, you are making financial decisions in the dark. You cannot solve a problem you refuse to examine. Saying that you cannot budget because you do not earn enough is a convenient justification for avoiding the exercise altogether. The first step towards financial wellness is acceptance you must be willing to admit that you have not managed your money well, that your debt has become excessive, that you have neglected saving and investing, or that your spending habits are working against your long-term goals. There is no wisdom in continuing down a path that has consistently produced results you are unhappy with simply because it is familiar. If your current way of managing money is not giving you the life you want, why are you so determined to keep doing things the same way? You sought education to improve your career. You seek medical attention when your health requires it. There is equal value in seeking guidance when you need to strengthen your financial position.

Instant gratification is a disease, cure it and always take calculated risks.

What is one lesson your parents taught you that has shaped the person you are today? And for those raising children, what is one lesson you hope your children will never forget? Share it in the comments. You never know who needs to hear the lesson you have to share.

My parents taught me that integrity is priceless. My desire is that my children will always remember to stay true to themselves and do the right thing, even when no one is watching.

Own your mistakes quickly. It makes trust easier to rebuild.

DID YOU KNOW? No one can destroy iron, but its own rust can. Likewise, no one can undermine your financial future quite like your own financial habits can. Just as rust slowly eats away at iron, poor spending habits, delayed investments and a lack of financial discipline can gradually erode the wealth you could have built. Protect your financial future by changing the habits that threaten it.