EP. 236 - Money Expert Exposes The Salary Trap Keeping You Working for Life ft. Chidera Peters

The Savvy Wallet Podcast

Host Ato interviews Chidera Peters, a personal finance creator who shares her journey from extreme financial hardship as a Nigerian migrant

Key takeaways

• Chidera Peters grew her investment portfolio from just £10 in 2022 to approximately £70,000 by 2026.
• She advocates for the 'Igba boy' (Igbo apprenticeship) philosophy of seeking knowledge and training before taking financial leaps.

Main topics

• Personal finance journey
• Migrant financial challenges in the UK

Notable quotes

The biggest mistake a lot of people make is not seeking out information.

Conclusion

This episode serves as a roadmap for using income, education, and disc

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:00) I'm a first generation migrant. There's no family, there's no uncle, there's no auntie, there's nobody I know here. I was the brokest I had ever been. Everyone's just crying thinking about it. It's the hardest thing I've ever experienced in my life. There were days where I would literally not eat. I learned that in churches, they share food. I would literally wake up, go to the first church. If I don't see a table set up with food Speaker 1 (0:17) and everything, I'm leaving. How did you get into this space of talking about money and even your journey of seeking it? I Speaker 2 (0:23) realized I'm going to be here for a while. I need to start finding ways to accumulate wealth. Speaker 1 (0:27) The biggest Speaker 2 (0:27) mistake a lot of people make is not seeking out. information and i can't fault a lot of people because they're just trying to get by you're paying a time tax without realizing it so in 2022 i put 10 pounds at the start of 2023 i had just 5 000 pounds that i had invested and this 2026 i'm at 70. salary is a wealth building tool when i started my savings rate was around 20 percent currently my savings rate is about 60 percent my Speaker 1 (0:50) income has gone up steadily but Speaker 2 (0:52) my expenses have stayed on the same line if you want to have financial clarity you need to have proper systems for your money the first thing is automating everything. Speaker 1 (0:59) What would you say is enough for you? I Speaker 2 (1:01) don't want to be a bologna, a milonia. No, I just want to have enough. When you're starting investing, it's not so much about the returns. It's about the habits. Speaker 1 (1:08) What's your makeup of your portfolio? What would you say is the right order for turning that income into wealth? And what should they prioritize first? Speaker 1 (1:35) Welcome back to another episode of the podcast. I'm your host, Atto. We have a special guest in the building. We have Chidara, who is a growth consultant, content creator, and personal finance advocate who grew up in Nigeria before moving to the UK. After starting her investing journey with just £10 in 2022, Chidara has since built an investment portfolio worth around £70,000 while also becoming a homeowner. Chidara, how are you doing today? Speaker 2 (2:00) I'm doing okay. I'm doing all right. Thank you. Speaker 1 (2:04) So this is your first podcast, right? Speaker 2 (2:06) Yes, it is. Which is, Speaker 1 (2:07) you know, when we were talking about that, I was like, wow, like, you know, you do so much content, you do so much great content. So I'm, you know, I'm very happy that you, you know, chosen to be featured on the podcast. And I feel that we're going to learn a lot from your journey. But I wanted to take it back a little bit, right? So there are things we inherit from when we grow up that we never constantly choose, you know, our definition of success or appetite for risk. even what we believe a good life looks like. What do you think Nigeria gave you before you were old enough to realize you were receiving it? Speaker 2 (2:38) Nigeria. I love my country. So I think for me, it's resilience. I think that's the word I would say. So that's the thing that has been imbibed in me, like right from childhood. I mean, if you know in Nigeria, and there's this typical, we have the hustle mentality, we're always going to make it. So for me, it's that. spirit of resilience so how it plays out is it doesn't matter how bad things get i just know it's going to work out and it's going to work out because i'm going to give my all i'm going to keep trying i'm going to keep pushing so for me it's just that culture or that um spirit of resilience always trying always striving so that's something that has been imbibed in me like nigeria has given me that i'm grateful for yeah yeah Speaker 1 (3:18) and how do you use that to day you know in terms of the work that you do obviously you know in your it's not really a nine to five you're more like let's say contract yes contracting and content creation how does it like apply to your life today yeah Speaker 2 (3:31) so how it plays out for me um with my work and everything is just like um always striving for more um and also it doesn't matter how hard things get i'm always trying to going to try and find a way like I have this optimistic out of you with even my job with my finances with my life in general there's always something better like the best is yet to come so it doesn't matter how bad things might look now I know that I'm going to get through it so that's how it like it plays out in other things yeah Speaker 1 (3:58) and what values would you say um from your upbringing especially your ebook culture you know we're both ebook we talked about it what would you say is like from your Igbo culture had the biggest you know impact on you not just from you know personally but also like wealth building as well okay Speaker 2 (4:13) so a couple of things now the first um in Igbo culture there's something called Igba boy so it's the Igbo apprenticeship system is very popular is how like the Igbo people were able to build themselves up after the civil war I'm not going to go into that Speaker 1 (4:25) so Speaker 2 (4:26) essentially one of the things that has like taught me or something I've taken from that being Igbo is the fact that it's very important to learn before you take the leap. So the whole idea is a young boy or young girl serves on that someone for a couple of years, learning the trade, learning everything they can. And then at the end of the period, their master, not master, their boss settles them like with money to start up their business. So the whole idea is to help that person avoid making expensive mistakes because you're already learning on that someone who has done the trade. So how this has played out for me in my finances is I'm always going to seek knowledge. I'm not... about to make mistakes that I can literally avoid that's going to cost me a lot of money. So I pay for consultations. I pay for courses. I pay for books. I'm going to pay. Like, I think the most I've paid for a consultation is almost close to like a thousand. Really? Yes. And I paid because I knew what I wanted to get out of it. So that has like, that stems from my, um, evil upbringing, just like seeking out knowledge. Um, and then I think the other thing I would say is wealth is not just about you looking out for yourself. It's also bringing other people up. I agree, yeah. Yeah, so part of this Iba Boy culture is also that it's not just you making it. You also have to help someone. So you've gotten there. Can you throw the ladder down so the next person comes up? So that also affects how I approach everything, which is also why I actively teach about personal finances. Because, okay, I'm like, oh, this is working. Let me help the next person get it right. So that's kind of like how my... evil culture affects how I approach things. I Speaker 1 (5:59) like that. That's fascinating. And what's refreshing about it is the fact that you said that you pay for stuff because I don't know, you know, if you've experienced this, but there can be this stigma to pay for education. The only stigma where there isn't too much stigma is university. I think people are kind of accepting, oh, if you get a degree. yeah, I'm happy to pay for it. When it comes to things like courses, a lot of people say, oh, this person's a scam. Yes, there are bad courses out there, but there are also good courses out there. So it's refreshing to hear that you've actually, you know, actually paid for knowledge and you thought that it was valuable. And I think more people need to not always expect things. Yes, free is good. Me and you both buy free content, but I think there's nothing wrong with also paying where you think that there's going to be value, like you say, to speed up the journey. For me, I would pay, for something that would teach me. Like, for example, with YouTube, if I knew at the time that there was somebody in terms of like podcasting, because podcasting is, there wasn't really anybody in the UK anyway saying, okay, this is the blueprint to do. If I had that, I would have probably paid for it because it would have taught me a lot. I mean, I spent a lot of time figuring out like. you know, formats, you know, like guest picking, you know, how to do my thumbnail titles, all this. I had to like do a lot of experiment. I'm still experimenting, but it would have helped a lot. So I think there is value in paying sometimes. Speaker 2 (7:20) Yes, more people need to pay. So the thing is, there's a ton of free content out there. And when people start making that argument, oh, why do I have to pay? I'm like, you're not just paying for the content. You're paying for what that person's time would help you achieve. okay so you're not just paying for the time not just is what will you be able to achieve with that information that's what you're trying that's what you're paying for and also you're paying for all the expensive mistakes all the research you have to do someone's literally going to be like hey just do this do that so for example the a thousand pounds i was talking about it was regarding like angel investing and property investing now if i don't pay that thousand pounds And I go and buy a property and then I'm going to lose a lot of money. Like the capital I'm going to put into that is a lot. 1,000, the trade-off for me in that sense, it's not comparable. Like paying 1,000 to save myself 10,000 pounds worth of headache. So people also need to look at the trade-off. So you're not just paying for the content, you're paying for what it will help you achieve. That's one good way to look at it. Speaker 1 (8:16) Yeah, I completely agree. So, you know, many African households, right? There's this strong culture of providing, you know, family responsibility and helping people back home, which, you know, we both understand that. How do you honor that culture without, you know, sacrificing your own long-term financial security? And it's not only just back home, it's even like if... your family's in the same country as you. I think sometimes people call that like the black tax. Yeah. How do you... navigate that yeah Speaker 2 (8:43) so i think this is something that especially when like if you moved to the uk from like maybe nigeria obviously there's usually this unspoken expectation that you would look out for the people back home and all of that so i think uh there are a couple of ways i've been able to manage it but what i want to say first is you know how on the flight they say put on your own oxygen mask first before you put on for the next even they mother they tell you put your own first before you put it for your child because if you don't you may not have enough oxygen to complete like completely put on the oxygen mask for the next person. So what I mean by that is at the end of the day, we're all responsible for our financial wellbeing. Like you're the one in the driver's seat of your finances. And if you don't look out for yourself, nobody's going to do that. Okay. So when it comes to black tax, there are a couple of things. The first is to. plan for it. So like have a budget. What typically happens is that when, you know, needs arise, people just like send, then they keep sending. But if you have a budget and a pocket for it, where you draw from, then it becomes easy to manage. So for example, you could decide every month I'm saving a hundred pounds towards this pot. And this is the pot I'm drawing from. If this pot is empty, I can't send except it's a life or death situation. That's different. Another thing is to have clear expectations. So this was something I did with my family. So I moved to UK as an international student. I was on a scholarship. And at the time, I don't know what they thought I was doing here. They thought I was like getting money and getting leads. So I had to have a call with them. I'm like, see, this is, I'm a student. Let's start from there. I don't make a lot of money. And just being honest with my family, like. I'm going to be sending a certain amount every month. And that's the amount I'm sticking to. That money has to work. And then apart from, you know, deciding a certain amount, another thing I did was to upskill. the people that rely on me. So what this looks like is, for example, I have a sister who has a skill. I'm like, what do you need to be able to do this on a skill that can support you? So I invested in her. She went for a training course for six months, got established, gave her money to start her business. And now she's literally supporting a lot of things like back home. So those are the ways to do it. Have a budget, have honest conversations, create a certain amount that you'll be remitting. And then... upskill enable the people that are relying on you to stand on like on their own two feet if that helps yeah i Speaker 1 (11:04) like the second one especially like the fact that like now is actually like it's like what they say like teach a man to fish right like you and i think i think essentially that's what you're doing right you're teaching somebody to actually and i think that's the point because yes you can give give give but then you're always going to be giving. But if you actually teach somebody how to get their own, then it's not that you don't want to give, of course, if you can, you've got to, but then it's almost that reliance on you, right? You want to kind of remove that because you're dealing with your, you're growing, you're trying to understand how the systems work. You are having your own family. You have your own stresses here. Right. I don't know. Sometimes I think like, they think that UK is like super easy. Oh, the money's on the trees. Speaker 2 (11:47) Exactly. Right. Like it's hard. Speaker 1 (11:48) It's hard work. It is. It's really hard. You have to work really hard here. You can't just, you know. dos and it's gonna just money's gonna come to you it's not it doesn't doesn't work like that actually talking about your time in the uk what was like the hardest thing for you to adjust to when you you know when you moved here okay Speaker 2 (12:08) i wanted to say the Speaker 1 (12:08) weather i mean everybody it Speaker 2 (12:10) was i came in the peak of winter it was a lot but that's that's not it um i think for me the first thing was the financial hardship i faced yeah i've never experienced that in my life so okay Speaker 1 (12:22) like Speaker 2 (12:22) i said i came here on Speaker 1 (12:23) a Speaker 2 (12:23) scholarship however I was supposed to be paid out stipends every month. So when I arrived, there was a delay with my stipends. Mind you, I had like liquidated a lot of things. I came in with some cash, obviously, but you have to pay rent and then you have to pay holding deposits. So just the rent and the holding deposit was almost a thousand pounds gone. And I had not even started. So when I came in the first three months, four months, actually, the stipend did not come in. Speaker 1 (12:49) So what that meant was I was broke and I was Speaker 2 (12:52) like the brokest I had ever been. And also not coming from like a very privileged background where my parents could send me money. No, it meant I had to figure out how to survive. And also I'm a first generation migrant. So there's no family. There's no uncle. There's no auntie. There's nobody I know here. I was literally dropped in the airport on that day. So what that meant was I started going to church. So I learned that in churches. They share food. Some churches share food. So when I learned that on Sunday, I'll literally wake up, go to the first church. I'll look at the back. If I don't see a table set up with food and everything, I'm leaving. Like I'm not there for the worship. I'm not there for the message. I moved to the next church. Speaker 1 (13:31) That Speaker 2 (13:31) was what I did. I was literally church hopping on Sundays. I'll do that. And then, so finally I found this church where. Every Sunday they shared jollof rice. So I'll go there with my tupperware, my, you know, packs. After the service, I'm packing food. I'm packing rice, like, to last me for the week. Speaker 1 (13:47) There were Speaker 2 (13:47) days where I'll literally not eat because I was, like, that broke. And then part of it, I mean, the rice could help, but it could not carry me for the whole week, right? I had to be open with the pastors in the church. I'm like, I'm broke. I'm going to die if you don't help me. And what that meant was the church, they were able to give me some funds. I think it was like 20 pounds every week or so. The church would give me cash to help me survive. So this meant there was a lot of trade-off for me. Instead of taking the bus to school, I'm going to walk it. I'm going to do Speaker 1 (14:17) a 40-minute walk to the campus because if I pay that two pounds, I'm not going to eat the next day. Yeah, Speaker 2 (14:22) so that was it for me. That was the hardest thing that I... I want to cry thinking about it. It's the hardest thing I've ever experienced in my life. The financial hardship that I went through upon arriving. But then, I mean, four months down the line, my money came in. I was not working. And Speaker 1 (14:36) that Speaker 2 (14:36) came in. Speaker 1 (14:36) It was a lot. It Speaker 2 (14:37) was a lot. So they paid all the four months upfront at once. It was very tough. Wow. Speaker 1 (14:44) I mean, look how far you've come. It's almost as if that time did happen. But of course, we have to acknowledge that it did happen. That is crazy. What did you feel like you learned? during that time, you know, and what do you feel like, you know, moving here didn't prepare you for, you know, in terms of that? Speaker 2 (15:03) I mean, I think what it taught me is just, it's very important to plan first. for the worst. I was planning for the best. Like, okay, I knew I was going to come here. My money will come in. I never thought of, okay, what if my money delays? What's that going to look like? So what I took out from that experience is always important to plan for the worst. And it might sound very pessimistic, but what that looks like in reality is like having savings, which is what, you know, we all call emergency fund. I came here with, I liquidated everything. And also probably not the best idea to sell everything for one. Like if you want to embark on events, sure it's not necessarily a good idea to sell everything you have just to put into this one thing right it's good to still hold on to some things while taking a calculated risk so that's kind of like how it's played out and i've like learned like those are the learnings i took from that season moving forward okay that Speaker 1 (15:53) makes that makes sense and it's crazy that you you know this is why like you say emergency fund is so important and you know your stories Like why these steps? And it's so sad when I think about it sometimes, right? Like the lack of financial education, right? It has such a big impact. I always, you know, I always say it is why I'm so passionate about it. Has such a big impact on people's lives that you don't even realize until you get to like rock bottom. Wow. Like how important this education is. So, you know, what financial disadvantages would you say come, you know, come with starting life in the UK that someone born here may never realize they have? The advantages, obviously, is that it's somebody you know. There's Speaker 2 (16:32) a lot. Okay. Speaker 1 (16:33) Okay, good. List them for me then. The first thing Speaker 2 (16:36) I would say is, let me just give you a backstory. So I was talking to one of my white colleagues, so when I was a student, and we're talking, I was like, oh, I paid visa fees. I paid immigration health surcharge. And he was like, he's a Brit. He was like, what's that? Like, you had to pay visa, like, what's visa fees? Like, he was not even aware that people paid. to come into the uk and then apart from the visa fees i'm then like yeah i also paid ihs fee which is almost like two thousand plus pounds what is the hs fee exactly Speaker 1 (17:05) yeah so ihs is you paying to have access to the nhs oh Speaker 2 (17:09) so if you're coming to