By PETER EGWUATU

Financial consultants and investments experts have advised workers in Nigeria to learn about the rudiments of financial and investment management in order to ensure sustainable living standards after retiring from active service.

Experts who spoke at a one-day financial workshop organised by Klass and Korporate Consultants International for staff of Chevron Nigeria advised workers to cultivate the habit of savings and investments.

The guest speaker at the workshop and regional head, public sector, South-South and South-East, Ecobank Nigeria Limited, Mr. Abayomi Adeyeri, said people with adequate financial and investment knowledge would be able to make sound decisions that would ensure that they are able to live sustainable and wealthy life.

According to him, the purpose of the workshop was to activate staff potentials in order to expand their overall total income.

“Your money should work for you rather than you work for your money. The participants should be able to make sound financial decisions at the end of the class, convert debts to savings, savings to investments and in the long run, retire strong, early and wealthy,” Adeyeri said.

Chief executive officer, Klass and Korporate Consultants International, Omoefe Siakpere, pointed out that the main reason why most big earners find themselves broke later in life is because of lack of financial planning.

According to her, planning for the future entails an extensive process of the various elements of a financial plan that should be integrated into overall lifestyle which outlives physical existence to include a person’s estate.

ýShe identified personal income management as one of the fundamental elements for a secure future and rejected insinuations that Chevron staff are too rich to get broke.

“The truth is, money is never enough. What you know comes to play, and even if you earn ten million naira a month, and you do not have enough knowledge to sustain that money, at the end of the day, it all goes down the drain,” Siakpere said.

She pointed out that many staff of Chevron and other oil companies still have challenges after retirement noting that the workshop was aimed at correcting that.

She said the training would possibly become regional as Chevron staff in Warri had already undergone a similar training.

“I think it’s going to be a regional training. We were in Warri the other day and we are in Lagos today and we are going to be in Port Harcourt and Escravos just to enlighten them because this is important,” Siakpere said.

The workshop had eight modules including goal setting, budgeting, savings and investments, planning for a secure retirement, insurance, stress management among others. The workshop also dwelt on personal income basics, roadmap and personal income management as well as how to manage debt and balance assets and liabilities.

ýParticipants were also made to understand how to set goals, plan for the children, pay loans, and avoid some obvious financial traps by money lenders.

She commended the management of Chevron for taking into consideration of the future of their staff and urged Nigerians to plan for their future.

“My message to Nigerians is that when you fail to plan, you are planning to fail,” she said.