By Jonan Kandwanaho
Africa-Press – Uganda. Let me ask you a question: If your salary doubled tomorrow, would your life drastically change in the long term? Or would it feel good for three months, and then you’d be back to square one—just with more expensive problems?
We live in a world that celebrates income over impact. In Uganda, the pressure to “earn more” is loud. Family expects it. Society demands it. Your landlord silently anticipates it.
But here’s the inconvenient truth: earning more money won’t fix your money problems if you haven’t fixed your money habits.
Too many Ugandans are trapped in a painful loop: get paid, upgrade lifestyle, go broke, wait for payday. Rinse and repeat. You earn Shs1 million? Your rent becomes 400k. Start earning Shs2 million? Now you’re eyeing a Shs900k apartment with a view and DStv Premium. We’re hustling for “more,” but not asking: more for what?
This mindset is what economists call “lifestyle inflation.” Trying to look like you’ve arrived when you’re still walking.
Let me tell you about Anita, a brilliant bank teller I mentored. She got promoted and her salary jumped from Shs1.2 million to Shs2.5 million. Excited, she upgraded her wardrobe, bought an iPhone on credit, moved into a posh apartment, and began buying lunch from cafes instead of packing.
Two years later, her savings account had Shs78,000. Meanwhile, her “ka” Instagram was fire.
Why? Because salary is not a strategy. Wealth isn’t built on income alone—it’s built on intentional decisions.
The first time I realised this, I was running a successful business. Money was coming in fast, but so was my spending. I’d eat out daily and show off at several wedding meetings and most functions like a minister without a portfolio.
Then one day, a financial emergency hit, and I was broke—not because I didn’t earn, but because I didn’t plan.
We need to unlearn the lie that poverty is only about income. Poverty is also about ignorance. About poor planning. About pressure to impress. About fear of missing out.
Here’s the truth that changed my life: it doesn’t matter how much you earn if you don’t know how to manage, multiply, and protect it.
Let’s break it down.
Manage it. Budget like your life depends on it—because it does. Track every shilling. Know your inflows and outflows. If you can’t explain where your money went last month, your wallet is leaking.
Multiply it. Your salary should give birth. Through investment, side hustles, SACCOs, land, farming, stocks—whatever works for you. Don’t just consume. Plant.
Protect it. Insurance isn’t just for rich people. Emergency savings aren’t optional. And staying out of bad debt is a form of wealth protection.
Take Isaac, a boda rider from Ntinda. He makes about Shs50,000 daily. But guess what? He saves SHs10,000 religiously. Every day. That’s Shs300,000 a month.
In a year, he saved Shs3.6 million and bought a second boda. Now he earns passive income. Isaac doesn’t earn much, but he’s strategic.
Compare him to someone earning Shs5 million a month who spends it all on rent, entertainment, and obligations. Who’s really wealthier?
Salary can change your lifestyle. Strategy will change your life.
Let’s stop worshipping salaries like they are the destination. A salary is a resource. A tool. It’s meant to buy you options, not obligations. But if you don’t take control, your income will become a treadmill—and you’ll run fast but go nowhere.
I challenge you this week: sit down with your money. Audit your expenses. Ask yourself why you’re buying what you’re buying. Look at your bank statements the way a detective looks at evidence. What’s your money storytelling?
Then ask the most powerful question: what would wealth look like for me? Not what Instagram says. Not what your friends are doing.
For some, it’s land in the village. For others, it’s school fees for your kids, or retiring your mother, or freedom to leave a toxic job. Whatever it is, chase that.
Because at the end of the day, money doesn’t change your character—it amplifies it. And if you can’t steward Shs500,000 well, Shs5 million will only expose your chaos in high definition.
So yes, work hard. Go for that promotion. Dream big. But remember: your salary is not your savior.
Strategy is.
Plan. Protect. Prosper.
Mr Jonan Kandwanaho is the president of the Money Lenders Association of Uganda
Source: Nilepost News
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