Ndubuisi Ekekwe’s 45-20-20-15 Personal Finance Strategy

Career is more than making money. But money bribes people out of inconveniences of life. So, it remains very strange that you can attend a university, and graduate with no one making a concrete effort to educate you on how to manage personal finance. Yes, they do educate you on corporate finance and broad skills on how to make money for companies, by optimizing factors of production. For me, that is a big failure in the modern system of our education.

As a banker, I understood one thing: how much you make is a small part of your financial success and independence. Interestingly, getting that independence requires moving from a static phase to a dynamic phase (as in mechanics in physics). Simply, you need to take action – and that action means having a plan.

In my first month as a banker, I developed a 45-20-20-15 Strategy (explained in my Tekedia Mini-MBA portfolio allocation for new grads), allocating wages to different “catalysts for success”. Doing simple calculus and regression, I figured out that by putting 15% on dividend paying stocks and other investable assets, for every 5 years of work, I will get wages for two years free, keeping inflation and currency losses constant.

45-20-20-15 Strategy

• 45 self and family (car, suits, family, etc)
• 20 personal development (professional certifications, etc)
• 20 others (anything)
• 15 investment (stocks, etc)

My strategy has since changed since my needs have also evolved. But one thing is constant: there is always a plan, including how to get to the Forbes list. Why not? It would be breaking news news and Ovim village can even send me to the ikoro!

I invite you to read this piece by Ojukwu Emmanuel where he examines financial education and broad financial literacy. It has value.

The Importance Of Financial Education

Register for Tekedia Mini-MBA (June 9 – Sept 6, 2025), and join Prof Ndubuisi Ekekwe and our global faculty; click here.