Many people don’t know it, but financial discipline is the secret to building wealth, reducing stress and gaining control over your money. And it’s not some strange mystery! All you need is a set of habits and choices that empower you to make informed decisions about your finances — paving the way for a more secure and prosperous future.
You can develop financial discipline by understanding where you stand financially, setting SMART goals and creating a realistic budget. Then, you’ll need to build a healthy saving habit, monitor your expenses, practice debt management, and seek professional advice.
In this guide, we’ll simplify financial discipline by exploring 8 actionable steps you can follow to stop wasting money and show how PiggyVest can be a valuable partner in your journey to total money mastery. Ready to be financially disciplined? Let’s jump right in!
1. Understand where you stand financially
The first step to financial discipline is knowing where you stand. No, we don’t mean where you live or where you are right now — although that does matter. You need to know all you can about your money — where it’s coming from, where it’s going and just how much you’re worth.
You can do this by first tracking your income from all sources (from salaries to side hustles) and then categorising your expenses (everything from rent to “enjoyment funds”). Dong this will give you a comprehensive picture of what’s coming in and what’s going out.
You can record this information in your notes app, on a piece of paper or use a spreadsheet!
The next step is to calculate your net worth by subtracting your total liabilities (debts) from your total assets (savings, investments, property). This gives a rough (but mostly accurate) snapshot of your financial health.
You can use these numbers as a baseline for setting realistic goals.
2. Set SMART money goals
A money goal provides a north star for your finances — something you can work towards. But to be financially disciplined, this goal must be SMART.
You can set a SMART money goal by making it:
- Specific. Don’t be vague, use actionable goals. For example, “I want to save for a new iPhone” is more effective than saying, “I want to save more money.”
- Measurable. Track your progress towards your goal with concrete numbers. So, saying, “I want to save ₦1,000,000 for a new iPhone” is better since including the actual cost of the phone makes the goal measurable.
- Achievable. Set goals that are realistic and attainable based on your income and expenses. For example, it might not be practical to say you want to save for a ₦1,000,000 iPhone if you earn ₦70,000 per month (unless you have zero expenses — trust fund kid!).
- Relevant. Choose goals that align with your values and priorities. An iPhone might be a priority if you’re a food content creator like Daniel Ochuko and it might be an unnecessary expense if you’re a student trying to save money.
- Time-bound. Set a deadline to create a sense of urgency and motivation. It’s much better to say, “I want to get an iPhone at the end of the year” since the timeframe allows you to set a plan.
Therefore, a great (and SMART) goal will be you saying, “I want to save ₦1,000,000 for a new iPhone before the end of the year” if you need a new device and earn ₦1,100,000 monthly with a total expense of ₦300,000.
You can use the SMART framework for any financial goal — whether you want to save your first million, rent a new apartment or build an emergency fund.
3. Develop a realistic budget and personalise it
Now that you have a goal (or multiple goals), it’s time to create a budget. A budget is your financial roadmap, and It helps you allocate your income efficiently. With one, you can plan for and cover your needs, wants and savings goals.
We recommend you explore our article on budget creation if you need help making one that’s amazing, but remember to make it realistic and tailor it to your needs.
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If you’re unsure of where how to start categorising your money, use the 50/30/20 rule by setting aside 50% of your income for your needs, 30% for your wants and 20% for your savings.
Of course, you can also try other budgeting methods — like envelope budgeting.
This technique involves allocating specific amounts of money to categories for different expenses. It helps promote disciplined spending by focusing on and limiting expenses within each category.
With an envelope budget, you could break down, say, your monthly transport expenses into weekly “chunks” to prevent overspending and use the Safelock feature on PiggyVest to control your access to the “extra funds” (while earning up to 17% returns annually).
4. Save money — make it a habit
The easiest way to save is to make it automatic. Fortunately, the PiggyVest app has all you need to make saving a habit. We recommend you start with Piggybank and use Autosave to automatically put money aside as often as possible.
Piggybank is great for financial discipline because you only get four free withdrawal days in a year — so you’re less likely to spend money for the fun of it. Plus, with up to 14% annual interest on your funds, you get paid for being in control — an extra win for your finances.
You can set up monthly savings on Piggybank if you get paid monthly or use save daily if that works for you — it all depends on your money goals. Just pay yourself first before spending on needs and wants.
This approach ensures consistent savings, even when you’re tempted to spend. It also removes the temptation entirely since your excess cash will be far away from impulses and unplanned enjoyment.
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5. Monitor your expenses and curtail your impulses
Impulse spending can sabotage your financial progress — even if you budget every kobo of your income. Fortunately, you can stay in control by tracking and curtailing expenses.
You can easily track your daily expenses if you’re a PocketApp user by checking your transaction history on the home tab or generating your account statement in-app. Alternatively, you can use budgeting apps or spreadsheets.
With this information, you can identify spending patterns and areas where you can cut back.
But let’s be honest: cutting back is rarely the problem — impulse spending is. From random wraps of shawarma to unplanned shopping sprees, your budget can take a serious hit.
But there’s a way to keep things in check! When tempted by an impulse purchase, ask yourself if it aligns with your financial goals and if you truly need it. If that doesn’t work, use PiggyVest!
Piggybank also allows you to save money manually — anytime you want — and you can save some or all of the money you’re tempted to spend. That way, you can curtail your impulses and enjoy a sweet 14% annual interest on your funds while you’re at it.
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6. Be ruthless with debt management
Besides being an efficient planner, an obsessive saver and a smart spender, you also need to master debt management to be financially disciplined. An excellent way to do this is to avoid debt completely, but this isn’t always feasible. After all, there are certain situations where taking debt might be unavoidable or even better for your finances.
Still, the trick is to stay away from dangerous debt that can derail your life.
You also want to avoid high-interest debt — like the ones from sketchy loan apps. These kinds of debt can be a major obstacle to financial freedom and they can pull you into a financial hole you may never escape from.
For debt repayment, we already discussed some helpful tips in our article on debt management. We recommend reading it to know exactly how you can work towards being debt-free in Nigeria — regardless of the amount involved.
7. Seek professional advice
Now, this might seem a little random, but a solid piece of advice can do you much good when it comes to financial discipline. However, we recommend you only seek money advice from real professionals — like financial planners and tax consultants.
These experts are more than qualified to help you if you’re struggling and they can even offer tailor-made recommendations that will help transform your finances for good. Still, we recommend that you consider seeking advice for specific situations like retirement planning or estate planning.
For example, you could reach out to Odunayo Eweniyi — COO and co-founder of PiggyTech — and ask financial questions via the Ask Odun column on our Money Matters newsletter.
8. Review and adjust your financial habits regularly
While the seven strategies we’ve shared so far are a great place to start, the truth is that your financial situation and goals will evolve. Needless to say, this means that your approach to building and maintaining discipline must improve as well.
Therefore, we recommend that you regularly review your goals, examine your budget and track your spending habits to ensure they align with your current needs and aspirations.
Don’t hesitate to make adjustments as necessary to stay on track!
The bottom line
Making bank is important, but having self-control with money is one of the most important skills you need to be financially stable — regardless of your income. The good news is that you can learn financial discipline and you don’t have to starve or abandon the good life to stay disciplined.
The tips we’ve shared in this article are perfect for everyone — whether you’re just developing discipline or trying to maintain it. So, don’t hesitate to put what you’ve learned into practice right now!
The articles on the PiggyVest Blog are developed by seasoned writers who use original sources like authoritative websites, news articles and academic journals to perform in-depth research. An experienced editor fact-checks every piece before it is published to ensure you are always reading accurate, up-to-date and balanced content.
