*FINANCE AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP* TOPIC: *MULTIPLY, DON'T MAINTAIN; INCEST OR BE FINANCIALLY STAGNANT...* There comes a time when survival must give way to strategy, when earning is no longer enough, and when maintaining is not only mediocre but dangerous. Anything that does not grow begins to decay. The same is true in your financial life. Money that is kept idle is not just wasting potential, it is silently dying. If your money is not working for you, then you are still working for money. And if you are always working for money, you will never be free. Many people think they are being wise when they "just save." But saving without multiplying is the illusion of progress. Imagine putting your money under your mattress or locking it in a bank account with interest rates that are outpaced by inflation. Every day, the value of that money drops. What was ₦100,000 yesterday may be worth ₦80,000 in a year’s time, not because the number changed, but because the power behind it weakened. Maintenance is not safety; it is slow death masked as discipline. Remember the parable of the talents in the Bible? The one servant who hid his talent was not praised for preserving it. He was rebuked for not multiplying it. That is heaven’s verdict on idle money. In economics, value appreciates when resources are optimized. In scripture, fruitfulness is commanded: “Be fruitful and multiply.” This is not just about procreation, it’s a principle. Your money must reproduce. Your resources must bear fruit. Your opportunities must be converted into assets. Money, like a seed, only grows when planted. Kept in your pocket, it does nothing. But when invested, it becomes a tree with fruits and seeds of its own. A ₦50,000 investment in agriculture, real estate, stocks, or business can become ₦500,000 in time, if handled wisely. There are four major vehicles through which financial multiplication becomes reality. Let us explore them briefly: a). Real Estate: Land doesn’t depreciate; it appreciates. That is why the wealthy don’t just buy land, they collect it. You can sleep while your land appreciates. Build homes, rent apartments, lease farmland, these are long-term paths to sustainable income. b). Stocks and Mutual Funds: Owning shares in a company means you benefit from their profits without managing their burdens. Whether you are awake or asleep, your money grows with them. Mutual funds, ETFs, and dividend-paying stocks offer both safety and growth. c). Agriculture: The world will always need food. A wise man once said, “He who controls food controls the future.” Investing in livestock, poultry, fish farming, or crop production is not just noble, it’s profitable. It creates jobs, feeds families, and builds legacy wealth. d). Entrepreneurship: Build something. Own something. Whether it’s a bakery, a cleaning agency, a delivery business, or an online store, entrepreneurship transforms ideas into income. The richest people in the world are not the best employees; they are visionaries who turned passions into profits. Idle money is dangerous. Money is not meant to sit, it is meant to circulate. When you spend it foolishly, it vanishes. When you save it without investment, it shrinks. But when you invest it wisely, it multiplies. Look around you, everything big today started small yesterday. What is killing many people financially is not poverty, but passivity. They earn and consume. They save but never grow. They work but never build. They hustle but never multiply. There is no miracle for financial multiplication outside knowledge, risk, and investment. Even miracles require a seed. Ask the widow in the Bible whose oil multiplied, she had to pour what she had. God cannot bless emptiness; He blesses what is used. Build assets, not liabilities. Grow wealth, not worries. Multiply, don’t maintain. Because in the world of finance, you either invest or you remain financially irrelevant. Your servant, _@ Fr. Albert Nwosu (Nwachinemere)_