I've Been Saving in Dollars Since 2022. Here's What I've Learned

Talk Money with Busha is a series of candid conversations that explore how real people are earning, saving, and adapting as markets shift. Each piece centres on lived financial decisions and what they reveal about stability, risk, and the strategies we use to build and protect wealth.

When 30-year-old tech professional Maxwell began saving in dollars in 2022, his only goal was to build a reliable financial safety net. After navigating unexpected gains and the recent market plateau, his perspective on what truly constitutes safe money has evolved. In this candid conversation with Busha, he shares the realities of his dollar journey and the practical lessons he’s learned along the way.

When did you first start saving in dollars, and what were you trying to protect yourself from?

It started almost immediately after I got my first job in 2022. I wasn't thinking about it too deeply at the time; it just made sense. I was earning in naira, watching the economy, and I knew that holding naira alone was a risk. So, I made a decision early on: I'd convert at least 45% of my salary into dollars every month to protect myself against naira volatility.

The dollar was sitting around ₦450 at the time, so it felt like a fair exchange.

What did the dollar represent to you then?

Stability, mostly. Nigeria has a history of currency shocks, so the dollar felt like a wall between me and that volatility. If the naira fell, my savings wouldn't fall with it. That was the logic, and honestly, it worked.

Walk us through what that first year looked like in real terms.

I was saving about ₦100,000 a month. By the end of 2023, I had put away roughly ₦1 million in naira terms, which would have been about $2,200 at the old rate.

Then the naira crashed.

By mid-2023, the exchange rate had risen above ₦800 and was continuing to climb. Almost overnight, that $2,200 I had saved was now worth close to ₦2 million in local value. My savings had doubled without me doing anything. I hadn't made a genius investment; I had just held dollars while everything around me got more expensive. That was the moment the strategy felt incredibly validated.

So what happened next?

I doubled down. I increased my savings rate to 50% of my salary and raised my monthly contribution to ₦150,000 as my income grew. But here's the thing: the naira kept declining in value. By the time I was converting in 2024, the rate had moved toward ₦1,600.

So, despite committing almost twice as much naira, I ended up saving around $1,250 that year, less than the year before. I was putting in more money and getting fewer dollars out of it. The strategy that had worked so beautifully in 2023 had inverted. It was a difficult reality to sit with.

Recently, the exchange rate has plateaued around ₦1,400. How has that changed your perspective?

Honestly, it brought a lot of calm. I think I've finally gotten over the whiplash of those previous wild swings. Because the rate hasn't shifted dramatically in a while, it forced me to reset my expectations.

I realised that the double your money experience was an anomaly. It only happened because of that huge, sudden decline in the naira at the time. Today, I’m back to using the dollar for its true purpose: as an edge to protect my wealth, not a magic trick to multiply it. I'm just holding it to hedge against any future shocks.

Did that change how you understand safe money?

Yes. It helped me separate two different concepts: the dollar as a hedge against devaluation, and the dollar as a return-generating asset.

In 2023, because the naira was dropping so fast, those two things felt exactly the same. But sitting in this current market, it became clear they aren't. Safe doesn't necessarily mean profitable on a daily basis, and I had to remind myself of that.

So where does your strategy stand today?

I've rebalanced a bit. I'm putting about 40% of my income into dollar savings now, down from 50%, and I'm actively considering diversifying into other assets. The dollar is still a massive part of the picture, but it's not the only picture the way it once was.

What I try to remind myself is that the 2023 gain was real. That value didn't disappear. The foundation of the strategy still holds. It just can't be the only floor I stand on when it comes to building wealth.

If you were starting over today with what you know now, what would you do differently?

I'd diversify earlier, and I'd be more careful about the difference between protecting wealth and growing it, because they require different tools.

But I'm not abandoning the strategy. On a scale of one to ten, I'd say I'm at a seven with where my finances are right now. It's not the final destination, but it is solid ground. Good days are coming. I'm just building smarter while I wait.