Desmond Bredu, Head of Client Coverage at Stanbic Investment Management Services, has urged young people pursuing financial success to treat setbacks as lessons rather than allowing failure to end their ambitions.
Speaking at the Wealth Foundations panel during the Cedi Sense Conference 2026 at ESP Hotel on November 7, Bredu called on participants to take a deliberate approach to managing money, remain persistent when facing difficulties and keep their expectations of life realistic.
“Whatever thing you are doing to build wealth, fail, but fail forward,” he said.
Bredu said unsuccessful attempts could provide useful experience, enabling people to reassess their decisions and take a more informed approach to future financial choices.
The panel was held as part of the conference theme, “Building Wealth in the Digital Age”. It examined practical ways to increase income, manage finances effectively and create wealth that can be sustained over time.
Using money with purpose
Bredu also stressed that money should have a wider role than simply being accumulated.
“Money is a tool that we need to use to better ourselves,” he said.
He encouraged young people to think about how their financial resources could support personal development and improve their quality of life. His message was that wealth should be used to make meaningful improvements to people’s circumstances, rather than being treated as the ultimate goal in itself.
The Stanbic Investment Management Services executive also linked financial wellbeing to the way people manage their expectations. He said that maintaining a realistic view of life was important to happiness and comfort.
“All happiness lies in the gap between your expectations and your reality, so maintain a slim gap so that you can be happy and comfortable,” he noted.
His remarks encouraged participants to combine resilience with purposeful financial planning. Rather than viewing setbacks as evidence that a wealth-building effort had failed completely, he said people should use them to learn, make adjustments and continue progressing.
Bredu’s central message was that financial success requires more than earning or accumulating money. It also depends on how individuals respond to disappointment, the decisions they make after experiencing difficulties and the extent to which they use their resources to improve their lives.
