Financial freedom: an elusive goal for
I thought I was so clever. But I had no idea what my debts were costing me in interest and fees each month, and nor did I realise that I was living a lifestyle I couldn’t afford.
I soon got the message and closed my clothing accounts, paid off my overdraft and eventually asked the bank to close the overdraft facility.
It took me more than a year and a great deal of determination, but I had realised that credit was holding me back. Whatever you pay in interest you could have put to work for you – earning interest.
Eunice Sibiya, an independent financial coach, says: “We get so entrenched in our habits. If you’ve been working for two years, you’ve received 24 pay cheques.”
And you may already have formed bad money habits. Each pay cheque is an opportunity to squander or save. It requires a mind shift for some to realise that saving is the ultimate reward. “Time is one of your best friends when you’re investing,” says Anelisa Mti, a financial planner at Citadel.
And inflation is one of your biggest enemies. “For this reason, you need to invest for a return of more than inflation. When you invest in the market [in shares through a unit trust fund, for example], it will give you above-inflation returns over time.”
We tend to think we have so much time. But it’s sobering to work out how many pay cheques you are away from retirement. Make a plan now to use each of them to save.
Wherever you are on your journey, take heart. You can change when you’re committed to changing. Bad habits can be replaced with good ones. And you don’t have to go it alone. Mimicking the habits of people who are good at managing their money helped me. So did finding an independent financial planner who aims to help me reach my goals and not to sell me products. I might not be where I want to be financially, but I’m better off than I was a year ago, and that’s something for me to celebrate, on Women’s Day and any other day.