Reach for your goals: take some advice

Only 27 percent of South Africans believe they are knowledgeable about finance and financial matters, a Global Consumer Survey released by the Financial Planning Institute of Southern Africa (FPI), the professional body for South Africa’s financial planners with the Certified Financial Planner (CFP) accreditation, shows.

However, 74 percent of South Africans consider building a savings plan to be a top priority, the survey shows.

Financial planning is the process of structuring and arranging your financial resources to meet your life goals.

The week ahead (September 5 to 9) is the FPI’s Financial Planning Week. It provides you with a unique opportunity to find out what financial planning is about and how it can benefit you.

Members of the FPI, together with the financial services industry, will be offering the public free financial planning consultations, lectures and financial literacy courses during the week. A number of financial planning practices are offering free initial consultations with clients if you book on certain days next week, legal firms are offering the free drawing up of wills, and some planners are giving talks for young people or financial literacy courses to gardeners and domestic workers.

Visit the FPI’s website, www.fpi.co.za, and look in the Events section under “Take Action” for details about planned events in areas in and around Johannesburg, Cape Town, Durban, East London and Trichardt.