According to fin24, only 6% of South Africans retire comfortably. Will you be part of the 6% or the 94%?
The truth is thatevery day that goes by is one day closer to your retirement. Your last couple of years on earth are depended on how well you prepared for them now, and your decisions today will impact your life and your freedom after age 65.
Don’t fear though – Khwezi Jackson, 2019 TSIBA Graduate and Investment Consultant at 10x Investments, is a self-proclaimed advocate for the acquisition of money management knowledge and skills by and for the SA youth. His simple plan for saving money consists of 4 valuable tips to get you started on a saving plan.
1. Money Management Education is your key to freedom
If you have been through the South African education system, you know that little space is given to basic Money Management (MM) skills, unless you studied Finance at University. MM is probably the least discussed topic around SA households, yet the most important for our freedom in our latter years. The harsh reality is no one is going to educate you about Budgeting, Saving and Investing. The responsibility is on you to educate yourself. When it comes to MM education, I believe experience is the best teacher. If you want to start saving, go to your bank and find out what savings plans they have. If you want to invest in equities, contact a stockbroker to assist you. Choosing to take responsibility of you MM education from today can ensure that you indeed retire comfortably.
2. Start today
Today is the best day to start investing or saving. I recently had a discussion with a friend who started working. To my question on his investment or saving plans, he replied he would only start once he has accumulated money – he then commented that the more he earned, the more his expenses increased. The reality is that you will never have money to invest or save, unless you start to do so.
I think this is the mentality that curbs South Africans from savings and investing; with rising expenses, we are constantly in a state of waiting to have enough money to start saving.
We live in a time where it’s okay to tip a waiter 10% of the bill, buy a round of beers for the gents and buy the most expensive pair of Jordans but we don’t have money to save or invest. If you had invested R10 in Capitec shares in 2002 at R2.75 per share then your investment would have been worth R3176.36 excluding dividends at the time of writing this article. Right now there is a Capitec-like investment opportunity in the market: all you have to do is find it, put money on it and watch your investment grow over time.
3. Discipline makes perfect
I once wrote that the difference between ordinary and extraordinary results is discipline. It might sound annoying, but when it comes to saving and investing, your results will be highly influenced by how disciplined you are. The amount that you will retire with will be determined by your discipline from today until the day you retire. If you are like me and you struggle with discipline, put measures in place that can assisting you with it. Stop orders have been very effective for me in depositing money in my separate savings and investment account.
4. Ask questions
Educating yourself, starting to save or invest today, and practicing discipline can happen simultaneously. I encourage you to start on all three today. The adage “Experience is the best teacher” finds its application to investment and saving alike. The platforms I would recommend reading up about are the following, in no particular order: consult different banks, Easy Equities, Uprise Africa, Wealth Migrate and OUTvest.
Do you have any questions for Khwezi? Follow him on Twitter on @khwezi_jackson.