Growing up, having a job, earning your own money and then being told to be disciplined with how you spend it – sounds unfair right? Well, the earlier you start being disciplined the better, so immediately let’s put our disciplined caps on! Here are 7 Hacks to Mastering Your Financial Life
To be in control of your finances means planning, planning and planning.
1. Set a financial goal: Generally a lot of our goals need to be financed anyway. Sorry, you can’t run away from finances! Set measurable clear-cut financial goals that you are hyped about and a budget for a splurge experience to keep you motivated to achieve your goals.
2. Review your spending: How? Since we young and technology savvy (always on our cellphones and tablets), we might as well use this to our advantage – there are a lot of applications/’apps’ that track your spending. These can be linked to your transactional bank account (just verify the one you want to use with your bank, so it’s legit!). After a month of tracking expenditure, have a hard look if you spent money wisely and where you did not. Look closely at where you spent most, check whether you spent money on things that tie into your short and/or long term goals (whatever your goals, arrange them in order of importance as you will need to include them in your budget).
3. Draw up a budget: Now that you know what you spend your money on (you can write down other things you still need to spend on for the month) and the cost thereof. Take out the cost of all these items from the amount of your income.
4. Save, save and save: Develop a savings culture. Life happens, a family member could pass away, a car could break down or a job may be lost/business lose profit. So many unforeseen circumstances can take place and will need readily available money. Have an ‘emergency fund’. And remember as your spending increases so should be your saving.
5. Create yourself a secondary income (a.k.a ‘hassle’). Whether it is through investing, trading, starting own business on the side (or fulltime) – whatever you do, don’t depend on one income whether you are a business woman or an employee, unless you have made your millions!
6. Invest in the markets: You are young (especially if you 20 -35 years old) this is a good time to invest in riskier assets and take advantage of long term growth opportunities.
7. Invest in yourself: Be a financial literate by educating yourself on how to grow your money, control it, etc. Polish that great skill you have, study further, get training and do what you love.As tough the economic conditions are, we don’t have to live off debt and above our means – we just need to be financially smart! Real financial freedom comes with financial literacy and peace of mind, also known as ‘chill’ in monetary value.
So Young African Woman, be in control: have a Plan, a financial goal, a Budget, spend wisely, save and invest! Remember to hassle with your morals, style and lipstick intact! Stay fabulous African child
AUTHOR
The Founding Director of Palengo Holdings is Palesa Lengolo who is a Certified Associate of the Institute of Bankers CAIB (SA) and a member of South African Institute of Business Accountants (SAIBA). She has over 8 years’ experience in financial services. With a passion for knowledge, she is intrigued and fascinated by financial markets. Through her experience in working with finances she went on a mission to learn more about investing in financial markets. With what she has learnt and still learning she founded Palengo Holdings (which invests itself) with the primary focus being teaching and guiding people through Investment Education to attain financial freedom. She holds and facilitates various workshops/sessions for individuals, stokvels, events and communities. Palesa has been featured on CNBC Africa tv , on radio Y-FM and SowetoTV. Also, she has been featured on radio: YFM, Money web radio and cliffcentral. She has published her works on Business day, Money web, Fin24, Stockvelvoice & successful Women Magazine as well as blogs: Chica Africa, The disruptors & Emelela. Her mantra is : “An investment in knowledge pays the best interest”- Benjamin Franklin. info@palengoholdings.co.za/ www.palengoholdings.co.za
