Actually, instead of thinking this way, you need to understand the importance of paying yourself first. Before the bills get paid and you buy that new gadget that is being advertised on television, tuck away a small amount each month or each pay check towards both your retirement savings and your rainy day savings. This is a lesson our governments and the tax man learnt decades ago : When your salary hits your account, the tax is taken off already not so? The tax man does not come a week later begging you to pay your income tax, right? So if the governments of this world learnt early on to pay themselves FIRST, and so should you.
There’s nothing wrong with enjoying the present, but you don’t want to do so at the expense of your future. You need to make sure that you are properly saving for your future and not getting yourself so deep in debt that you won’t be able to dig yourself out. Many Ugandans only live for the NOW. I continually meet older people telling me they wish they had met me 10years or more ago. Don’t be caught with you pants down 10-20 years from now wishing the same…you can do something about that starting now.
This is a money script that is harmful. You need to change the way you think about money. After all, money is just a thing. You can be in control of your own money, it should never have control over you. Have your money for YOU and not you for IT.
Unfortunately many young people don’t think it’s that important to start saving for their future because they think that they will have plenty of time to save. Although they may live a long life, the earlier they begin to save, the better due to the wonders of compound interest. The later you start, the MORE you’ll have to save to come by. With the movement towards a common local currency 10 years from now for Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda etc…who knows what may happen to the currency and its value.
Some older folks feel that since they didn’t start saving when they were at their prime, it’s no use to develop the habit once they are older. That simply isn’t the case. It’s never too late to develop the habit of saving money. Its still better to do something than nothing. It you are about to retire and getting a lump sum, let’s put that in a secure hard currency combined with investor protection, working for you in a low risk international market place, ensuring preservation where it will STILL do better than an ordinary bank account.
It’s true that the odd few do win a lot of money, but most people who buy lottery tickets are forking over a lot of money over the years and not getting a great reward from it. They would be far better off if they invested that money rather than spending it on lottery tickets.
Although buying assets as investments can be a good thing in building your net worth, it’s still important to always have a diversified portfolio AND some cash on hand that is liquid and accessible in the form of an emergency fund. Many people in Uganda are land rich and cash poor. Let’s face it, the days where you buy a piece of land in the city centre for 100K UGX and sell it for U$5 mil 10 years later is looooong gone. Buy land only in the hope of riches and provision one day is a very dangerous and risky scenario should anything ever go wrong or we have an adverse regime change in the future for instance. Failing to diversify could perhaps cost you everything you own one day.
No matter how much or little you earn, it is possible to earmark a small amount of your income towards savings. As impossible as it may seem, even people with the tightest budget can save if they make it a priority. How ironic that we always seem to "find money" in case of an emergency, not so?
Some people depend on their spouse or other family members to support them, or they expect that the government pension will support them when they are retired. Unfortunately it is unlikely that government programs will be able to support more than half of your living costs when you retire. At the current rate of inflation, those depreciating "millions or billions of shillings" in your local savings policy or bank is NOT going to buy you what you think or hope it will in 10-20 years’ time from now, GUARANTEED ! It is your responsibility to make sure you don’t have a shortfall and that you provide for your own future. I meet too many people who CAN actually save, but all their money goes to supporting relatives in some village somewhere. THEY are paying because those people perhaps did not have the opportunity-, skill or motivation to plan for themselves. How else are we going to break the cycle if YOU don’t take a stance? It starts with YOU. You’ll be surprised how those people (and I’m not referring to those who perhaps needing frail care) will somehow look after themselves if something happened to you and you were not there. Are you perhaps an “easy” or convenience source for cash for others?
We’ve all heard the phrase “keeping up with the Joneses”. Although few will admit it, a lot of people feel they have to have every gadget and gizmo that their neighbours have in order to feel good. People who feel this way will have a hard time saving and they often end up with debt issues. There’s nothing wrong with having material things but it’s important that you can afford them and that you maintain a rainy day savings in case something unexpected should come up. Good fortune is also not just going to fall from the sky…it demands action, you taking charge, the buck stops with YOU.
This Article was Reposted With Permission From 'Daniel van Niekerk' -- Financial Advisor Uganda
