Get your financial house in order for 2017

A new year begins with the desire to do things differently; to do better and to make progress in one area or another. PHOTO| FILE| NATION MEDIA GROUP

What you need to know:

  • Know-it-alls do not get very far. Take every opportunity to learn. Opportunities are everywhere. You’ve just not trained your mind to see them.
  • You can learn sitting in a group of people having a conversation rather than trying to prove to everybody why you are the expert. If you took time to talk to the watchman who opens the gate, he may point you to a fantastic opportunity that you’ve never thought of.

A new year begins with the desire to do things differently; to do better and to make progress in one area or another. How will 2017 be different for you? What changes are you going to make? Perhaps you want to earn more money, invest more, save more, get out of debt, buy a house, start a business or generally get your financial house in order.

While some people have a clear picture of how they want their lives to pan out in the new year, others are not sure what the new year will bring. 2016 has been a year when certain things that were out of our control happened, leaving us wounded financially. Banks went into receivership with our hard-earned savings. Many people have been retrenched or declared redundant. Businesses have closed.

DIFFICULT YEAR

Some have been caught unprepared by retirement. You may have experienced personal financial challenges with debt, expenses, bad investments or emergencies that have left you financially worn out. We have had to listen to never-ending stories on theft of the country’s financial resources through corruption and shortsighted leadership. Many businesses have found this year particularly difficult. 2017 is an election year with all the accompanying drama. The things that have happened that did not go our way are many. We run the risk of marking the New Year already overwhelmed and despondent, but we must always come back to the things that we can do. So many things have happened but we must ask ourselves; “What am I going to do about it?”  No matter what has happened, good or bad, there are some things that are actually in our control and we can declare ‘Yes I can’ to.  Some things I have written full articles on but in a period like this, it is always good to recap the essentials.

Watch the company you keep. 

The crowd that is going to continue with their pity parties and conversations about how bad things are and how broke they are, is not going to help you make progress. Crowd includes what you read, who you follow on social media, what you watch on TV, etc. Just remember most of the information out there is not structured to help you, so you must be the one to set boundaries on what and how much you take in.

Learn to say no.

You don’t have to save everybody and your role is not to validate other people’s victim mentality. A lot of people are in financial problems because they could not say no. They have overspent and even borrowed to continue saying yes or to fit in. This year you do not have to be part of the group that buys someone that special wedding gift if the individual contribution is too much for you. 

 Remember time is a bigger resource than money.

Time can create money but money cannot create time. You can loose money and make it back, but if you lose time you can’t get a second back. How you use your time will determine how much progress you make with your goals.  When people are wasting time and having conversations that will take them nowhere, they are usually also wasting money. Say no to any use of time that is not constructive. You don’t have to attend every event.

 Have a relationship with your money.

The best way to do this is to simply know where it comes from (usually simple enough) and where it goes. More than just keeping a budget, which is important, track your spending.  Even if it is just for the next one week, write down what you have spent money on. Yes, even the 50 bob for parking. Then analyse it. If you do this you will actually realise that you spend money where you don’t want to spend and you can change that. Just which behaviour is wrong in order to change it. Awareness of why and how you spend money will reveal this to you.

 Feel the fear and do it anyway. Fear does not go away. It will not be less next time if you do not face it now. You probably want to do something new this year. You may want to start a business, change jobs or careers or make certain investments. Doing something different is scary. Anytime that you want to step out of the comfort zone, you will be afraid. Don’t let the fear control you; be bold.

 Take on the attitude of a student.

 Know-it-alls do not get very far. Take every opportunity to learn. Opportunities are everywhere. You’ve just not trained your mind to see them. You can learn sitting in a group of people having a conversation rather than trying to prove to everybody why you are the expert. If you took time to talk to the watchman who opens the gate, he may point you to a fantastic opportunity that you’ve never thought of. Your business needs new thinking to move forward. Take a course that is in line with what you want to achieve. Real school didn’t end with a degree, in fact, the degree was just the beginning. You have gotten where you are with what you know. To get to a different level, you have to learn something different.

 

Happy New Year!

 

Waceke runs Centonomy 101, a personal finance coaching programme. To sign up, email her at [email protected] | Facebook.com/centonomy