‘Pay now, play later’
You need money for almost everything in life. The sooner you learn to make more money work for you, the sooner you will have more money on you. PHOTO/FILE
What you need to know:
In your financial journey, you can either ‘play now and pay later,’ or ‘pay now and play later.’ Some will invest now and reap the benefits later while others focus on enjoying themselves without planning for the future.
Budgeting, in a way, resonates around everything you plan to do. From shopping, saving, investment to running errands and business. The National Social Security Fund (NSSF) financial literacy webinar themed; ‘Budget for financial success; tackled a number of financial subjects, that once applied could place you on a financial success trajectory.
During the webinar mid this month, several financial nuggets were discussed by Daniel Choundry, a sales enthusiast and motivation speaker along with the panelist Nataliey Bitature, a social entrepreneur and founder of Musana Cuts and Beatrice Byemanzi, a coach at Powerful Living Uganda. The two-hour session dissected practical financial insights.
‘‘Habits determine your future,’’ was the most echoed statement from the duo that anchor most financial decisions one should take on. Make it a habit to budget for your money before it comes in. Plan ahead and allocate how much of it will be spent and what will be saved. Plan for discretionary spending because any money is easy to spend.
Byemanzi says planning for these things gives your children a better startup.
Everything you want to do sustainably has to have habits around it because in the end, they determine your future,” Byemanzi says.
‘Your habits now will decide what you want to be. If they involve spending, then you will be broke,” she added.
Byemanzi works best with percentages as opposed to detail. On receiving any payment, she takes off 10 percent for tithe and 20 per cent for saving. Keeping in mind, that one can live off any amount and still decide different budget options until you get something that works.
Take responsibility
If you want to impress others, Byemanzi advises you to take responsibility for your life. Know what you want and do something about it.
She narrates how they decided as a couple to cut down on luxuries and utilise other income streams or gifts to build a life of financial freedom.
“We did not want a life full of financial emergencies. Even with a reduced budget, the finances were still low. So we realised we needed to diversify our income.”
In brief, you have to pay now and play later or the reverse - play now and pay later, be honest with your journey. Get yourself some new friends who think and are raised differently.
While your income increases, don’t increase expenditure. Start saving with what you have to strengthen your blueprint.
Have a money management plan, use it to ask those who are more successful and navigate the areas you do not know.
Bitature, also nicknamed Patel in her family, a name disguised for being stringent on spending, poses a number of queries before signing off a purchasing order. These are based on evaluating its necessity, the different options on the market or value addition. From here, one learns to see where they can make those savings.
“The sooner you learn to make more money work for you, the sooner you will have more money on you. That is how you move forward in your personal finances and budgets. Think things through,” Bitature says.
Research, read a book, watch a YouTube video and then choose what is going to work for you. Thereafter track and measure data which will inform your decision from an informed point of view. Most times, it helps to have a goal - an act to begin budgeting.
Planned giving
Black tax is commonly associated with the financial support expected to be given to families.
Much as Byemanzi says it is a noble act to support others, she urges people to secure the future first to avoid any rainy days. The more money you have working for you, the more you are able to support freely because money buys the freedom to leverage on the support.
“Plan your giving either by working harder or looking out for other options. Pay yourself first. Be honest with people and give room for difficult conversations,” Byemanzi says.
The entrepreneur cautions against being on the receiving end and opting to solve your problems. “Solve your own problems using your mind regardless of your background or level of education. Be observant, ask questions and don’t repeat the same behaviour over time,” Byemanzi warns.
She encourages a continuous learning attitude that guides you on what works and how personal development affects every aspect of your life.
“Keep reading, learning and implementing. Start having higher levels of conversations with yourself of the present and future,” Bitature says.
The mind is the money maker depending on how it is exercised to reap great outcomes. It gets influenced through knowledge. Without knowledge you can’t exercise what you don’t know. Beatrice emphasizes reading books of people who have the money as opposed to ideas.
Associates
Your associates influence your personal finances a lot.
“If you don’t have people who make you feel small in your life, go out of your circles to find those who challenge you to be bigger than what you are,” Choundry says.
YOUR finances
Questions to anwser
When you think about the future financially, are you excited or do you freak out? Find out:
Where do you want to go?
What do you need to do to move towards that?
Everything in life is given a trial. Administering an effort will invite change.
