It’s that money-crunching time of year when all we can think of is spend, spend, spend, as the holiday seasons rolls in. But if we don’t find ways to save, save, save, January will quickly turn into Janu-worry. Here are some expert tips to help you get on better with your money.
Money talks. It jingles it jangles, it rustles, it clatters, it ka-chings. Most of the time, before you can even get a word in edgeways, all it does is whisper as it waves you goodbye.
But in the hustle and bustle of earning and spending, scrimping and saving, penny-pinching and buck-chasing, do you ever take the time to talk back to your money? Do you ever sit down, with a spreadsheet on the table and a calculator in your hand, and listen closely to what it has to say?
The relationship we have with money can often be a strained and tortuous one, driven by fear, worry, denial, and wilful ignorance, in-between those fleeting moments of celebration and exultation that we know as payday.
There has to be a better way to get on with your money, and to make your money get on with you, and that’s why, in the BrightRock studio, David O’Sullivan sat down with two financial commentators for a heart-to-heart chat.
Nicolette Mashile, an entrepreneur, presenter, and blogger who calls herself a “Financial Fitness Bunny”, and Shan Vijendranath, a parenting blogger who runs the popular website, You, Baby, and I, and MomSays, a platform to connect moms to brands.
As Nicolette puts it, our attitude to money can be traced all the way back to our upbringing, to the way money was spoken or not spoken about around the dinner table. She remembers her father’s words of warning, which had the rhythm of a mantra: “If you don’t manage your money properly, you’re going to be poor.”
He ingrained in his children the idea that they had a personal responsibility to put a spoke in the cycle of poverty, even if he wasn’t specific about what money-management means. That, Nicolette had to figure out for herself, and the best teacher, as always, is the mistakes you make when you try to do things yourself.
“I had to become financially savvy when I left my corporate job,” says Nicolette. “I had to see, where do I need to save, how do I create my own retirement plan. The driving force is fear. You lose so much money if you don’t know what you’re doing.”
For instance, Nicolette lost the grand sum of R125,000 when she pulled out of a house deal, not knowing that she was tied in by virtue of signing an Offer To Purchase. “I had no-one to go to,” she says. “I went through all the bad habits first.”
Now, on her website and her Facebook page, and at her public presentations, she is the go-to-person for sound financial advice. Her wisest counsel?
“Confront the problem,” she says. “Confront how you feel about money. Be honest with your budget, and make it work for yourself.”
Shan, on the other hand, grew up in a household where money came and went, rarely lingering long enough to turn into a lesson on how to hold onto it.
“We’re the type of people,” she says, “if you have money, just spend it, and live life. If I want to eat something, I’ll eat it today and not think of tomorrow.”
It was parenting that changed her view, forcing her to think of the future and how much it would cost, if she didn’t start saving and planning today. Now she passes that valuable lesson on to her own family.
“My daughter doesn’t now what it’s like to not have anything,” says Shan. “She just sees me swiping my card, and she doesn’t know where the money is coming from. That’s why I’m teaching her all about coins and notes.”
In exchange for doing a little chore, Shan will hand her daughter a R5 coin, establishing that vital link between work and reward. By encouraging her daughter to stockpile all the coins she earns this way, she is fostering a culture of saving too, and the joy of one day getting to spend your own money.
Nicolette agrees: “If you’ve got a bit of money, you teach your children,” she says. In many households, the subject of money is taboo, but it is only by talking openly and honestly that you can deal with your financial problems.
“You have to teach children to have a relationship with money from a young age,” she says. “What does it mean to them? Is it access, is it value, is it freedom?”
She laughs as she recalls her own view of “white people who live in a massive house and drive a modest car. For us, it’s the other way round. You want to prove to people that you’ve made it. But you have to be honest about your finances.”
That honesty, and that candid relationship with money, is all the more crucial at this time of year, when people tend to splurge on the festive season, without contemplating what comes next: the bare-bones, debt-laden month we all know as Janu-worry.
So sit down with that spreadsheet, grab that calculator, and take the time, before the big rush, to have a little conversation with your money. Say hello, and how do you do, and get to know it better, before it has a chance to wave goodbye.
*For more insights on managing your money in a fast-changing world, watch the full Iris Session below or YouTube.
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