Financial fitness, like physical fitness, requires a well-structured plan, clear goals, and a companion to keep you accountable and focused. Dinash Pillay, national business development manager at Glacier by Sanlam, breaks down ten steps to financial fitness:1. Know what your money needs to do for you. Decide what your financial goals are X buying a house, going on an overseas trip, a good education for your children, or having enough during retirement.2. Think about your relationship with money. Is your approach to money positive or negative? When you become aware of your relationship with money, you can work on changing it for the better.3. Set goals. A goal is very personal and different for everyone. An effective goal is specific, achievable and has a timeframe. 4. Manage your income. Money comes from three places – earnings, savings, and debt. You may have limited control over how much your income can grow, but you do have control over your debt and savings.5. Draw up a budget and stick to it. If you are in a financially stressful situation, go over, your budget item by item.Categorise your budget items into bare necessities, flexible necessities, and “quality of life” expenses. 6. Managing income is not about denying “quality of life” expenses. It is simply about being smarter about these expenses. 7. Develop a healthy fear of debt. Debt is the enemy of financial fitness. If you are using debt to live, pay off other debt or to finance an unaffordable lifestyle, you are in trouble. Seek help from a financial adviser to help with a debt reduction plan immediately. 8. Know the difference between being rich and being wealthy. While being rich is the “show” of being wealthy – expensive clothing, cars or real estate, being wealthy means being as close as possible to zero debt.9. Get a coach. To become financially fit requires the help of an appropriately authorised financial adviser. Everyone needs one.10. Take action. Doing research and asking questions are important, but until you take steps to put your plan into action, financial fitness is really just a good idea.
Speak to a qualified advisor at Jenwil BlueStar by dialling 051-447-0463, or through an email to office@jenwil.co.za.
