The truth behind the beginning of a financial journey is that it starts at various times in different peoples lives, but there is always a lightswitch... eventually... I hope.
"I'm passionately involved in life: I love its change, its color, its movement. To be alive, to be able to see, to walk, to have houses, music, paintings - it's all a miracle." - Arthur Rubinstein
For starters, you need to make a critical distinction as early as possible. Financial Mentorship has little to do with making money, shocking right? You need to realise that there is a difference between being "rich" and being "wealthy". Money is just an unfortunate means through which we have to get through life, but our aim is to always just view it the same way we view food. Having none puts you in a difficult situation, but there's a diminishing utility beyond a certain point, wherafter it does not really matter. After eating until you're completely full I don't think there's a chef in the world that could convince you to eat another 3 course meal. The trick then, is to train your ego to know when you're full.
Your financial journey only begins once you look at the map, plan your route and hop in your favourite mode of transport. One cannot just wander one's way through to one's desired end goal. Don't just beleive me, look at the past. Roughly 70% of South Africans only have some vague idea of their investments but no goal or plan to reach it and some don't even save at all.
In a perfect world, the percentage of your remuneration, that you should contribute towards an investment strategy for retirement is:
- 15% if you start when you are 25
- 24% if you start when you are 35
- 43% if you start when you are 45
- 60% if you start when you are 50
The point of the above is not to alarm you, but show you that without a plan, you're actually planning to retire after there's a civilisation on Mars or possibly never be able to. Also, note that the above is not R1 million by age 25, it's a proportion of your disposable income. This is the mindset you need to have, remembering to love living life along the way too.
