There are 4 ingredients to successful financial management and wealth accumulation:
1. Correct personal finance concepts and knowledge. The right financial management concept ensures your finances are built on a solid foundation, while the right financial management knowledge enables you to manage money effectively in your daily life. Previously we talked about the concept of money. I will share with you the knowledge of financial planning and financial management tools in the future. 2. A good financial planner. Today there is plethora of investment and insurance products to meet the diverse needs of the public. The laws governing finance, investments, insurance, taxation and personal property are cumbersome and complicated. To a layman, it is like finding the right path in a labyrinth. In this environment, if a person has high income or high wealth, wants to accumulate wealth, or wants to create a big business, he needs a good financial planner and advisors to give advice and services in financial investment. A good financial planner is your trusted coach and your partner on the road to getting rich. In the future, I will share with you how to choose a financial planner. 3. A sound financial plan. A good plan gives us goals and directions, so that we can be on the right path to disciplined financial management. Last time we talked about the financial planning process. 4. Determination and perseverance. Focus on the goals, the end outcomes. No matter what happens along the journey, adapt, make a plan, persevere. Persistent implementation of your financial plan will help you achieve your goals. For Christian readers, the ultimate factor in successful financial management is trust and obedience to God. God is the Lord of our lives, and He will supply us with all that is needed in Christ Jesus. The Bible exhorts us to "just rely on the God who gives us all things to enjoy."
0 Comments
There are five steps in the financial planning process:
1. Gather data. This includes the short-, medium- and long-term lifestyle and financial goals for you and your family; personal balance sheet (a list of your assets and liabilities), personal income statement (monthly income and expense items), the stability of your income, and your financial portfolio (listing all your investments and policies). 2. Financial analysis. Based on the information and numbers you have, analyse and identify gaps in your personal financial planning. This could be about balancing your books every month (expenses not greater than your income), save a specific amount every month, life insurance, medical aid, car and household insurance, investments, wills and estate planning. 3. Develop a financial plan. Based on your analyses, develop a comprehensive plan that is clear, has specific goals and targets and action items. This will help you focus your mind on where you want to go, and how you are going to get there. 4. Implement the financial plan. This is about doing, taking action. This may be about keeping a monthly budget, money and budget management, buy financial products that help you achieve the various parts of your financial plan. 5. Regularly checking in and revising your plan. Your job, your work, your income, your family, your circumstances and needs are likely to change over time. Review your plan to check if there are any goals or details you need to change, and if you are on track to reaching your financial targets. The plan needs to be personalised and adapted for you. ![]() Last time I outlined what financial planning is. Let us have some correct ideas about money before we dive deeper into financial planning. 1. Money will come and go. We did not bring money into this world, and we will not take money with us into the next world. Money is for us to use in this world. Do not put your hope in wealth. The Chinese have a saying, "a storm may arise from a clear sky; men's fortunes may change overnight." Something unexpected may happen at any time. Money can leave us overnight. The Bible tells us, "Cast but a glance at riches, and they are gone, for they surely sprout wings and fly off to the sky like an eagle." Also says, "... nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment." 2. Money is the medium of exchange for products or services. In ancient times, before the currency was invented, people bartered, exchanging goods for goods. Later, for the convenience of transactions, the currency was invented. In ancient times, shells, gold and silver, and copper coins were used. Today, banknotes and credit cards are used. Knowing this, you will use money instead of just saving money for no purpose. 3. Money is limited. Some people are addicted to money, and even sacrifice their lives for money. But money is not omnipotent. Think about the following: Money can buy food, but can't buy life Money can buy drugs, but can't buy health Money can buy skin care products, but can't buy youth Money can buy a diamond ring, but can't buy a happy marriage. Money should be our servant for us to use. We don't want to be slaves to money and live for money. The Bible tells us not to love money. 4. Make good use of money. We should use money in a legitimate and positive way, not to waste, squander, or use money for illegal things. Let us use a negative example: Some people enter and leave the casinos, gambling with their money, trying their luck in making a big profit, or turning defeat into victory. However, gambling becomes addiction, messing up life and ruining families. At the end a person is faced with a broken home, financial ruin and divorce. 5. Live within your means. Under normal circumstances, our expenditure should not exceed our income and wealth, so as not to lead to debts and financial pressure. Don't abuse credit cards for impulsive shopping. Except for home loans and vehicle finance, which enable big-ticket items such as house and car, we should avoid loans, especially high-interest loans. In the future I will write about the preparation and analysis of personal or household financial statements and the management of income and expenditure, to help you live within your means. Next time, I will share with you the financial planning process. Many people may have failed to get insurance premiums paid because of changes to their bank accounts or problems with their bank accounts, resulting in temporary suspension of medical insurance. Beginning in 2019, Discovery has changed its online information to online instead of submitting changes in writing. The advantage of changing bank information online is no waiting time! The system will be updated immediately after the change. After the change is made, you can apply for a new charge directly online. Note: You can change only the primary guarantor bank information systems. The following are the detailed steps on how to change bank details online. 1. Go to Discovery website www.discovery.co.za and login into profile. 2. Once you are logged in you will see below red box, indicating arrears, "click fix it now to make payment". 3. Click "select to pay", if you have Vitality as well click "select to pay" on Vitality. 4. Then click "continue" to get OTP. 4. Confirm whether OTP they should be sent to the mobile phone or the mailbox. Fill in and submit the order. If the "please note that your OTP details have been sent to" is blank, please go to "Verification Code Settings". For more please go to here to see steps. 5. Select the newly added bank account 6. You will see confirmation of payment
![]() Don’t walk away from your vehicle before checking it is locked in order to mitigate the chances of falling prey to car-jamming, warns Marius Steyn, Santam underwriting manager. Steyn says, according to the State of Urban Safety in South Africa Report, there has been a 58 percent increase in car-jacking since 2011. He says that remote jamming, or car-jamming, is a practice where criminals use a signal-jamming device to prevent a car’s central locking and alarm systems from being activated, leaving a vehicle vulnerable to theft and vandalism. “Car-jamming continues to be an escalating safety concern for many South Africans. Motorist often walk away from their cars while pressing their remote without ensuring that their vehicles are physically locked. Because of this behaviour, criminals are provided the opportunity to commit a crime like car-jamming,” says Steyn. Asked whether insurers quoted clients higher premiums if, when taking out cover, they indicated that they regularly parked in public parking spaces, he responded: “Currently, at Santam it does not influence the premium.” Steyn says that if motorists do fall victim to car-jamming, they should not get in a “jam” with their insurance. The following conditions usually apply to most policyholders: “In most cases, personal insurance policies covers the theft of insured property from a locked vehicle subject to the limitations and conditions of the policy. To strengthen the success of the claims process, video footage from surrounding CCTV, would support (it). If, however, it is later proved that the vehicle was, in fact, not locked, the insurer has the right to reject the claim.” He says some policies require that theft from an unattended vehicle be accompanied by forcible and violent entry or exit. “The best practice is to understand the conditions of your insurance policy. It also cannot be stressed enough that it is important to always check and double check that your car is secure and that you’ve stored your belongings away in a safe place.” According to Aon insurance, remote jamming involves the blocking of car remotes using a household remote, as both car remotes and household remotes operate on a 400-megahertz frequency and criminals effectively prevent the locking action of the car from being activated and can then have easy access to the vehicle and its contents without any forced entry. “Parking areas outside schools are being targeted, as these are particularly easy pickings for criminals, as many parents leave valuables such as handbags, wallets, iPads and laptops in their cars while they walk their children into school. Quieter shopping centres with less security are also a favourite hunting ground,” says Aon. Steyn says you should check immobiliser devices and security systems regularly. If there are faults, get the devices repaired or replaced. Store items such as sunglasses and cellphones in a glove compartment or locked boot. This reduces the temptation to steal. For any Short-Term queries, please contact Edmond and Po-lin in our Short Term department [email protected] tel no: (011) 658 – 1333 Written by: Jospeh Booysen Source: Personal Finance ![]() Many people like to watch the quadrennial Olympic Games: The best athletes compete for the gold medal. The Olympic medallists not only bring pride for their country, but also make their efforts affirmed on the world stage. They are the best of the best. Behind their awards, there are strict plans developed by the coaches, and they have persevered with the training over the years. Similarly, if a person wants to achieve financial stability as an individual, a family or in business, to provide for the needs of oneself and family, furthermore to accumulate wealth, a complete and comprehensive financial plan is required. The higher the income of a person, the more his business empire grows, or the more financially dependent family members, the more complicated and detailed financial plan is needed.. So, what is financial planning? In short, financial planning is a s plan based on a person's current financial situation and future lifestyle and financial goals. It is a road map that takes you from Point A (current financial situation) to Point B (where you want to be in the future). Consistently following and implementing this plan, step by step, will enable you to achieve your lifestyle and financial goals. Everyone's personality, preferences, financial situation and ideals are different, so no two people's financial plans are the same. Let us use two examples to illustrate: John is single, works in a large company. His job is stable, and the company's pay and employee benefits are good. He has a small second-hand car and shares an apartment with a friend. He hopes buy a new car of around 300,000 rand, trade in his old car. He wants to buy his own apartment of about R1,000,000. He also plans to travel in Europe for three weeks next year. Andy has two children. He has an import and export business, and his wife works in a small company. They have two children aged 7 and 10 in primary school. They have their own house valued at R4,000,000. The mortgage bond on the house is R2,000,000. They have vehicle finance with an outstanding principal of R550,000, and a personal loan of R100,000. They have some unit trust investments. They hope to send their children to private high school and universities in the future, and pay off their loans within 10 years. John has no financial dependants, his lifestyle goals are relatively short-term, so his financial plan would be relatively simple. In contrast, Andy has a family, has loans. He needs to consider the future education, extracurricular, living expenses of his two children, and the financial impact of unexpected death, disability or illness on his family's finances, so his family financial plan would need to be comprehensive and in-depth. ![]() After the annoyance and possible embarrassment of a minor vehicle accident, most people will wonder how much it will cost to fix the scratch or the dent on their car and whether to involve their insurance provider. After all, even damage from a small incident can turn out to cost thousands of rand to fix. Let’s consider some of the factors you should consider in your decision: What is the excess payment? The excess is an amount of money that will come out of your pocket when you claim from your car insurance. If you have a low excess - say, R1500 - it could make sense to claim for a typical small scratch/dent, which is usually in the region of R3000 to R5000 to repair. But if your excess is larger - for example, R10000 - it will probably be more than the cost of the repair. So, you could claim and get a small amount or nothing back for your trouble. On top of that, your insurer may consider that you made a claim during the year when it’s time for your annual premium review. It may assess you as a higher-risk customer and increase your premium as a result. Your premium increase over a couple of years could be higher than the cost of paying for the repair of your car, out of your own pocket. Do you have a no-claims bonus? Many car insurers offer a no-claims bonus. As the name implies, this is an incentive not to claim from your car insurance. The bonus is usually a percentage of your premiums paid back to you in cash, after a set period of time, provided you have not made a claim. You will lose this bonus if you claim after a minor incident, even if it turns out that your claim was lower than your excess. Was another vehicle involved? This is when it starts to get a bit trickier to decide. If the accident was not your fault, the other driver might apologise profusely and promise to pay personally, without involving insurance companies. You should be careful of accepting such an offer, even if it seems attractive not to hassle with insurers and excesses, and all the accompanying red tape. First, you will be on your own, without your insurer to fight in your corner if the person does not honour the deal. You could find yourself chasing them for weeks for the money they promised to pay. Second, it is possible that something that looks like a minor dent on your bumper could hide deeper damage to your car, that might be more expensive to repair than the other person anticipated. Likewise, if the accident was your fault, you can offer to settle out of pocket, but it might not always be a good idea. It could be that it will cost far more to repair the other vehicle than you expected or can afford. Additionally, the other driver might try to hit you with unfair claims, for additional damage and injury, which is when you’d like to have your insurer at your side. Are policies for minor damage worth your while? Many insurers now offer policies that cover scratch and dent damage - the premium may be as low as R100 a month. Be aware that such policies cover only up to a small amount - for example, R3000 per incident. This does not mean the insurer will pay for the first R3000, but that it will pay only if the repair will cost less than R3000. So, if the damage is deemed to be R3000.01, your claim will be rejected. In practice, this cover is seldom enough to result in a valid claim, because even a tiny dent on a mid-range sedan can cost R5000 or more to fix these days. Plus, you will need to accept the word of the insurance company’s assessor about whether the damage will cost more than R3000 to repair. Your friend at the autobody repair shop might be able to do the job for less, but that doesn’t matter. Check the wording of your policy carefully and choose a reputable provider if you are going to go this route. So, what can you do? Scratches and dents are a reality of car ownership. Save some cash in a rainy-day fund for minor repairs and other day-to-day hassles. Try to find an affordable and reputable car repair shop you trust to buff out scratches or do micro-location paint jobs for you. Think about your cash flow and risk tolerance when shopping for car insurance. If you are really worried about paying for repairs out of pocket, opt for a policy with a lower excess. If you are buying from an online provider, you can experiment with different excess values online, or on the app, to understand how reducing or increasing the excess will affect your monthly premium. For any queries please contact Rethabile and Edmond email: [email protected] tel:(011)658-1333 Written by Sumarie Greybe Source : Personal Finance |
AuthorKevin Yeh Archives
January 2025
Categories
All
|