Old Mutual teaches that the Big Five are the key to your financial success
Pertunia Thabethe educated the audience on this at St. Michael's Anglican Church.
MBOMBELA – Using the Big Five to make your money work for you might sound strange, but Pertunia Thabethe explained it perfectly. Thabethe, a financial educator from Old Mutual, was the guest speaker at St Michael’s Anglican Church last Wednesday.
She explained to the crowd how every animal has a secret as to how you can change your financial behaviour.
ALSO READ: Making home finance a great experience
The secret of the leopard is to set goals and understand how life events can have an impact on your finances; for example your wedding, a new house, education or a divorce.
The elephant‘s secret is budgeting. Thabethe handed out a workbook with a nifty budgeting sheet that is sure to help you make your money last. “You have to spend according to what you earn, and no more than that,” Thabethe said.
The third secret revealed was that of the lion: saving. Thabethe explained that every person should start saving money as young as possible, “even if you just put some money away under the mattress, that is also a start”. She listed various options as to how you can formally save money including money boxes, savings accounts, fixed deposits, government bond or tax-free saving accounts.
Secret number four was that of the rhino. This animal teaches how to manage your debt and to calculate your debt-to-income ratio. She encouraged the crowd to create strategies to deal with debt and to not pay off your debt by making more debt; for example, paying off one credit card with another.
The secret of the buffalo was the final financial tip for the evening and taught the audience about insurance. Thabethe explained that you can get both long- and short-term insurance. This lesson on insurance also touched on the fact of wills. “Everybody should have a will and if you earn more than R250 000 a year I would urge you to get your will set up by a professional.”
This introduction into financial planning had the potential to benefit young and old and, with Thabethe’s lively presentation of the lesson, it is something that will not be easily forgotten.
ALSO READ: Looking for housing finance? consider Finance Linked Individual Subsidy Program (FLISP)
