Visualise this. A footballer waits near the opponent’s goal – receives an easy pass, and scores! A loud whistle blows; the goal does not count – the offside rule was broken.
In football, being ahead of everyone else is a problem. That’s unfair play. Whether you earn a salary, or run a business, you’re in the money management game. Being ahead of everyone else is wonderful.
Get ahead of the other players:
· Start a retirement annuity with a part of your first cheque, at 25 rather than at 35. Imagine yourself standing under an arch-shaped goal, with ‘retirement’ printed over it. Pay yourself, now. Sars would actually help you. That’s not unfair.
· Changing jobs? Preserve whatever cash was put away for retirement. You have not retired – you just changed jobs. Being retired is more probable than death before retirement.
· You have dependants? Often, an affordable way to provide for them, if the inevitable occurs too soon, is through life insurance. The younger you are, the lower the premiums. That’s not unfair.
· The B in debt is not silent. It’s a scream: Beware! Debt you cannot manage is a slippery slope. Know your income, know your spending – and stay on the level.
Who is your opponent in the money game? It’s the self within you that yells louder than the B in debt: “I want it now.” Ignore that scream; there’s no offside rule against it.
If all this sounds like you need a coach, that’s fair.
A competent financial advisor is as necessary as a coach is for a pro footballer. In soccer, you wait for a pass. In a game that could be just as beautiful, you pass the ball to your future self.
And my future self will be 73 on his next goal day.
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