Don’t try to keep up with the Nxumalos
What does one do if one has what Nozi terms “friends who are very spendy,” people who “like fancy things that you can’t really afford”. Her advice was that, one doesn’t necessarily need to abandon these friends (or family members) but rather “expand your circle” to include others who “share your values” (and spending habits).
Nozi advised her audience to kick the habit of trying to keep up with the Nxumalos while they are still young because it gets very expensive when you get older. Imagine when competing on the brand of shoe you wear and where you go for a weekend away becomes the neighbourhood you live in and schools your children go to.
Trying to keep up with the Nxumalos is a habit that will leave you “miserable and broke,” warns Nozi.
Educate yourself
Acknowledging that we are not all taught everything we need to know about our finances when we are growing up, neither at home nor at school, Khwezi and Nozi both emphasised that there is so much financial education available online. “Just look in the same places you go to find celebrity gossip or videos about twerking,” added Nozi.
Khwezi gave the audience some insight into his own journey, including how he learned so much by listening to podcasts by the likes of Simon Brown, Kristia van Heerden, Bruce Whitfield and Warren Ingram.
Don’t let your money control you
He might not have learnt everything he knows at home or at school, but Khwezi did give the game away a little (the fact that he had a head-start on many of us) when he told a story about his mother and her ‘little black book’. Khwezi’s Mum wrote expenses down in an A5 notebook … “Everything went in there”. The same was true for shopping lists: “Everything was written down and if it was not on the paper, it was not in the trolley”.
“That is taking control,” Khwezi explained, “guiding your money where it needs to go … and you can’t guide if there is no plan”.
Nozi concurred. She said she used to be one of those people who paid the rent and the basics, and then just hoped she would make it to end of the month on what was left. That was before she educated and empowered herself and took charge of her money. Now, she says, she notes everything she spends on a spreadsheet. Even if she buys a pizza, she says, she accounts for it on her spreadsheet because she likes to stay in control.
After all, she says, “money is an excellent servant, but a terrible master”.
A budget is not like a crash-diet
In case anyone was wondering when they could take a break from this budgeting thing, Nozi likened that to taking a break from brushing your teeth, “which you wouldn’t do”.
Also, she pointed out, budgeting is not a like a crash diet, like something you might do for December. It is a fulltime, permanent commitment as long as you are spending money. “Only dead people don’t need to budget”. But, she added, you will learn to love it.
Be the hero of your own story
When Nozi asked Khwezi to explain what an emergency fund was, he used the lockdown of early 2020 and the resulting jobs disaster as an example of how nobody knows what is around the corner.
Having an emergency fund in place, he said, is what will enable us to pay the bills for everything from an unexpected mishap, like hitting a pothole in the road and damaging a car tyre, to having your income halved, or losing it altogether when a bigger crisis hits.
In a nutshell, Khwezi said, having an emergency fund is what will allow you to be the hero of your own story.
Listen to the full podcast here.
The content herein is provided as general information. It is not intended as nor does it constitute financial, tax, legal, investment, or other advice. 10X Investments is an authorised FSP (number 28250).
