Tuesday, 08 September 2015 - 20:00

 

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Seed Weekly - Thrift

In a recent meeting with a professional client, who earns a very good monthly income and who, already at the age of 47, has no debt and is building up a fairly substantial asset portfolio, I was asked a question which got me thinking about a topic which is not often spoken about and which is definitely not “in vogue” within the realms of financial planning literature. The reason for this thought was a question asked. The question was, “What is a good monthly income for a professional person around my age, because I don’t understand how so many of my colleagues and friends can afford all of their fancy holidays, expensive houses and lavish lifestyles?”

The answer to this question is really quite simple: most of his friends / colleagues can’t afford their lavish lifestyles which they presently “enjoy”.

The fact of the matter is that in this modern age of consumerism and instant gratification, most people have forgotten or don’t implement Thrift in their finances. Now many of the younger readers will be unsure of what Thrift actually means.

THRIFT, as defined by the Oxford Advanced Learners Dictionary is: the quality of using money and other resources carefully and not wastefully.

Thrift is not a great concept for the marketing machines of our retail giants, it is also a very difficult concept to implement when your family is questioning why you can’t afford the overseas trip or new car that your neighbours are going on or bought, which they probably couldn’t really afford either. We are constantly bombarded with messages selling products that we don’t really need, and that we definitely cannot afford, by paying for them with money that we don’t really have!!

Unfortunately, as a financial advisor I often have to deal with the consequences of a lack of Thrift. It is an unfortunate fact of life that many retirees have insufficient funds at retirement and face the prospect of a penniless/ uncomfortable retirement and the hope that their kids will remember how nice they were to them so that their kids can look after them.

Whilst it is true that you cannot “save yourself rich” and most wealthy individuals have grown their wealth through substantial capital injections rather than through wise allocations of their monthly budget, the unfortunate fact is that most people will not have large capital injections to secure their retirement so most mere mortals need to implement “Thrift” in their lives in order to secure a dignified and enjoyable retirement.

To come back to the starting point in this article. Whilst the client I mentioned is paid an hourly rate and has very little prospect of capital injections securing his retirement, because he has implemented ‘Thrift” in his financial planning, he will be in a financial position to retire very comfortably.

Kind regards,

Barry Hugo

Tel +27 21 914 4966
Fax +27 21 914 4912
Email info@seedinvestments.co.za

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Tue, 08 Sep 2015

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