After the heartache of losing her mother to a protracted battle with cancer, Claire had some difficult choices to make. What would be the wisest way to spend her inheritance? She was torn in two – should she pay off all her debts and carry on with life or honour her mother by doing something they had both dreamed of for years?
Category: Budgeting
On prices and dinosaurs – watching the History Channel and reliving your youth
A university has invited me to address their history department. I think they did so because I am the only fossil – an ex-student – they could find. Initially I thought it would be fun to tell the students about what it was like studying at that institution during the 1970s (the good old days?) but on reflection I realised it is all a bit embarrassing!
Are you addicted to spending money? Think about this…
‘Retail therapy’ – spending money to make us feel better – has become an acceptable cultural ritual. We joke about it and by doing so, normalise it. It is dangerous. When spending spins out of control it looks like addiction.
Stokvels – an ingenious indigenous way to save and grow your money
Ubuntu can be translated as “I am because we are”. We know from our troubled history that through the centuries the majority of our society were excluded from many of the rights, privileges and supports afforded to Whites. Stokvels have endured for centuries and show the power of ubuntu.
The Finance Minister has spoken – extraordinary measures, monies and circumstances
The passage of time seems to be such a fractured thing right now and it isn’t going to stop being so any time soon. As a country, we are bracing ourselves for the cresting of the Corona wave.
ABCs of budgeting # 3 (it is possible to design a budget without swearing too much)
Here we are again – you and I and your budget. We aim, in this blog, to give you the tools to look at your needs, your wants and your current reality.
ABCs of budgeting # 2 (and no, ‘Budget’ is STILL not a swear word)
You do not have to like or be good at numbers to succeed at budgeting, but you do need to be an adult about it
ABCs of budgeting # 1 (and no, ‘Budget’ is not a swear word)
I believe it was President George Bush who said: ‘It clearly is a budget. It has lots of numbers in it.’ You may not like numbers. You may not be good at math. You may go as far as saying that life cannot be reduced to mere numbers. But here you are – reading a blog about budgets.
How well do you know me, Honey?
Isn’t it interesting how the things that attract us to someone when we are young and in love can so often turn into the things we cannot stand, once the stars of new love fade and the light of the day-to-day make us blink?
Debt – coaxing the monster out from under the bed
Financial monsters: As a Financial Advisor, I can sense the palpable fear and desperation when some people come to see me for the first time. It takes courage to come and, like the dentist, I am avoided until the pain of debt and fear of financial ruin become too much.