LIVING WITHIN OUR MEANS AND SAVING - MONEY CAN ALWAYS BE ENOUGH OR NEVER ENOUGH; IT’S JUST HOW WE PLAN. An increasing number of Zambians are living beyond their means, their earnings. And today, it has become very easy for one to live beyond their means because credit has increased. There are so many micro-financing companies lending money to individuals. And there are also many business enterprises that are advancing goods and services to individuals on credit. Even normal commercial banks are now lending money to individuals so easily for them to buy cars, houses, and wedding dresses and so on and so forth. It is very dangerous for one to live beyond one’s means because this leads to so many temptations and opens a person to wrongdoing. Many Zambians are today in debt everywhere. And here am not talking about corporate debt but personal debt, the debts of an individual. There are people earning a monthly salary of KR 1,000 but living a life of KR 2,000 plus. We also have people whose monthly earning are in thousands of kwacha but living lives of those whose earnings are in billions per month. How is this possible? This is only possible through debt or unearned income. And unearned is a prima facie case of corruption. Debt, if not well managed can easily get out of control. A person can end up in debt before he realizes it. Getting a credit card, taking out a loan or making a major purchase can put one in debt if there aren’t sufficient resources to cover the expenses. Loss of employment easily put one in debt. You may have a good job and a good credit then suddenly, you find yourself out of employment and debt begins to mount. Before you know it, your good credit is dwindling as you struggle to make your payments. When you fall behind, debts quickly takes hold of your life. Debt can have many negative effects on one’s life. A person with bad credit may steal from his employers or from other people. Financial constraints can have disastrous effects on relationships, marriages, families etc. money problem are one of the common causes of marital disputes. Spouses spend time arguing over money because of lack of proper management on the part of one or both spouses. In some instances, there isn’t enough money coming into the household to cover the expenses. In other situations, the income may be insufficient to cover normal expenses but the spending habits are out of control. Being in debt can put a person under enormous pressure. And with one’s mind focused on their debts, sleepless nights can become a pattern. You may find that you are not as efficient as you should be at work, and your temperament may change. People who are suffering from stress often become irritable and short-tempered. Debt can seem like a never-ending circle. We have even situations in today’s life where people are borrowing to pay off other debts, and the cycle continues. The stress of being in debt can lead to frustration and even depression. Debt can even affect one’s physical health. The worry and constant stress of debt can take its toll on one’s body as well as the mind. People often suffer from headaches, stomach upsets, anxiety, desperation and other conditions. Lack of sleep and not eating properly can have adverse effects on one’s health. People often avoid dealing with debts because they just don’t see any way out of the dilemma, but this just makes the situation worse – causing more worry, more stress and more adverse effects. Debt is not good at all. This is worse with kaloba. Every month that goes without attending to the debt, the borrower does not bother much – they simply adjust the figure upwards, causing more psychological burdens on you. It is best to deal with the ill-effects of debts by taking one step at a time to eliminate the debt. Getting out of a debt isn’t going to happen overnight, but the longer you try to avoid the debt, the more it will continue to mount and cause harm on your health. There is need to take steps to conserve our resources as a step to protect our health and family happiness. It’s not every kwacha that one earns that has to be spent. There is need to save. Even with very low earnings, one can still manage to save something. And the benefits of saving are obvious. One of the fundamental principles of finance is the concept that K 1 today is more valuable than K 1 a year from now. The reason for this is two-fold. First, a kwacha will probably buy fewer goods and services in the future due to the destructive force of inflation. Second, if one has a kwacha in hand today, one can invest it and earn a return in the form of interest, capital gains or dividends. The best money advice that one can ever give is to firmly establish this time value of money in the head. The key to financial prosperity is realizing the potential value of every kwacha that comes into our hands. In fact, we think of cash as a seed – we can either eat it, that is spending it, or sow it, that is investing it. Money, like water, expands to fill the container in which it is placed. If you lack an objective set on your financial life, you probably reach the end of the month and find yourself broke. You vow that next month will be different, but it never is. This scenario is certainly the one which is familiar to many of us. Fortunately, it doesn’t to be that way. If you find that you do not have enough money to cover all your expenses, find a way to raise money to cover the shortfall. If this means ordering and selling fish at the market, reducing weekend picnics, reducing on luxurious meals, parking the vehicle for a month, do it with an open heart. Going into a debt to cover expenses will be yet creating a heavier burden than the pending expense. Think it sounds too hard? If so, you must answer this question for yourself: is the pain of parking the vehicle, reducing on the Kgs of meat and other luxuries greater than being in financial bondage? If it is, you need to resign yourself to remaining in the same financial situation for the rest of your life. In fact, if you are used to using debts as a means of upgrading your lifestyle, the problem will probably grow worse with time. Taking control of your finances creates a sense of empowerment that will reach into every area of your life. The freedom that comes from knowing that you and your family will be provided for regardless of what may come up cannot be expressed in words. It is something you will experience for yourself when you make the decision that being financially independent and secure is more important than impressing your neighbors with material things. This will also give you pride to even drive round the streets after clearing all your debts. Shalom!
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 14:06:21 +0000
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