Time has come for South African youth especially black youth to stop thinking fame and fortune and start thinking wealth. Mindset shift about money is urgently needed.
From as early as Primary School we should be adopting a saving and wealth creation culture. Often you see kids in the Twonship running up and down with their friends to buy chips/sweets at the Tuckshop. There is very little or nothing that they are educated on when it comes Financial responsibility, wealth creation and savings.
By the time they reach College/University the spending culture is deeply rooted into who they are. Spending is a very bad habit and black people are expects in it! Yes we may be faced with high levels of poverty and unemployment, but we have capabilities to create wealth if only we could adopt a new culture.
Parents undermined their potential and someone else used it!
Our parents wake up every-day to go create wealth for their bosses, a clear sign that our parents have the capabilities to create wealth but do not have the mind or the motivation for it; it has never been something on their minds not even for a moment. That has to change. Our teachers may not have the motivation to talk about it because they are drowning in debts which makes wealth creation subject a “depressing” subject to talk about.
Riches versus Wealth
Thinking wealth creation now will inspire learners/students to shift their mindset and change the spending culture into a culture of financial responsibility, saving and wealth creation.
Many black people are rich in South Africa but very few are wealthy. There is a huge difference between being Rich and being Wealthy.
When you are rich it means you have money that can still run out, your financial resources are limited. You can still afford expensive lifestyle, but you can also be broke or even be bankrupt.
Most rich people drive cars and live in houses owned by financial institutions. This is reality for majority of people. Due to lack of wealth creation education at a young age, many people take short-cuts into riches, that is how corruption is birthed most of the time. You and I know very well that riches gained via short-cuts do not last. There have been many stories of people winning the lottery only to spend all that money in a short space of time.
But wealth is something that can never run out. You and your family are set for life, generations after you can still have access to it all the way into a 3rd or 4th generation, now that is wealth.
You can never be broke or bankrupt, you have enough resources to help other people. Each and every one of us has the ability to create wealth. We need patience and character because it is something that takes time to build. During that time there may be many challenges but because your focus is not in the now but in the future you will withstand all challenges.
Your Back-ground is a motivation
The situation may be very difficult at home and you may think this article is not for you, yes it is tough, your family got to eat, you are required to finish school and find a job real quick, such is the reality of many South African students.
But you can still create wealth out of the situation that you and your family find yourselves in.
The reason we find it difficult to create wealth is because we lack long term thinking. We do not have the patience or the stamina to walk the journey towards wealth.
As a result we are under pressure to go to college or university, get our qualification through debt then work our entire lives paying back that debt. And so debt becomes our ways of life. We come out of College/University, get our first job and the first thing we do is create more debt, spending that money on things that will never improve our lives. The word “wealth” is very rare in our vocabulary.
Where to begin?
Festive season is here, this is the time you will witness this unfortunate spending culture. We will spend every single cent there is on clothes, food, alcohol and cellphones. Living like there is no tomorrow, roads will turn into carnage and body counts will rise into thousands. We want to finish it all now, here, today.
This mentality can change and it starts with you reading this article. What is it that you can do over these holidays towards creating wealth for yourself? What can you deny yourself today because you want to give it to a wealthy you tomorrow? Are you doing anything today to deposit into your wealth? Remember that wealth goes beyond money! When we speak wealth we speak about your physical well being, the quality relationships and your ability to budget and save money. Instead of buying that latest sneaker or smart phone to add to a collection of things you have now, put that money away because tomorrow it would have generated interest for you. Like a seed buried in the ground money grows over time.
Build your wealth from R10
Invest in yourself, spending that money so you can look better than your friends is not investment but keeping that R10 in order to see it turn into R20 over time is investment and wealth creation culture. We are raised on Government grants; that do not need to be our story! That is our parents’ story; our story should be that we created wealth at a very young age and now we are able to build houses for our families and live debt free lives.