Hustling today to leave a legacy tomorrow

South Africa’s born-free generation is not just standing back and waiting for things to happen. Every day they put their shoulder to the wheel, and hustle to turn their dreams of a better life into reality. These entrepreneurial youngsters know how to capitalise on opportunities, take risks, put themselves out there, learn from failure and get back up to face challenges head-on.

However, the path towards success requires more than street-smarts as well as gust and determination. Education, skills development, and having capital to fall back on in tough times or finance expansions in good times, help to make this journey far less daunting.

Young people can empower themselves financially in order to succeed in this journey. Saving and investment is a great place to start in working towards their desired goals and dreams:

Start small and improve your spending habits

Once you get the discipline of saving a portion of your funds every month, you start to spend better, wiser, and put your money only towards the things you need as opposed to want.

A lot of us wait until we have the right job and ideal circumstances to start saving and investing, but because Rome was not built in a day, today is the best day to start, in your youth, with the little that you have. Learning to save either towards a small or bigger goal will ensure that as your income increases, you have the discipline to always put a portion of your earnings away for a greater cause.

Time allows you to take risks and surviving black tax

Being able to start saving or investing earlier on in your life, allows you to learn along the way and room to make mistakes that a lot of us make while trying to figure the best saving or investment options that best suit our pockets, lifestyles in relation to our goals.

Additionally, for most young South Africans, Black Tax is a reality that you can’t run away from. Having a savings buffer helps lessen the burden this may have on your pocket in times of a family or personal crisis, where you are required to do your bit by digging into your pockets.

Giving in to FOMO

We live in a digital world, where most trends are seen on social media. If not planned and budgeted well, our finances can be placed under a lot of strain, with every new pair of Jordan kicks, Xbox games, Swiss watch, Apple or Samsung Galaxy device we purchase. When you have savings to call upon when FOMO strikes you may sometimes be able to do so, safely.

Saving and investing can seem like a lofty idea when you do not necessarily earn enough to save and invest a sizeable amount of money regularly. However, if you can get into the healthy habit of budgeting, sticking to that budget, and putting away what you can, you are bound to cultivate a healthy saving culture that can only be good for your future. The journey towards financial prosperity tomorrow, starts by saving what you can today.