Think Yourself Rich

Always keep your eyes on the ball,’ is my grandfather’s motto. ‘A farmer will not plant his crop and leave it there to grow by itself without caring for it. You have a responsibility to keep checking your crop to ensure that it grows and produces as expected. Yes, along the way there will be some challenges. There will be weeds, pests, unfavourable weather, diseases and the like. So you need to come up with ways to overcome these challenges. As long as you keep your eyes on your crops, you will always know what needs to be done, and that will result in a good harvest

One of the easiest ways to invest in property is through unit trusts and ETFs

It will only become an asset once your home loan has been paid up and your home starts generating some income, such as rent, or when you can sell it at a profit. Before this happens, your bonded home is not an asset but a liability.

A money market account is a bank account that usually offers investors a competitive interest rate. Some money market accounts only allow a limited number of transactions per month, and the account holder usually has to maintain a certain minimum balance to receive the higher interest rate.

Bonds are suitable for investors who depend on an income, such as pensioners, because they pay a fixed income consistently, regardless of market volatility or fluctuations.

Listed shares have been the best-performing asset class over the past 20 years

If you have dependants, it is seldom advisable to cancel your life-cover policies, even when your home is paid up.

For further reading on stock picking, I recommend One Up On Wall Street by Peter Lynch and The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham.

Usually, when people ask me which companies they should buy into on the stock market, I tell them to look at companies they know and understand.

You have created your financial plan. You have drawn up a monthly budget that you follow religiously. You have settled all your unnecessary debt. You are adequately insured. You have opened a separate bank account into which you save your emergency funds or you are using your access bond as a vehicle for saving for emergencies. You are putting away some money for your retirement and your children’s education. You are at a point in your life where you are managing your money fairly well