To chase and reach your personal wealth goals in 2020, you’ll need to invest in your financial literacy. Get a head-start for 2020 by reading one of these books before year-end.
You’re Not Broke, You’re Pre-Rich by Mapalo Makhu
Driven by a strong passion help professionals and entrepreneurs bring their financial dreams to reality, Makhu has been working as a personal finance coach for several years.
She is the founder of financial consulting firm Women & Finance and also blogged about money management tips. It’s this ability to make money conversational that makes her debut book noteworthy.
Even though she has a BCom finance degree and a post-graduate diploma in financial planning, Makhu believes that the road to financial freedom is a journey everyone can embark on.
Her book has anecdotes that are relatable and at times amusing, and advice that is simple and actionable. An advocate of budgeting, she has a whole chapter dedicated to the topic in her book. Sections covered, include “Where to Find Money in your Current Budget”, “Zero-based budgeting” and “The 50/30/20 Rule of Thumb”.
One of the tips she shares, is the importance of using automation to keep a tight handle on spending.
“Automating your budget allows you to operate on autopilot. It takes away the stress of having to remember who gets paid when, how much etc, but more importantly, automating your budget allows you to save and invest diligently.
Mapalo Makhu
I cannot tell you how many times I have said to myself “this month, after having paid all my other expenses, I will put away R1 000 into a saving or an investment”, but never do!
Automating your investments specifically, makes them a priority and not just an afterthought when everything else has been ticked off the long list of expenses.
How to Make Your First Million by Warren Ingram
With more than two decades of experience as a financial planner, Ingram has seen all the many different ways people acquire wealth.
He shares years of research and insight in his book. Demonstrating how various people have made their money in their own unique way, he hopes that readers will be inspired to devise a method that works for their own circumstances.
One of Ingram’s beliefs is that if you can leverage your time, rather than just sell your time, you’ll be on the way to financial freedom.
“If you can leverage your time successfully, you have the ability to earn an income even when you are not working, which means you can achieve a balance between work and the other important aspects of life.”
Warren Ingram
“As an example, a lawyer who charges an hourly rate for his work is limited in how much he can earn from clients. In contrast, an asset manager who manages money for people will earn an income irrespective of whether she is working on a particular day or not.
“Similarly, a writer of books or software only needs to write the items once. Thereafter the items will be sold and the writer will earn an income repeatedly from the same piece of writing.”
From Debt to Riches by Phumelele Ndumo
If you’ve ever battled with garnishee orders, admin orders, debt counselling, paying university fees or struggling to buy a home, you’re the target audience of this book.
In addition to holding a BCom degree and a master’s in business leadership, Ndumo has extensive banking experience having held senior positions in NBS Boland Bank, FNB and Nedcor.
This book is for ordinary South Africans who aspire to get out and stay out of debt … and head towards financial freedom.
An accessible step that almost anybody can take is to have a money market account, writes Ndumo.
“As I go around the country delivering talks and workshops on money management, I am shocked at the number of people I meet who still keep large sums of money with a bank and they earn very little interest.
Phumelele Ndumo
“Also, I come across many people who use fixed deposit accounts for emergencies. When you have a fixed deposit account with a bank, you must serve the notice period before you can withdraw the funds and if you can’t serve the notice period – as is often the case when you have an emergency – then you would be charged an early withdrawal penalty.
“A money market investment account is a better way to go for short-term investments and for emergencies. The money market investment account aims to preserve capital, so the chances of a capital loss are very low.”
