You need a certain mindset to start building wealth. Many people see money simply as a way to pay their rent and put food on the table, but it has the potential to be so much more. Wealth increases the number of options available to you – to improve your own life, or to better your community, facilitate change and empower others.

Be prepared for the time it will take to build your wealth and cultivate the right mindset. Be willing to make sacrifices and embrace delayed gratification. We live in a world that often rewards you instantly – think of likes on photos, on-demand streaming services and next-day shopping deliveries. Building wealth is the opposite – rewards are delayed to make them greater.

If you want to build wealth, you need to accept that you’ll feel the impact of the sacrifices that you make now, but you’ll have to wait till later in life to reap the rewards. You need a long-term view, and you need to plan for your future carefully. Make sure to put a financially stable foundation in place for you to build on.

Invest in yourself         

The best investment you can make is to invest in yourself, and education is a way to do that. Make investing in your financial IQ and learning the basic principles of managing money as much of a priority as getting educated in your career specialisation.

This will not only improve your own outcomes, but it will also allow you to pass on this knowledge to others in your family, to start building generational wealth. A financial plan is one of the tools that can help you achieve this, no matter what you earn.

The value of a financial plan

Financial planners can give useful advice to people at all income levels – they aren’t a privilege reserved for the rich. Having a deeper understanding of how to meet your needs, achieve your goals and make provision for the unexpected will give you confidence when making financial decisions. A financial plan allows you to be in control of your money, instead of allowing it to control you, and improves your peace of mind about the future.

Learning to align your finances with your priorities will make a great impact on your life. Don’t waste time and resources on things that aren’t important to you. Think about the future you want for yourself and invest in what makes that possible. Many of the wealthiest people in the world achieved the things they did because they spent their time, skills and capital on solutions to real-world problems.

Build healthy money habits

You can only invest when you can afford to, so it’s important to build healthy money habits and start taking those first steps. The devil is in the details – it’s often small, seemingly insignificant habits and disciplines that make a fundamental difference in the long run.

Often, you might overlook one of the simplest, most important habits: saving. It may seem daunting to put aside money every month, especially if you’re only beginning your career. However, starting as early as possible, no matter how little or how much you can afford to save, will give you a considerable head start.

Budgeting is relatively easy, once you put your mind to it, and it will free up money in the long run. If you’re not comfortable with spreadsheets, an app like MoneyTracker can help you set up a budget and stick to it. A budget will give you a clear view of how much money you have coming in and where it goes every month. Incorporating savings as a regular monthly expense will help you remain disciplined – once your monthly needs are paid for, you’ll have a set amount to spend on recreation and entertainment.

Include an emergency savings account in your budget, so you’ll be prepared when things don’t go according to plan. A family member might fall ill, a car might need to be fixed, or some other disaster might strike that leaves you in need of money urgently. An emergency fund can help you reduce your reliance on debt, which is another key to building wealth.

A credit card, overdraft facility or store account can be a useful tool – not only to smooth out your cash flow and enable you to buy what you need when you need it, but also to help you build a strong credit record, which is important when you need long-term credit like a loan for a car or house. However, it’s important that you don’t treat these short-term debt facilities as ‘free money’. If you rack up too much debt, you’ll waste too much of your income on interest payments.

Partner with a financial planner

All the above tips will help you build a healthier financial future, but the most important step is to start saving early. Retirement may seem a long way away, but time is your biggest ally in terms of building wealth. A little bit of money put away each month can become something much larger if you’re consistent about it.

Partnering with a financial planner can help you to start your financial journey and cultivate habits that will change your life. A financial planner can also help you to avoid common pitfalls, especially if you aren’t confident in your financial knowledge yet. It’s a way of making building your wealth a personal priority.

Contact us for expert advice

Nedbank can help you with your financial planning. If you’re not a client yet and want to find out more about how we can help you, we would love to hear from you. Please complete our online contact form, and one of our consultants will call you back.