How often do we mistake good planning for good fortune? It’s very easy to comment about how lucky someone is to have a new car or furniture, or that they were able to improve their home. But what if it isn’t luck? What if it’s about planning to achieve something important to you or your family?

Rethink money and debt

A key lesson about managing your money better is that credit or debt is not bad. World governments couldn’t operate without debt, so why should you shy away from a financial tool that can help you to achieve a personal need?

Obviously, you don’t want to take on more debt than you can afford, nor do you want to be careless. Splurging on a new sound system for your car rather than taking care of your home, for instance, would be using debt to pay for a luxury, when you could be using it for a necessity.   

Good money sense means being able to see how and where credit can help you. An easy example is a home: how else do you buy a house without taking out a loan?

This is probably the most expensive example, but a home loan serves the same purpose as a loan for renovations or to improve your life. There are simply times when you can’t pay for large-ticket items out of your pocket, and financing that through a loan makes more sense.

Rethinking debt also means recognising that getting credit and maintaining a decent credit score doesn’t happen overnight. Working with debt is a life-long journey, so it helps to get onto the right path early.

From loan consolidation to home ownership

Take the story of Daniel, a Nedbank client who’s managed to provide for his family over the years after taking steps that got him on the right path.

Setting a goal, devising a plan and wholeheartedly pursuing that goal can help you achieve what may seem impossible

Struggling with the pressures of being a young family with school fees, home essentials and other debts to take care of, he and his wife approached us for a loan. After considering their needs and situation, we granted Daniel a loan that allowed him to pay off other loans and buy what his family needed. In a single move, he consolidated his loans into 1, giving him better control of his finances.

Doing so provided Daniel with tremendous relief, as he found making 1 regular monthly payment easier to manage. Over time, his management of his debt left him with a credit score that allowed him to do what had previously been unthinkable: he was granted a home loan to buy his family a house.

‘I am so happy that I am able to provide a home for my family and make our dreams come true,’ says Daniel

Your dreams could be just a loan application away

Daniel’s story is an inspiration for those of us who have despaired at the financial challenges that life throws at us. Staying ahead can seem like a real nightmare unless you’re able to find a way out.

Using a loan to reduce multiple debt to a single repayment every month could help you. But a loan can also help you to pay for something important to you or your family.

This is the situation that another Nedbank client found himself in.

You’ll just smile, because you know that it wasn’t luck: you took a loan to help you meet your need

Hailing from a humble background, he wanted to repay his parents for the sacrifices they’d made to ensure he was able to live a better life.

‘When I grew up, I had many dreams that I wanted to fulfil, but at the top of my list was the dream to make my parents’ life more comfortable. After all they had done for me while I was growing up, my deepest desire was to build them a house,’ he says.

Achieving this dream was made possible when he applied for and received a personal loan to cover the costs of rebuilding his parents’ home.

He didn’t think that a personal loan would be the most appropriate solution until he’d done some research to inform that decision. So, having invested energy to compare his options and making sure his finances were in order, would it be fair to label this client ‘lucky’? Was it good fortune that allowed him to realise his dream of helping his parents? Or was it a good plan well executed?

Applying the same principles of setting a goal, devising a plan and wholeheartedly pursuing that goal can help you also achieve what may seem impossible. Many people have managed to achieve their dreams by doing just that. See your option for a personal loan that would make a real difference in your life.

And maybe one day people will be telling you: ‘Yoh, you’re so lucky to have been able to do X!’ And you’ll just smile, because you know that it wasn’t luck: you took a loan to help you meet your need and did it with a responsible lender, who granted you an affordable loan.