When most of the world went into lockdown, countless families lost income. Income that they desperately needed to pay rent, buy groceries, pay school fees and a host of other vital monthly expenses. Whilst lockdowns and social distancing reminded us that our greatest asset is our health, they also reminded us that one of our other significant assets is our ability to earn an income. In the last year, we’ve helped many of our clients build […]
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Pop that balloon… or let it go
A balloon payment (also called a residual value) is quite simply an amount of money that is still due after you’ve finished paying your monthly instalments. The goal of structuring a loan with a balloon payment is to make it more affordable on your current cash flow, making it very attractive. They are ideal for both companies and private individuals who are facing a cash crunch in the short term but expect their liquidity to improve […]
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The end-of-year-clarity
Often, towards the end of the year, we have moments of clarity – or AHA! moments – where we suddenly realise how much time has passed. It begins with realising that we’re no longer in September… and then we wonder where the whole year seems to have gone. But these moments aren’t only limited to the final quarter of the year; they also happen when we celebrate birthdays, graduations, weddings, funerals, new jobs and other milestones […]
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Visualisation and stress
Not all stress is bad. But, if left unmanaged and unchecked, stress can become quite unhealthy for us. We all know many causes of stress, but we don’t always slow down enough to think about the specifics that are causing stress in our own lives. Money, health, family, friends, work, safety and security – are all prevalent triggers, and the sheer volume makes it difficult to intentionally focus on what’s causing us stress. One of the […]
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Seeing the light.
There are many reasons for our increased stress levels – the use of technology and how it has changed our communication with each other and the world around us is complex and deeply integrated with our wellbeing. But where we used to follow seasons and the flow of the natural world around us, we have now created new rhythms and patterns and this has disrupted our Circadian Rhythm. The term Circadian Rhythm refers to our body’s […]
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Enemy of the estate
Towards the end of every year (from about September), we often have a strong focus on Wills and Estate Planning. Both of these documents can be overwhelming because of their importance and scope. It’s easy to think that we put them off because of their complexity, but often it’s because it’s hard to visit the emotional space these legacy testaments evoke. The biggest enemy of our estate and legacy is not tax, legislation or costs; the […]
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Inflation & Interest Rates
Typically, inflation and interest rates are in an “inverse” relationship: When rates are low, inflation tends to rise. And when rates are high, inflation tends to fall. Moneyweb recently wrote “increasing the cost of credit will reduce the demand for it and therefore slow down the pace of ‘new money’ entering the economy via credit channels. This slowdown of funds entering the economy via credit channels will slow down the inflation rate as less money chases […]
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How to handle higher interest rates
Whenever the cost of borrowing money goes up or the interest earned on savings increases, we’re talking about higher interest rates. This is good for people who have savings, but it could be quite tough for anyone with a home loan, vehicle financing, student loan, unpaid credit cards or any other form of debt. And, realistically, most of us have a bit of both. When it comes to debt, the more we owe, the more we […]
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Recognise. Interrupt. Change.
“We cannot change what we are not aware of, and once we are aware, we cannot help but change.” – Sheryl Sandberg The foundation of most of our ongoing frustrations can be traced back to our habits, and the challenge with habits is we often aren’t even aware of them. When the world went into COVID lockdown, there was an increased awareness of face-touching, hand-washing and social distancing. All of a sudden, we became aware that […]
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Rewriting retirement rules of thumb
At the end of any retirement planning conversation, we should always end with how our plan is unique to our own situations. But at the beginning, during the exploratory stage, it’s helpful to have some basic guidelines for where we can begin, or how we can craft our own benchmarks. In the same way that a baby may start to walk anywhere between 8 and 18 months, we all start saving and investing at different stages […]
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