Have you ever wondered why some people just tend to have more money than you have? Or: Why do some people in the same income bracket than you, never have enough money!
It is simple! It is because of their numbers!
A money mindset is straight forward yet quite intricate at the same time. In simple terms: you have a scarcity mindset or an abundance mindset. And don’t fool yourself – there is no such thing as an enough mindset. You either grow or you die. Stagnation leads to rotting!
We all have numbers: Your income is a number. Your expenditure is a number. Your savings is a number.
If you think you have no control over any of these numbers, be careful, you are showing your scarcity tendency! If you feel obliged to defend yourself, you have a scarcity mindset. And don’t think spending indiscriminately is demonstrating an abundance mindset. It is reckless and will soon land you in the debt spiral which is for sure a scarcity mindset.
An abundance mindset is knowing your numbers, living within your means AND creating more income.
I am sure you have heard or seen the concept of being specific when creating goals. Well, let me tell you, you will feel it when it comes to money! In Afrikaans we have a saying: Jy sal dit aan jou bas voel! Meaning you will feel it whether you plan your money goals and even more so if you don’t plan it.
I want you to think what is your savings number – what is the amount you have saved. I am going to illustrate this number with my friend’s teenage daughter as an example. The two of them went shopping for clothes for the daughter. The daughter gets an allowance for clothes and is therefore responsible to buy it herself. She is also encouraged to save a portion of her allowance. As this is a frequent discussion in their household, Mom knew that Sis has R10 500 savings and R5 000 to spend on clothes for the new season. Shopping went well and Sis found the things she loved. She was within her budget and she looked forward showing off all these lovely garments to her friends. She had R200 left and was looking for something to spend it on. And then she found this top that was absolutely going to dazzle everybody! Even Mom agreed it was a must have! But disaster! The price of the top was R1 200. She only had R200 left. Mom refused to help her with R500 as she was prepared to use only R500 from her own savings. Can you guess what Sis’ number is? You’re right. It is R10 000. She was prepared to spend the R500 above R10 000, but not more. Do you feel she was silly not to buy the top? Isn’t it easy to spend somebody else’s money? Or could it be that your own number is less than R10 000?
What is the number you feel safe, comfortable, proud of having saved? That is your number. Can you see now why those who lack money, most probably don’t even have a savings number?!
If you don’t like the number that you have, I want to comfort you. Your number is not fixed. You won’t be stuck with it for the rest of your life. Unless you want to. Your money mindset is like a muscle. It can expand with exercise. Start with the challenge.
A good friend once mentioned we should have an income that equals your age times 1000. If you are 42, you should have an income of R42 000. A number to consider! Yet hard to fathom in a country where the average income in the formal sector is just over R11 000 pm and the average income overall is only about R1 000 pm. Can you use your abundance mindset to help you create the income you desire? I believe you can.
But first establish your number as it is today: Income Expenditure Savings
And the last shocker: What is your bribery number? I truly hope I will never find out what is mine!