Times Of Swaziland: STOP OVER COMMITTING YOURSELVES STOP OVER COMMITTING YOURSELVES ================================================================================ The Editor on 17/05/2018 08:25:00 Most people think if they have enough money to pay for their needs then there is no need to put aside any extra cash every month. However, saving money each and every month is very important. From the time you started working how much money have you saved. You do not need to earn a lot in order for you to start saving because every cent counts. It is important to teach yourself the culture of saving. If you are working or you are running a business you should save at least 10 per cent of what you are earning every month. Your savings should be enough such that if you were to lose your job today, you would be able to survive for the next three to six months or even a year. Your money in savings is not supposed to be easily accessed. It is not money to be used to loan friends and relatives. It can only be accessed when there is an emergency, or an investment such as the down payment of a house or car loan, to finance your education or children’s education. That is why if a friend is borrowing money and you only have money on savings you are supposed to decline. If you are unable to save money from your current income then you should consider starting a business on the side. In fact a salary can never be enough, the more you earn the more commitments you have. In order to cushion yourself you have to have extra income. One of the reasons people commit suicide is financial problems. Most people get into financial problems because they fail to make hay while the sun shines and therefore have no savings for the dry season. It is never too late to start saving. If you have not started saving you can start today. If possible you can start by repaying what you should have saved from the time you started working up to today. People in the middle class are the ones who suffer the most as they are the ones who are usually swimming in debt. They tend to overcommit themselves trying to live the standard of rich people yet they are not rich. Low class people do not have a lot of debt; they are usually content with what they have. They do not go for things they cannot afford. Rich people have no problem with money, the problem is how they spend it. If they are careless in their spending they will definitely go down and they are most likely to commit suicide or die of stress related ailments. If you have not started saving you have to start now. You will be astonished with the amount of gratification that you will gain from just knowing that you have money in the bank. Stop over committing yourself in bad debt but rather have good debt.