HOW SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE STAY DISCIPLINE WITH MONEY. LET'S LEARN;

Everyone has a different path to get to where they want to be financially, and the truth is that discipline is key to making work for most people. ACORNS FINANCE has put together a list of strategies that will help you correct the financial mistakes and wrong mindset of money.

• KEEP LEARNING.

Once you’ve identified areas in which you want to gain wealth, you start educating yourselve on those fields.

Invest in your self-knowledge by reading the relevant books, following the right bloggers and spokespeople, and keeping up to date with policy changes in the news. A lot of financial websites in Uganda even send daily or weekly updates to your mails. There are tons of resources out there (although it’s important to first check their credibility) that will help educate your financial decisions.

• SEEK ADVICE.

Successful people leverage the knowledge and advice of professionals in all areas.

For your money matters, financial advisers are best placed as it’s their job to know what’s going on and stay up to date. Many advisers work with their clients for free too, as they are paid by the suppliers.

An adviser will help you create a tailored financial plan based on your goals, objectives and risk tolerance. You require a unique plan, which will develop throughout your lifetime as your circumstances, priorities and goals change.

• INVEST.

Options for generating wealth are spread over multiple platforms. For retirement alone, you should be saving around 10-15 percent of the annual income. If we save eight percent in our banks, five percent should be invested through managed funds, which you can still have easy access to. This money will accumulate over time and can be used to help pay off the mortgage or fund a retirement lifestyle.

• SEEK OUT PASSIVE INCOME OPTIONS.

Passive income is the money received for little effort or personal time from investments such as rental properties and shares.

If you’re looking at long-term passive income, rental properties could be a good option as often you’ll have tenants paying off the mortgage. However, there might be little left over for passive income. Receiving regular lump-sum dividend payments from shares in a company might be a better option for short-term passive income, but it’s important before investing, that you know what the pay-out schedule is. For this kind of investment, you also need a lump sum to invest and be patient enough to wait for investment growth.

Acorns Finance commends u this, don’t forget the option to set up your own business, which plays to your expertise but generates income from minimal input from you because someone else runs the business day to day. Alternatively, invest or partner in a business.

• GET ONTO THE PROPERTY LADDER EARLY.

Buying a house as early as possible opens up the opportunity for other investments. By paying off your mortgage as quickly as you can, you can decrease your interest costs and keep more money in your own pocket. Once you reach particular loan-to-value ratios, you have the ability to leverage other investments off of your property and use money you formerly spent on mortgage repayments on potential income sources like managed funds.

Property as an investment is an appreciating asset; it will build your net wealth and create its own equity, too. It’s common to live within your means, but by allocating your spend to a mortgage, rather than rent or discretionary spending, you are building wealth.

• ASK FOR WHAT YOU WANT AND KNOW IT AT MIND.

Once you realise that in order to create wealth initially, you need  to increase the income. Creat more disposable income that you can use to generate wealth. Always look for how you can add further value in the job you do and seek out training opportunities to widen your skill set and result in income increases.

What value means can be different for every company, but by building strong relationships with your managers and the company’s leadership you can begin to understand your employer’s strategic goals and the role you play within achieving them.

Asking for what you want takes confidence and belief in your own value. Allow the experience of mentors, within an official and unofficial capacity, to guide you on what to ask for and when. It’s all part of the old adage – if you don’t ask, you don’t get.

• BORROW AND SPEND SMARTLY.

Spend the right way and stick to budget.

Ideally all spending should be done with cash that you have and not bought on credit or higher purchase, as you’ll be subject to higher interest rates.

Try not to borrow money for things that decrease in value. If you do need to borrow money, make your mortgage work for you. Do not make the mistake of setting the loan up within the mortgage as you’ll end up paying interest on the item over the lifetime of the mortgage.

Always borrow to the side of the mortgage – just using the house as collateral is smart as the bank has the security of the property and so are likely to offer the loan at a lower interest rate.