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Make your financial goals a resolution to stick to in 2023

By Neil Pienaar, Regional Manager at PPS Financial Advisory Service & Enablement

New year, new dreams, new aspirations, new diets, new action plans, new holiday ideas, new jobs and typically, also a “new you”.

We can all relate to the “new year, new you” tagline. A fresh start to get our lives back on track. To live the lives we want to live. The question is, how many “financial” tasks exist in your resolution list? Most likely none.

Some of you may have seen the video of US Navy Admiral, William McRaven, titled the Power of Hope, given at the University of Texas Commencement Address. If you have not, I highly recommend that you do. The video details ten tasks to change the world but begins quite simply. The first task is… to make your bed.

Start the day off with a small win. By making your bed, you accomplish something that subconsciously ignites your brain to want to achieve something else and then another task. By starting small, you create a winning habit that gives you the sense of achievement to do bigger and better things.

The same can be said about savings and investments. We all see this mountain to climb, “the Everest”, called retirement. How am I going to do this? It seems impossible to save that much? I cannot afford it! A Sisyphean task.

Drawing inspiration from Admiral McRaven, all one really needs to do is start. Start small if you must, but just start. That is the first step towards financial freedom. February is the end of the tax year, with a significant focus on retirement annuities and investments. However, it can also be a springboard to your “new you” philosophy.

Starting your retirement annuity or adding more funds to your existing investment is an excellent tool for building wealth for retirement. Retirement annuities are often the first point of departure when structuring your retirement savings goals, as the benefits of a retirement annuity are significant.

Retirement annuity benefits:

1. Contributions up to 27.5% of taxable income/remuneration or R350 000, whichever is less, are tax deductible.
2. Retirement annuities do not form part of your estate and are great for building wealth outside the estate.
3. Beneficiaries can be nominated and can therefore be used in succession planning.
4. Disallowed contributions over and above the prescribed tax benefit limit are rolled over to the following tax year. Alternatively, any disallowed contributions can be taken at retirement tax free or offset against the income drawn from your living annuity to reduce your tax liability.
5. Accessibility is restricted to the age of 55, forcing individuals to preserve capital for retirement.

Procrastination is the thief of time. No saying is truer when applying it to saving for retirement.

Speak to your accredited PPS financial adviser or wealth manager today. Remember, when you start outweighs how much you save.

Make your financial bed and change your world.