In this month of April, we celebrate an important day in South Africa’s history. As Wikipedia puts it ‘Freedom Day is a public holiday in South Africa celebrated on 27 April. It celebrates freedom and commemorates the first post-apartheid elections held on that day in 1994.’

Yes, it is that and yet it is so much more than that. It really gave our country a sense of freedom to right the wrongs of the past and it gave many of our people the opportunity for the first time to strive for financial freedom. Unfortunately, financial freedom does have to be earned though and can only be earned by adopting certain financial (and lifestyle) principles.

Hereford Group celebrates

As it happens, this year Hereford Group celebrate 30 years of existence and 30 years of striving toward and we believe reaching the pinnacle of success. It occurred to us that what it has taken for us to achieve this is adopting the same financial and life principles that ultimately enable our clients to reach financial freedom.

What’s vitally important though, given the fluctuations in the economy and unexpected challenges that we continually face, is that financial freedom is found under all circumstances! We believe that this kind of financial freedom can only come from determination and resilience, the same qualities that enabled us to achieve our success over the past 30 years, but there’s a little more too…

Determination

To achieve financial freedom the first step is to have the determination and discipline to achieve it! Those who don’t have budgets and never save or invest money will never know the freedom of having money to see them through good and bad times or (unless they win a lottery or inherit money) have the peace of mind of knowing they will enjoy a good retirement.

Resilience

Once we are on the path of saving, investing, and covering ourselves against unexpected illnesses or economic downturns, we need to persevere on this path and have the resilience to take the long view and not give up.

The best way to do this is to work with a good Financial Advisor to ensure that we have flexibility in our portfolio, we are not paying more taxes than we need to and we have good critical illness and loss of income protection too. It’s easier to be resilient when you are well-prepared!

Understanding that we are all different!

There is one thing more though. It is essential to understand that people are all different and you need to work with your own circumstances and let your Financial Advisor guide you to your best growth path in accordance with that. You might have very different aspirations or ideas of what real financial freedom is so there is no ‘one size fits all’ solution to achieving it. Work with your advisor to achieve what you want.

Working with the best

One of the reasons Hereford Group have been so successful is that we have always understood that every individual and business is different and we advise every client accordingly. We have, after 30 years also found the key to financial freedom under all circumstances and that is what assures you that whatever circumstances you may face your financial freedom, with a little help from us, will be assured