Thanks to the war in Ukraine and the ever-rising price of electricity, petrol and commodities in general, we have really begun to feel the pinch in our pockets. Certainly, we have been here before, and just a little while ago too with the economic downturn of the pandemic, but it is still daunting to face wave after wave of financial negatives when we have just gotten back on our feet. So, what can we do about it? How do we turn the financial pinch into positive possibilities?

Well, let’s start with a rather positive quote from self-improvement guru Ralph Marston who said; ‘’Every positive thing in your life represents a single unique blessing. Every negative thing in your life has the opportunity to become a double blessing. For when you turn a negative into a positive, you gain twice. You are no longer burdened with the negative situation, and in addition to that you are strengthened by a new positive force.’’

Don’t stay in the dark twice!

Let’s take an example of a negative that we can turn into a positive possibility – the current load shedding and continual price hikes from ESKOM, who are feeding the nation with a fossil fuel-based energy source, electricity. It is bad enough that we are physically in the dark, but if we don’t start investing in better forms of energy to replace electricity we are keeping ourselves in the dark – twice!

We all need to start investing in environmentally friendly energy sources and can do this even in small ways like having a gas cooker and a solar-powered geyser for example. These two household items alone are two of our biggest energy guzzlers and for many of us these are affordable alternatives that can ultimately replace a poor fuel source and save us money.

For many others of course this may be easier said than done, but if those who can spend more time and money on developing better energy infrastructures do so, it can ultimately benefit us all.

Use pedal power to stop the petrol pinch

Once again, not everyone can do it, but how about more of us start pedalling to get to where we need to, instead of using our vehicles, to beat the petrol pinch? South Africans are notorious for having one person in a car, and going by car to the corner café! Not only will cycling or walking save on petrol but we will get substantially healthier through the increased exercise. This is done all through Europe, even where they have good public transport infrastructures, so why do we not do this (and have more solar energy) here where we have the perfect weather for it?

COVID proved to us that we can also work successfully from home, so let’s ease the traffic burden on the roads and save petrol by spending a few more days a week doing this. We can now take advantage of greatly improved online shopping resources and hold online meetings to save both time and money. This is a great positive that the petrol price hikes have inadvertently afforded us!

Plan wisely to beat rising budgets

Sure, our budgets are taking strain, but we can benefit from finding better ways to budget at times like these. Why not budget more flexibly, so you allow for increases on items like petrol, electricity and foodstuffs, which are usually subject to regular price hikes – and fix, or even reduce, the items that you can control, like luxury goods, expensive vacations, eating out, gym memberships etc?

Also, talk to a Financial Advisor about the many ways you can consolidate debt to give you more immediate expenditure and make the right investments to ensure growth on your capital, even in inflationary times.

It can be done because our financial experts at Hereford group are all trained and highly knowledgeable about every product on the market and can, through understanding your specific financial challenges, help you to always turn the financial pinch into positive possibilities!