In June we celebrate Youth Day in South Africa, and it is an important occasion as we get to remember and honour the youth that fought so hard for their equality and human rights. It took some impressive qualities for these kids of our past to achieve what they did, and it got us thinking about the sort of qualities we as parents need to instil in our children to ensure they will build a great future for this country in the next generation.

Teach your children well

So, what are the things that we need to teach our children about capably handling their financial future? We automatically think of the financial fundamentals that we have so often read about and have written about in many of our articles – things like budgeting accurately, saving and investing what we save, protecting our assets and our families etc.

These things are key to handling money well, but it takes much more than this to achieve the financial freedom and peace of mind that we all aspire to. So, let’s look at what the young really need to know about creating wealth!…

The determination to succeed

It takes more than executing fundamentals to create real wealth in the long term. One needs to have clearly set goals and a fierce determination to succeed financially. Long term goals should be set, primarily with a retirement goal in mind and taking inflation into account, but also shorter ‘milestone’ goals that should be regularly reviewed with your Financial Advisor.

The resilience to persevere through tough times

Life constantly throws lemons at us and although it’s easy to say ‘’make lemonade’’ it takes resilience to endure what can sometimes be a barrage of unexpected surprises. It is just too easy to cash in to make today’s problems go away, but the tough keep their eyes on the prize and persevere with their intended plans.

Embracing diversity and flexibility

It is a lot easier to have perseverance though when you have options open to you. Well-structured portfolios offer the diversity and flexibility to deal with setbacks and still be able to move on. This is where the help of Financial Advisors is so critical as they have the knowledge to do this.

It is also a good idea to remember that you or our business are one of a kind and you have a unique set of circumstances, so let your Financial Advisor advise you accordingly!

Taking a long-term view

This is so important when we look at the kind of instant gratification that our youth, and many adults too, seem to demand in this day and age. It seems almost unthinkable that we should consider things that will change our lives 30 or 50 years from now, but we need to get our children to understand what real inflation is about and what it could mean for the future. Maybe just remind them about things like the fuel price doubling in just the last 10 years – and work out what it will cost even 20 years from now!

Working with Financial Experts

All these qualities are exactly those which have been instilled in Hereford Group’s Financial Advisors over the last 30 years of creating financial freedom for our clients. These qualities are not only what the young really need to know about creating wealth but what we all need to remind ourselves of when we falter, or it seems like the goals we set were just too ambitious.

Those who succeed don’t give up, but rather find solutions to challenges as they arise – adjust accordingly – and keep going forward. Contact us and let us help you to do exactly that!