Is Your Money Making You Sick?

Stop for a moment and consider the biggest stress points in your life right now. We at OUTvest would be willing to bet that in your top three, at least one will have its roots in a money related matter.  

Am I saving enough for retirement? Will I be able to keep up with medical expenses? Do I have enough set aside for that school trip that is coming up? How will I be putting my child through school or university next year? Am I taking advantage of tax benefits when I save?

 

While we often brush these concerns off as “everybody has them”, the reality is that poor money management can have a direct impact on your physical health, such as increased blood sugar and pressure and sleep deprivation which can create other health related issues over the longer term.

 

Higher stress levels can further compound by people who have taken on debt. In a way, debt means you lose control over your own money, as a portion of every future salary you earn will be taken and paid, with interest, to your creditors, which means less for you.

 

One of the simplest ways to tackle money-related financial stress points is to start setting aside money for an emergency. The peace-of-mind that comes from knowing that you can cope with an emergency, can immediately reduces stress and frees you up to focus on the important things in life. 

 

The beauty of OUTvest is that you can start from as little as R100 per month and monitor your savings and investment balance via our app or online portfolio tool.  

 

Why aren’t you using a financial advisor?

 

99% of us know we should be smarter around our money and if we all think back to the 1st of January each year, we know that “managing my money better” is one of the first New Year’s resolutions we write down and then break.  

 

But why is this?  

 

Alfred Edmond Jnr. is an ex-financial journalist, the host of the “Your Money Your Life” podcast in the US and co-author of Loving in the Grown Zone explains the simple reason why people don’t want to talk to financial advisors:  

 

“They don’t want to deal with the choices, remedies, or lifestyle changes that will likely be necessary to improve their condition.”  

 

This is where we believe that the OUTvest suite of products is a game-changer for ordinary South Africans wanting to come to grips with managing money better:   

 

  1. Putting the power back in your hands: What makes OUTvest special is that we have taken the knowledge of professionals and put that into an online system that anyone can use to make better investing decisions. In addition, if you need it, qualified financial advisors are on hand to help you with advice.  Our system is designed to help you worry less about investing, and get on with daily living with a few less things to worry about.
     

  2. You can’t get it wrong, so stop stressing: If we believe you have selected a product that doesn’t fit your needs or match your investment objective goal, there is an experienced team of financial advisors who are happy to pick up the phone and explain why a product might not be suitable for you. They also review every application to make sure the investment plan is sound.

  3. Our systems do the leg-work so you can get a “leg day”: No retail investor can stay on top of the deluge of information being thrown at them daily. August alone has seen an Emerging Market currency slide, continued uncertainty around Brexit weighing on UK-listed stocks and massive protests in Hong Kong – one of the financial capitals of the world. Not only do we analyse historical market performance but our experienced Investment Committee spends a significant amount of time ensuring that the portfolios we select for you are delivering risk appropriate returns.

  4. We keep your costs low so you can spend more time on you: It makes no sense to encourage you to build sound money foundations, simply to then eat into your returns with layers of fees. Our combination of smart technology and transparent fee structures, means that more of the Rands you invest with OUTvest are being put to work … ultimately buying you more time to focus on your health and well-being.  

  5. We simplify your choices:  We offer you a choice of 5 funds - and we will help you understand your risk profile.

  6. Simple to sophisticated: When looking at changes to your health and fitness, you don’t try and sign-up for an Ironman program from the beginning. Rather you will start out slow and put in place a series of building blocks that will allow you to improve your overall health. We have the same approach when it comes to OUTvest where we can start you off with a simple Tax Free Savings Plan or Emergency Fund and then build up to more financially sophisticated products like our Fixed Outcome Endowment www.outvest.co.za/what-we-offer/fixed-outcome-endowment

     

  7. Actionable Intelligence: Much like a good physio or personal trainer, we want to give you information you can actually act on. One of the most popular tools on our website is our Education Calculator where we commission research annually to make sure that the variables that went into our systems were relevant for South Africans. This means you are making smarter financial decisions around your children’s futures. 

There is a clear relationship between health and wealth and many South Africans discount the impact of financial stress on their bodies and minds. Instead of waiting for these stress points to wear you down, take a conscious decision to take control of your finances today. 

  

 

By Marc Ashton

 

OUTvest is an authorised FSP.  All investment are exposed to risk and not guaranteed.

 

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