Observed all around the world, Workers Day advocates for free and fair work practices for employees. Although great strides have been made globally, as we celebrate it here in South Africa during these tough economic times, the question is whether financial freedom for the working class will ever be possible in our lifetime?
When we speak of financial freedom, we imagine a life where we are entirely in control of our finances, with a budget that comfortably covers all our expenses while leaving enough for our debts, savings, and investments.
Founder and Debt Counsellor at National Debt Advisors (NDA), Sebastien Alexanderson defines financial freedom as an economic setting where which our money works for us and not the other way around. “When we are financially free, we are able to provide our families with the lifestyle that we desire and we pursue the careers that we want without being conditioned by specified salary brackets,” said Alexanderson. He said this is achieved when we manage our finances so efficiently, we end up having enough disposable income to cover our debts and household expenses as well as save, invest, and afford to make reasonable on demand cash purchases at any given time.
According to Alexanderson, one of the main obstacles for attaining financial freedom is over-indebtedness.
“This phenomenon is worsened by the deteriorating economic climate and consumers are increasingly having to rely on taking up more credit to survive. A crucial risk linked to the rapid increase in household debt is a progressive decline in personal savings, which is one of the key bases for economic emancipation. Once your savings are depleted, your path down the toilsome maze of over-indebtedness is most likely to commence,” he says.
If you are overwhelmed by your financial struggles and feel that your financial obligations are more than what you can bare, Alexanderson says that you are not alone.
“With 72% of the population going through financial stress at least once in their lifetimes, money problems are often the main source of stress and related health issues for most consumers across the globe. According to previous reports, even as devastating as the Covid-19 pandemic was, South Africans were worried more about how they were going to be able to put food on the table than whether or not they were going to contract the potentially deadly virus.”
“The good news is, financial freedom is possible, in your lifetime. There are experts available to help you address your debt issue effectively through professional debt counselling services,” says Alexanderson.
Put in place by the National Credit Act, debt counselling is a legal and regulated debt solution that assists overindebted consumers lead quality lives - free from the glut of cumulative debt far exceeding their disposable income. He concludes that through the debt counselling process, highly skilled and qualified debt counsellors negotiate with all your creditors to create a single reduced payment that you can afford.
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