This is, in my estimation, perhaps the most distorted and misleading money myth. It’s destructive and dismissive, and yes, it disqualifies most people before they even start. I’m glad, though, that this is a myth, and not the truth.
Why do many South Africans believe you must be rich to invest?
Here is the problem: most people believe this myth. You think I am generalizing? How many of your friends do you know who actively save and invest money each month? For most people, it’s a few. I get it; you have a few friends anyway, so the research sample is small.
Myths are devious ideas that people believe without questioning, and they can live their entire lives based on these false, yet widely held, notions. Do you know that shaving your hair makes it grow thicker and darker? Says who? Says the bald man writing on the personal finance blog. Not true at all; you have been caught. It’s a myth. Shaving hair has no effect on the hair root under your skin; shaving only trims and cuts the hair.
The Nando’s Festive Fill-up: What R500 Can Teach You About Investing in South Africa
Forget about the hair; let’s get back to money. My beard is mostly turning grey faster than I expected; definitely, hair is not my strong point. One doesn’t need to be rich to invest money. Believing this myth is like suggesting that one needs to be rich to order the Nando’s festive fill-up meal.
This sharing option includes a full chicken, 2 sharing sides, 4 cheesy rissoles, 2 Cabo sosaties, 2 bread rolls, and 1.5L of sugar drink, all for a cost of R399.00. Ordering through Uber Eats, you are looking at about R499.00. That’s it, R500.00 gone; don’t ask me what rissoles are; ask Gemini. Many people can sometimes afford R500.00 per month, and those are not rich people, just ordinary dudes like me and you, my friend.
Why You Don’t Need Millions of Rands to Start Investing in South Africa
This is just as low as the bar for investing and saving money; you don’t need millions of rands to make millions of rands. You need what you have; use what you have. Please don’t get me wrong. I am not saying don’t enjoy your Nando’s festive fill up with your friends or family, just know there is another side to the coin. It’s okay; who doesn’t crave Nando’s chicken? I wonder what’s in the sauce. That taste is amazing, but not so amazing as a trade-off for building wealth if you constantly indulge every day of the week.
Breaking Common Money Myths Holding South Africans Back
Enough of the chicken; let’s talk numbers. Let’s figure out how to put that devious money myth to the grave once and for all. Don’t just believe what you hear people saying; research, ask, and question ideas, and you will be informed to dispel false ideas from the truth. It takes money to build wealth; this is true. However, you don’t need lots of money to start. Actually, it’s better with little money first, so you can see for yourself and appreciate growth.
Money myths can be like rust on iron; one needs to scrape this corroding effect to see the shiny metal for what it is. It’s the scraping that is hard at first, since it’s painful. It’s what it sounds like, scraping some parts of who you are, removed together with the rust.
Inspiring Investing Lessons from an $8 Million Cleaner
There is a famous story of an interesting cleaner who saved and invested a cool $8 million over his cleaning career. This is big money if you are in South Africa; we are talking about R132 million. That’s equivalent to a few tenders for those tenderpreneurs. Just from cleaning floors, don’t apply for a cleaning job in America. I am not suggesting that janitors are paid lots of money to clean; perhaps if you convert to rands, they do.
All I am saying is this old dude saved and invested religiously and accumulated wealth from his cleaning salary one step at a time. Slowly and calmly climbing the wealth ladder. Stories like this are rare and exceptional, yet they encourage ordinary people to start where they are.
How Investing R500 a Month Can Grow Your Wealth in South Africa
You can do it too, no need to wish for wealth or pray for money while you are consuming every rand you earn. You see, if you, for example, save and invest that R500 per month in a low-cost ETF for 10 years at an 8% rate of return, you could have about R91,500 then. This is, of course, not considering fees, taxes, etc., and if that sounds like not much, think about what you currently have in your bank account. I’m sure you don’t have 91k just sitting in your checking account.
Remember, this is just an R500.00 per month contribution. Imagine if you contributed R1000 or R3000 per month to your tax-free savings account. At R3000 per month in your tax-free account at an 8% rate of return after 10 years, that would grow to an estimated value of R549 000. And here is the exciting part: if that money is invested in a tax-free savings account, it’s exactly that — tax-free, my friend.
Start Your Journey to Time Freedom Today
If you can’t contribute the full R3000 per month, it’s okay too; remember, you can contribute the R500 per month or whatever amount. The idea is dispelling this devious myth that one needs to be wealthy to build wealth; it’s not true and will never be true. Decide what you can contribute today and hop on the wealth-creation ladder. This journey is possible with consistency and a willingness to start.
What do you have? A small pint of yeast can make a dough of bread, ancient scripture tells us. This, my friend, is the wisdom of the old: every journey starts with a single step. Question the so-called truths in your life and challenge the narrative, and you could just build wealth in the process and own your time freedom. Since time freedom is the ultimate luxury, you can’t afford to live without it; forget the designer clothes. Freedom is much sweeter.
Why Control Matters More Than a Porsche?
As they often say, life is simple, but we complicate it. Control what you can, and that’s the rands you earn each month. It’s not too late to write the wealth chapter in your life. I get it; most of us will never be billionaires. No worries. We just need some control, and that’s all that matters. If you buy me a Porsche, frankly, I will sell it and buy the new Rugged Renault Duster. Have you seen this new French design? I will get a second hand, though, since I am allergic to car payments unless I can afford the cash price.
There, you heard me. You don’t need to be rich in order to have your next takeaway food, nor to build wealth, save and invest your money to a higher net worth each month; the compound math works only when you start, with even small steps counting.
Trading Time or Buying Freedom 
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