We recently asked our readers to tell us about their financial goals. Saving for a child’s education beat all other goals hands down and is certainly a major priority for City Press readers. Let us just hope that our children will value their education as much as we do!

When it comes to your child’s education remember that while an education is a very valuable gift it should not be at the sacrifice of your own financial needs. The best gift you can give your child is to first be financially secure yourself and then to provide her or him with the gift of education.

Other financial goals included a comfortable retirement, being debt free and saving to buy a home; however one reader’s goal gave me pause for thought. He wants to be a billionaire by 2042. It is not the ambition of the goal that got me thinking but rather the fact that the goal was expressed in financial terms as opposed to a lifestyle choice.

What does it mean to be a billionaire? Obviously you will have lots of money but what will you do with that money? What is your life goal, your achievement? Apart from being able to shake someone’s hand and say “hello I am a billionaire” what does the money represent?

This is an important question because it makes you think about what is important to you and how you wish to live your life – money is simply a conduit, not an end in itself.
My brother once told me that he wanted to be a billionaire because then he could start a charitable foundation and help people. But he doesn’t have to wait until he is rich to do that – he can help people right now. His help does not even have to be financial, he can mentor someone, help a child apply for a school bursary, spend one day a month helping out at an old age home.

If your dream is to give your child a better education than you had, get involved in your local school, join the governing body and make the teachers accountable. No amount of money can replace a parent’s involvement in their child’s education.

Some dreams may require money but then it is the dream that you are saving towards, not the rands and cents. As one reader wrote “my goal is a comfortable retirement with enough money to visit our dispersed family” – what does your retirement look like to you?

By identifying your dream, visualizing it and understanding how choices today will either positively or negatively affect that dream will make it far easier to stick to your financial goal – so start creating a life plan as opposed to a financial one.

This article fisrt appeared in City Press