It is very easy to get mental disorientation on account of the changes in the price of literary everything in this country. When everyone thought we had hit the ultimate peak, the government just woke up and decided that now you have to pay more by between 50% – 200% for every single government service you may require.
A recent survey in the USA established that 42% of those polled said money problems affected their mental health. Financial difficulties are well-documented as a common cause of stress and anxiety. Other studies have indicated that it takes about 4.2 times longer or over 18 months for people with depression to recover if they have financial problems.
The festive season is also here with us, it comes with its own pressures to belong as everybody around us seems to be in the party mood. Cash moves around freely to the ruin of many lives shortly after that. Several things have worked against individual earnings and business incomes this year; take precautions to factor in these changes as you plan for the season and days ahead.
Here are the things to watch:
- Analyze how the new taxes have altered your income flows – there have been new or increases in taxes on employment incomes, energy (fuels and electricity), digital content or business incomes. We have also seen the chaos at the airport if you are a regular traveller and shops outside the country. The cumulative total of these individual taxes has taken a huge pie of your net income flows; quantify them to understand how much you have lost based on your current consumption patterns;
- Adjust non-essential spending – we all have those expenditures that we incur either to appear to belong, out of addiction or purely due to peer pressure; these are good candidates to cut or let go in these troubled times. An honest, candid and bold audit of your spending patterns is now sacred if you are to survive these difficult days were are going through. Given the current behaviour and aloofness of the current government and political class – I bet these dark days will be with us for a long time to come, maybe the next 5 or 10 years ahead;
- Expand your buffer reserves – those entrusted with the management of the economy have proved they are either incapable or flatly incompetent to steer the country into recovery mode. That means the risk of grinding to a halt or collapse of our economic order is increasing with each passing day. The rules of self-preservation demand you set larger buffers to help weather such an eventuality. These buffers can be saved in easy-to-access savings like Money Market Funds (MMFs) that earn you fairly decent interest but can be withdrawn on demand;
- Monitor what’s going on around the economy and country regularly – most of us never bother to understand the political undercurrents or the implications of government policies on our daily lives for as long as we can afford our daily bread, pay rent or own a home, drive our cars or afford our transport costs, or go to the hospital if need be because we have a medical cover. If there is one thing that we have learned this past year, then it is that those we elect into government, parliament or hand power to can make or ruin our lives. It would be a double tragedy to yourself, your generation and your offspring if you remained ignorant of these consequences and did nothing about it;
- Keep your savings intact or at worst increase them for as long as it takes – many of us have the habit of running to their savings or liquidating their investments at the first sight of financial shock. In these troubled times, this is the defence of last resort -you must only touch your savings in the extreme of circumstances; but even then, utilize them sparingly with a clear plan and strategy not to undermine your comeback when the tides change for recovery.
Finally, when life is rough, indulge more in exercising, taking refreshing nature walks, admiring the blue skies and clouds for no particular reason, volunteering for community work, visiting family and friends more often, visiting someone in the hospital and being kind to others.
These simple activities that cost mostly nothing will go a long way to keep and sustain your emotional balance through the tough days ahead. There is always a silver lining to every darkness however dark it may look to be!