Five Key Financial Steps to Take Now To Prepare for 2021

It’s finally December with just a few weeks before we see yet another new year, 2021. To many, 2020 will go down in the history books as one of the most difficulty year of our lifetime with millions around the world losing their jobs and livelihood.

This article is meant for everyone that feels they need to start 2021 differently by enhancing their financial strength. It will highlight five key Points that will really improve your financial matters.

1. Prepare Yourself and Those Around You

“Indeed this is usually very difficult for many to apprehend as people always want to live according to the excitement of moments and chose to ignore the hard times ahead of them.”

Desperate times calls for desperate measures and in times like this where things seem to be beyond any ones control it is very important to ensure that you prepare yourself and those around you psychologically. This can be done by ensuring that you understand the season you are in and anticipation of how worse or bad it may become if you do not make necessary steps now to envision where you want to be tomorrow. Indeed this is usually very difficult for many to apprehend as people always want to live according to the excitement of moments and chose to ignore the hard times ahead of them.

Preparing yourself entails reading a lot and learning from others on how they can help your future aspirations. It also requires talking to your family about the path you hope to lead them through and the drastic measures you are about to take to enable you achieve your goal. This step requires constant consideration and reminder as mostly it is when you start new things that you mostly encounter resistance and therefore requires resilience and persistency to ensure you remain on course of your new pathway. Communication at this time is important to ensure that everyone you are leading are reminded as to where you are to reaching your destination and it prepares you to feel you are in control.

2. Start with What You Have

They say a journey of a thousand miles begins with one step. Many of us started this year believing that they needed to have access to major finances or other sources of income that will see them through multiple bills and obligations. However, many times we forget to utilise what we have through using the power leverage. Leverage is simply the use of whatever few resources at our disposal to achieve an ultimate goal. For example, you might started this year with a goal of building a house but due to limited finances from your expected sources you only have enough to build up to say window level, you could consider another option of instead building three rooms with roofing to enable you and your family to relocate from a rented property and save to complete the full house you envision.

Others may have had plans of starting their own business say cross boarder trading but due to foreign currency fluctuations your capital has become inadequate to pursue your proposed business plan, you could consider investing in another business that would bring you steady income streams but grow your capital with minimum risks and enable you to diversify but grow your capital base to reconsider cross boarder trading in 2021. The strategy of leveraging in as much as it may sound unpleasing to many may save you a lot of money and position you on the right track to achieving your goal.

3. Produce your own food

“The first step to consider in knowing things you can grow or rear is by identifying items you spend on either weekly or monthly and understanding the cost you incur on them.”

Now this is the most difficulty step but the most important. People who will stick to this key step and learn its basics will be the ones that will be ready to stand the strongest in 2021. An average family spends 50% of their monthly income on food stuffs. In as much as sometimes it’s not practical for most households to grow their own food especially city dwellers who have limited spaces in their yards, it could still be practical to either utilise what is available or look for land out of town where you could rent or simply buy cheaply for you to grow a lot of foodstuffs on.

The first step to consider in knowing things you can grow or rear is by identifying items you spend on either weekly or monthly and understanding the cost you incur on them. You would be surprised just how much you could save monthly or yearly on things like vegetables, carbohydrates and meat products. You can also take advantage of this year’s rainy season as an opportunity to grow things like maize, pop corns, sweet potatoes, legumes and vegetables. Additionally you could also invest in livestock like chickens, goats and cows which can be a great combination to your production catalogue. The comfort that may come from not spending on food is priceless as it can position you to withstand every fluctuations in price of agro and meat products.

4. Develop a Culture of Daily Target saving

I don’t know about how you perceive a culture of saving but it’s surely another underestimated but yet valuable tool to well position you for 2021. Many might have heard of saving and what it is but very few know what target saving is all about. Target saving is simply an essential practice that enables a person saving to track whatever income they generate daily or weekly and linking it to whatever monthly or future expenditure. Target saving works well if you apply strict financial discipline and avoiding impulsive spending which is lethal to your financial freedom.

Today, than in the past, it is very easy to practice target saving as many Banks and mobile companies have introduced digital and mobile banking products that can enable you to easily deposit and save money with ease. Target saving can be also be a great tool for meeting monthly bills such as school fees, Rentals and utilities. For example many mobile service companies have introduced what they call fixed investment products that enables you to save whatever amounts monthly which is restricted for withdrawals from biannual, Triennial, semiannual or annually. The same applies to banks who also have similar products which you can take advantage of to ensure that your target saving plan is actualized. To understand more on how target savings work you can check out our article Education Fees, The necessary Devastation.

5. Identify a Passive income

Many salary income earners find this step very unpractical especially looking at how difficult it can always be to balance the commitment that comes with having a day time job against finding another passive source of income. However, to enable you to be stronger in the year 2021 you need to consider identifying a passive income that can run side by side your day job in order to diversify your income portfolio. Pursuing a passive income besides your day job will enable you actualize your dream of financial freedom.

The idea is that if you don’t have any passive income now you have to either begin considering an option to find one you have great interest in and one you can easily understand as well as fits in your day time job. For example, if you are a teacher and you feel you have great interest in offering coaching services to struggling students, you could consider opening your own coaching consultancy business which you can conduct online or in person during after working hours. The idea for most of the people that seek to have a passive income it usually has to be from your professional background but however you can also venture into a passive income that you don’t have any prior professional knowledge but still learn and be successful in. To know more about 10 passive income opportunities you can venture in Zambia you may like to watch our video on this link.

#Passiveincome #Targetsaving #5Keyfinancialsteps #Zambia2021 #Produceyourownfood

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