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7-0-2, week in breakfast, personal finance with bald rule officer.
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I told about the money at 25, 26 minutes past 7 o'clock
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on your 7-0-2, week in breakfast. Time for us to talk personal finance.
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And this week we're asking the question, is it all about the money?
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Is it about what money can do for you?
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And so we're joined on the line by a resident certified financial advisor, Paul Rulosa.
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Paul, a very good morning to you.
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Good morning, Gugu. And just great to talk about the sealates.
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It's a reflection point, I think, in personal finance, where we spend a lot of time
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putting together a sound financial plan, protecting our assets, protecting our families,
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making a decision to provide for us in the future.
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But I guess along the way we might very well lose the actual meaning of it.
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It's all about the money, yes, I suppose it is, but it's not just the money alone.
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It's what the money translates into, what the money becomes.
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Money is basically a means to an end, or it should be.
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I think just listening to the stories that you brought up earlier before the session,
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reading through those cases in the press, there's a lot of money that's involved in all those cases
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and that corruption and whatever else.
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The question is really, what is enough?
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Is it just the money?
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Or how do we then translate to a point where we say we have enough?
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And at this point, we are manifest outcomes in terms of what the money can provide.
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And there are many, many pathways into this conversation, I know, and I fully understand it.
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But my point is really, how do we get distracted so easily into just focusing on money?
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And not really what it means in terms of a final end.
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And so then, I guess the end would be different for each person.
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So for one person, the end might be, you know, I want my kids to go to good schools.
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I want to pay off my debts.
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For someone else, it might be, I want to retire early, so retire before the age of 55.
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The end could be a different thing for different people.
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But most certainly, and you know, there are different courses, different lifestyles, different objectives.
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But I think the real for me, the common ground that any situation should meet
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is really finding the peace of mind.
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The peace of mind that whatever my plans are, whatever my objectives I set out to meet.
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When I sleep well at night, when I'm sitting around, you know, with my family and friends,
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I'm not worrying about money, I'm actually in a position where I've got this peace of mind
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that says, I can maintain the lifestyle quite comfortably that I've set out to achieve.
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Where it goes wrong, I think, is where we set those targets unrealistically.
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We chase higher bars, we lift the standards of our living.
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And the bottom line there is that the more that you aim for, the more pressure you're going to put on yourself
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in terms of making the right adequate provisions to maintain that lifestyle,
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which turns the question around again to how much is enough, Google?
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Yeah, and then I guess there's also the idea of, you know, do you aim for enough or do you aim for excess?
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And what does enough look like?
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Well, that's the question you see.
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And that's the heart to heart question you have with yourself and your family.
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The more you stretch up, the more you have to provide.
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You know, you go to, there is a point, obviously, we don't all see it.
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And there is a point where this extremely wealthy carry on, don't they?
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I mean, if you go to Elon Musk, for example, and he's got billions and billions of dollars.
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And at what point does he turn around and say, well, I've got enough?
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Maybe I should not change course, maybe I should not find a new direction.
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It doesn't land that way.
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There's something beyond, you know, that extreme wealth where wealthy people just carry on.
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But I think we talk to the average household here.
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Don't be disillusioned, not all of us are going to want to be an Elon Musk.
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We want to just get through our lives comfortably with the real things that matter.
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And invariably, it's a family that come to the fore.
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And how can I maintain that lifestyle that nice, comfortable, realistic lifestyle
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without putting extra pressure points?
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And those pressure points will also take away and rob us of the real special things
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that families need to have.
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And they are destructive.
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So the point, I think, is you've got to have this conversation with yourself and your family
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to say, well, come and choose enough.
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Is that house, you know, on the hill, that worth it that much more than the one we've already got?
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Is the car that we driving at the moment enough?
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Or do we need that extra, you know, vehicle that's just come onto the market right now?
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That's going to put pressure on our bank account again.
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And I guess that also requires a difficult conversation that many people don't want to have.
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And it's a conversation about, so what happens when you die?
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Because not only do you need to take care of your family while you're alive,
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you probably need to take care of your family even more.
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If you, as the breadwinner, someone who contributes to the income,
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if you were to pass away and so it requires that you have a very difficult conversation,
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or very awkward, most people rather not have that conversation.
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Well, that's a super point in another realistic life-changing event
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that does impact on our financial planning.
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And death, you know, it's all, again, we'll look at the money.
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It's going to come down to an amount in the bank account for a beneficiary.
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And then it extends the question, you know, you've worked all your life very hard
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to build up a legacy for your children.
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Are they going to continue with that same attitude?
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Or do they have a different direction?
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And invariably, and I've seen some very sad cases where parents have built up quite a nice estate,
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handed it over to children.
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And the children just don't respect it as much as the parents did.
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And the money goes back, goes back into the system very easily.
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It gets spent very easily.
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And it's not as contained with the same attitude and intention for their children.
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So, you know, it's horses for courses, and I'm certainly not pointing figures.
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I'm just bringing up the reality of what money means to people.
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And it's a tough conversation when you really look at it.
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Money, if you look at money, all your life, at the end of your life,
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all you're going to have is money.
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So what did you do with it along the way as the big question?
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And how meaningful can I actually create, you know, the outcomes that I really deserve and want to do?
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Rather than just looking at a bank account and seeing if I can get more of it.
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Paul, as always, a great pleasure having you on the show.
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Thank you so much for your time.
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Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
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That's our resident certified financial advisor, Paul Rulosa.
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There's a personal finance question you'd like for us to deal with.
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Send it through to us on 31702 or 072702 1702.
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Coming up, we look at World Zero Waste Day, which is happening tomorrow.
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We speak to Dr. Liz Barclaym.
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She's seen electric and future studies and systems thinking at Sail and Bosch Business School
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to talk to us about how we can deal with our issues of food waste,
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which is the theme for this year's International Day of Zero Waste.
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But first, lots to check in with.
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And your latest eyewitness news board with Anthony to Shader.