Money tips: The difference between saving and investing

Written by: Opinion Piece, posted by: www.sabreakingnews.co.za

Savings is regularly putting away part of your income into a low or no-risk account, meaning that your money is guaranteed to earn a specific amount of interest and the original deposit is safe.

People do not always understand the difference between saving and investing and the two are sometimes confused. However, understanding and putting both concepts into practice will go a long way to ensuring your financial future.

“In a nutshell, saving is the short-term practice of putting money away for a goal or unexpected expenses and investing is the long-term strategy of putting money away and letting it grow,” says Eunice Sibiya. “It is important to understand the difference between saving and investing, as they are two ways of making your money work for you to achieve different goals.”

Savings is regularly putting away part of your income into a low or no-risk account, meaning that your money is guaranteed to earn a specific amount of interest and the original deposit is safe.

Regular deposits gradually build up, and this money can be used at a later stage. Savings is vital as building up reserves is an effective way to ensure that you are financially secure when you are hit with unexpected expenses such as a medical emergency or a car breakdown. It is also a way of paying large expenses such as holidays or school fees without taking on debt.

“Every single South African with an income should be saving,” says Sibiya. “Those who haven’t started usually use the excuse that they don’t have the money. However, in most of these cases, if they scrutinise their budget they will find that they are spending money on unnecessary items and expenses, such as clothes or entertainment.”

Another myth is that you need lots of money to save, putting away just R100 a month will jump start this critical step in your financial journey.

Investing is when you commit money for the long-term and let it grow. It is different to savings in that there is no set or guaranteed interest rate, and there are varying levels of risk meaning that your money isn’t always fully guaranteed. However the potential for profit or more aggressive growth is much higher.

“Investing may seem intimidating, with concepts like stocks, unit trusts or bonds,” says Sibiya. “However, what you need to understand is that investing is not gambling and is the next step after saving to make your money work for you and provide additional income in the future.”

If you are just starting out, opt for something that is not too daunting. There are multiple options available to save or invest with most financial institutes.

The Beauty of a Human Mind

The human mind is incapable of visualisating the world the way it is. Human mind can only visualise the world or any situation they way it was taught to. For example, you might view a complex mathematically questions as difficult and unnecessary while another views it as exciting and stimulating.

The human mind is so subjective it ignores completely the world's realities and focuses on what it was taught and believes the world or reality to be. This is why you view the African continent as a diseased and poverty stricken land while the Chinese see it as a land of untapped opportunities. This is why you view African leadership as stupid and arrogant while they are regarded as heroes and heroines in the native land.

This is why you view a black man as a criminal and stupid while you regard Mandela as the greatest man to ever live. Your mind can only view the world for what you have taught it or what you have been taught. You are incapable of being objective.

Science for most of us is a measure of objectivity. It sees the world in its purest form and every theory is subjected to scrutiny or falsification and only if passes, only then does the scientific society adopt it to be a scientific theory. So basically science is the only measure of objectivity known to man right? Well,  not really. You see,  science measures the world the way a man sees it, and this is not necessarily the way the world is. Science uses scientific materials and methods to extrapolate what is constant and what is variable. Does nature look at itself this way?

Does the sun measure it's heat using a thermometer? Or day its duration using a watch? I don't think it does. Science is just a way in which we have accepted as a reliable way of looking at the world. It's simply an agreed method by man of looking and explaining the world. You probably think I'm crazy right now...

Look at it this way, science in it's bias form (like every human mind) chooses to accept and reject certain theories and phenomenons that itself cannot explain. It chooses to reject the ideology of God as he is unseen and cannot be measured but at the same time chooses to accept 'cold' which is also unseen and cannot be measured. Science can only measure heat and not cold.

We accept darkness yet we can't create or measure it. We can only measure and create light, not darkness. We simply define darkness as the absence of light. We choose to accept death in which we cannot create, see or measure it. We can only define it as the absence of life with a recorded history of previous life.

My whole point of this unnecessarily long blog is simply; you can change your whole world by just simply changing the way you look at it. The world is different depending on what angle you looking from. So once in a while take time back and look at it from a different angle, you'll be amazed what you gonna discover.

I'm @PowderBlaq, and thanks for reading

I will wait.... for You - Janette Ikz

“I Will Wait…for You” — Janette Ikz

So it seemed, that it was cool, for everyone to be in a relationship but me..

So I took matters into my own hands… and ended up with him

Him who displayed the characteristics of a CHEATER, a LIAR, an ABUSER, & a THEIF

So.. why was I surprised when he broke into my heart?

I called 911, but I was cardiac arrested for aiding and abetting,

Cause it was ME who let him in…

Claiming we were “just friends”..

It was already decided for me by the first date, that even if he wasn’t!

I was gonna make him ‘The One’..

You know… I was tired of being alone,

And I simply made up in my mind, that it was about that time so I decided to drag him along for the ride,

Cause I was always the bridesmaid & never the bride..

A virgin in the physical, but mentally just a grown woman on the corner in heat!

Who was tired of the wait!

So I was gonna make him ‘The One’.

He had a… form of Godliness… but not much..

But hey, hey I can change him! So (honey) I’ll TAKE him, I mean he’s close… enough

Ready to sell my aorta for a quarter, not knowing the value of its use to me

Arties so clogged with MY will, it blocked HIS Will from flowing through me

So, I thank Christ that His blood pressure gave this heart an attack,

That flatlined my obscured vision, put me flat on my back

Through my ignorance He sawed,

Through my sternum He sawed & cracked open my chest

TO transplant Psalm 51:10

A new heart & a renewed right spirit within!

So now I fully understand,

Better yet I thoroughly comprehend,

How much I NEED to wait… for You.

See, the bad thing is that I knew he wasn’t you from the beginning..

Cause in the beginning was the Word

And he didn’t even sound or shine like Your Son

Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks,

And all he could whisper was sweet, empty nothings —

Which meant NOTHING.

He couldn’t even pray when I NEEDED him to

Asking him to fast would be absurd!

So forget about being cleansed & washed with water through the Word…

But I know You.. ♥

You were already praying for me

Even never having met me

Let me assure you, I will wait for you.

I will no longer date, socialize or communicate with carbon copies of you

To appease my boredom or to quench my thirstiness I have for attention

And short-lived compliments from ‘sorta kindas’.

You know…. He ‘sort kinda’ right, but ‘sorta kinda’ wrong?

His first name LUKE,

His last name WARM.

I, I won’t settle for false companionship

I won’t lay in the embrace of his arms,

Attempting to find some closeness,

But never feeling so far apart cause, I just wanna be held

Cause ♫”all I gotta do is Say” No!

NO more ‘almost sessions’ of ‘almost coming close’

Passing winks & buying drinks,

I’ma, I’ma, I’ma flirt!♫

Who flirts with the ideology of,

‘Can you just tell me how much I can get away with & still be saved?’

NO more.

I’ll stay in my bed… alone, and write poems, about how I will wait for you :)

He won’t even come close,

Our fingers won’t even interlock

We won’t even exchange breath

Cause I have thoughts that I’ve ‘saved as’ in a file that God has only equipped you to open.

I will no longer get weighted down,

From so-called friends & family talks,

About the concern for my biological clock

When I serve the Author of Time.

Who is NOT subject to time,

But I’M subject to Him,

He has the ability to STOP, FAST FORWARD, PAUSE, or REWIND at any given time…

So if we could role play,

You would be Abraham & I would be Sara

Or you can be Isaac & I can be Rebecca – a servant’s answered prayer

I am bone of your bone, flesh of your flesh,

Made up of your rib Adam!

And once we meet, like electrons

I will be bound to your nucleus, completely indivisible atom.

We even speak the same math: 1 + 1 + 1 = 3, which really equals 1 if you add Him.

We were all created in His image,

But you have the ability to reflect, project & even detect the Son.

If I were to explain what you looked like,

You would have to look like a star,

A son of the Son..

I would gain energy simply from the light on me.

I would need you , in order to complete my photosynthesis

I await your revelation, but once again from the genesis, I will wait for you ♥

And I will know you… because when you speak I will be reminded of Solomon’s wisdom,

Your ability to lead will remind me of Moses,

Your faith will remind me of Abraham,

Your confidence in God’s Word will remind me of Daniel,

Your inspiration will remind me of Paul,

Your heart for God will remind me of David,

Your attention to detail will remind me of Noah,

Your integrity will remind me of Joseph,

And your ability to abandon your own will, will remind me of the disciples,

But Your ability to love selflessly & unconditionally will remind me of Christ.

But I won’t need to identify you by any special Matthews or any special Marks,

Cause His word will be tatted all over your heart.

And you will know me, and you will find me,

Where… the boldness of Esther meets the warm closeness of Ruth.

Where the hospitality of Lydia is aligned with the submission of Mary,

Which is engulfed in the tears of a praying Hanna.

I will be the one, drenched in Proverbs 31… waiting for you.

But to my Father, my Father who has known me before I was birthed into this earth

Only if you should see fit…

I desire Your will above mine,

So even if you call me to a life of singleness,

My heart is content with YOU – the One who was sent.

YOU are the greatest love story ever told,

The greatest story ever known

You are forever my judge & I’m forever Your witness

And I pray that I’m always found on a mission about my Father’s business

Oh, I will always be Yours!

And I will always wait for You Lord, more than the watchmen wait for the morning…

More than the watchmen wait for the morning… I WILL WAIT ♥

****please see the video on YouTube  https://youtu.be/igCj3jsbcqs *****

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

I love this verse, i had to share with you guys.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

"1. To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:

2. A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;

3. A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;

4. A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

5. A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

6. A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

7. A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

8. A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace."

Seasons

Oh child, why ask of me the one thing I can not give? Why desire that which is not given to you? Why search for what is not yours? You yearn for what does not belong to you?

Oh child, you look but you see not. You listen but you hear not. You conceive in your mind but understand not. Don't you know child? Don't you know what belongs to you shall be given to you in due season?

You understand not the times. You understand not the seasons. This is the very core of nature. For everything has a season, and with every season has its ways.

Question not the times,  nor the Maker of time. For all these questions will only lead you astray, but be like the sons of Isssachar who understood the times. 

Trust in the Lord your God,  and keep His word. For in due season He shall reward you. And with His reward shall you find the fullness of joy.

@powderblaq

FACES OF FREEDOM

We were doomed. The day that men, patriots of the struggle took over our land we were doomed. After all the bloodshed and battles that had been fought. Some won but mostly leaving voids in our livelihood. We were doomed from the word go. For a nation was led by non-citizens. We were led by refugees of the struggle. They spread across our mother land of Africa and abroad. Men and women ran. Like dogs they were chased out of their land. Like slaves they had no right or power in their own land. Oppression is all they knew. They were told that they were worth nothing, that they do not belong. They saw their own people as their enemies….inZula, leShangane, leTebele they categorized each other and never lived as one. The oppressor sure had them confused.

“After all this misconception of not being one, of the lie that was passed on from generation to generation we now found ourselves alone in foreign lands. We could not go back home yet we did not belong. We found ourselves in lands filled with civil wars, dictators and guerrilla tactics ruled those lands. For the first time, our grief and fear had united us yet we were not at home. We soon realized that it was better living with leShangane than to belong to a foreign community. Our eyes were opened to accepting what seemed familiar rather than what, who or to whom it belonged to. We started being brothers in our mid-life yet we grew up in the same house. We were of the same flash, same land and backgrounds yet oppression blinded us from seeing each other in that manner”.

How strange it was to hear them value me only because I could speak the foreigners’ language (in Mozambique) yet they did not accept me in our homeland. We by all means did not want to belong. Our hearts were mourning each day and each night. Longing for our mothers and fathers that were left in our homelands. From across all direction we came together, we for the first time saw each other as family yet we were in a foreign land. We built our communities as refugees, mothers became mothers again. Fathers played their role once more. We longed to go home but knew our land was not our own. For he who was once was a foreigner had made us foreigners in our own land. He had made us less human, non-citizens to the union, we were left with shame and we were weak. Yes we were weak, he taught us that “he that had a gun ruled, he that had the money ruled, he that hade friends in higher places ruled”. It’s funny how we deny how much we have learned from him. How we reflect our oppressor in the very way we rule.

We left our children without fathers, we our left children without direction. The ones that were left behind helped where they could. The ones that were filled with rage passed it on to our children. Young men took the stand to teach our children to once again love themselves. Biko told them that they were good enough. That they could do anything that the oppressor could do. This was a delight in our hearts. The only problem is that they were still treated as foreigners in the land their fathers.

As for us we were foreigners in the land of others (African refugees). We became more and more like the foreigners that had welcome us the refugees into their lands.  We became more and more citizens in foreign countries. We bore children, buried our people, ate their food, dressed like them and even spoke like them. Again my beloved we conformed to the ways of other men only that this time, were not in our own country. It saddens me to say but we became foreigners to our own countries and learned the ways of others

MattGP

Ignorance is no longer an acceptable excuse

It's mid-May 2015 and I am speaking with my young learned colleague/friend and I am shocked at his ignorance of the current affairs in our country, our continent and the rest of the world. Don't get me wrong, my young friend is not that young, in fact he's 23 years old.

My friend he like millions of other young South Africans is privileged to have a smart phone and a tablet and access to the Internet. And believe me when I say this, he spend as much time on social media (as most of them do) reading about his friends's Facebook status, tweets and viewing pictures on Instagram not to forget chatting to them on Whatsapp. Social media has compressed the world to much that it fits perfectly in your pocket and you can take it anywhere and have access to it anytime.

These platforms mentioned above and many others like them including email, search engines and Skype, have made the world we live in today a truly global village. This is era of globalisation and access to information. Today you have unlimited and unrestricted access to information about anything and everything.

What still amazes me to this day with our young people is their ignorance about world issues. They have access to information but they choose not to learn. They remain ignorant about things that directly affects them and live the responsibility of the future to the old. Young people do not understand that within them lies they keys and answers to world problems and that they not the old are the future of humanity.

Ignorance can not longer be accepted as an excuse for we live in an era of information. Young people remain not interested in any information of value and choose to waste valuable time chatting about nothing rather than reading a book (which you can do online) and developing themselves. Tomorrow will be ruled by those who have information.

Those who have information will manipulate such and rule over those who are ignorant. Africa needs young men and women who will seek information and solutions to our problems. If you don't know anything about our continent then how can you contribute to our development? The answer is you can't. Today these ignorant young needs to be taught to empower themselves with information or we risk having them add to the already burden of ilitracy and poverty.

Young must take responsibility of their learning and understand within them lies the potential to shape their future. If young fail to shape their tomorrow then someone else will. Governments also needs educational system that targets these people and that embraces the changes that information technology has brought into our world.

I'm @PowderBlaq, thanks for reading.