The number of articles I have read with regards to consumers need to save money and cut down on expenses etcetera is a real joke coming from financial institutes or financial advisors.

All your articles state that here is how to save, have a budget, don’t borrow money, don’t live above your means, and many other reasons.

The bottom line is most people writing these articles are not in financial difficulties, they do not see the real stresses of life. Half of them don’t even know what the price of a loaf of bread costs. 

We talk about inflation every day. About petrol prices, the economy doing bad the drought we are having, the price of food increasing and the daily essentials of everyday life. The providers of these services and essentials we need, increases prices at their own will. We as the consumers do not get an increase on our salaries every month when the petrol price goes up or when bread increases or when there is a drought and food prices increase.  

Firstly the prices increase of the daily necessities and then your employee tells you due to the same reasons as above the economy and drought and petrol prices we cannot give you an increase of 6.5% but here is 4%.

Now I have a humble home where I pay my bond, my electricity, water and rates and taxes. When I started a year ago bond repayments was R7000.00, electricity was R800.00 rates and taxes was R00. The petrol price was R11.80 bread was R12.50. The average grocery bill was R2200. The average increase of all the above from one year ago is 15%.  Not to mention cell phone rates and school fees and medical aids. How does a normal family of four people survive with a inflation as per financial institutes of 6.5% survive?

Where do these institutions get their numbers from? Do they actually live outside in the real world? Then you insist that people get a financial advisor to assist with their finances? Where in the world can you afford a financial advisor? This is a rich man’s luxury not your average man on the street. We worry about how we going to find money to put food on the table and a roof on our heads. Not because we live above our means but because we are being slaughtered by businesses who insist we have means or we will not be serviced.  These are insurance, doctors and banks to mention a few.

Starting with fuel, medical aid, school fees, electricity and insurance companies and interest rates just increasing at will we cannot live without these essentials.  These essentials increase most during the year is not controlled like the consumers salary that happens once a year.  This is when we have to go borrow monies to keep our heads above water not because of living above our means but to maintain the greedy aristocrats and bureaucrats who enforce these increases on the middle and lower class.  

Everyone wants a normal life it is not only meant for the bureaucrats and aristocrats but for all. We too wish to have a home and not a shack, an education, good doctor etc. My question to these advisors is what is living above your means? When you start out to get a decent home and a normal life and then being derided by banks, employees, government for trying to have a decent life like them and being shopped down every time by milking our last few rand’s out of our pockets?   The rich should stop killing the poor to maintain their lives which are above their means.