# Personal Finance: The high cost of 'treat yourself' culture in South Africa

An episode of [Personal Finance with Warren Ingram](https://invisiblenetwork.ai/podcast/1075744322), 14 Apr 2026, 21 min.

Audio: https://traffic.omny.fm/d/clips/5dcefa8e-00a9-4595-8ce1-a4ab0080f142/1ecba37a-6d83-4ee9-a295-a57100b7f2df/2bd21089-f98f-44ee-b51e-b42c0129708c/audio.mp3?utm_source=Podcast&in_playlist=8be69053-e7ba-4c54-87a1-a63a00c79838

Motheo Khoaripe, standing in for Stephen Grootes, speaks to Warren Ingram, financial advisor and co-Founder of Galileo Capital, about how the constant "you deserve to treat yourself” message pushed by advertisers and influencers encourages short‑term gratification, fuels debt and overspending. They unpack how it ultimately undermines the long‑term financial security of many South Africans already under pressure from rising living costs. The Money Show is a podcast hosted by well-known journalist and radio presenter, Stephen Grootes. He explores the latest economic trends, business developments, investment opportunities, and personal finance strategies. Each episode features engaging conversations with top newsmakers, industry experts, financial advisors, entrepreneurs, and politicians, offering you thought-provoking insights to navigate the ever-changing financial landscape. Thank you for listening to a podcast from The Money Show Listen live Primedia+ weekdays from 6 pm to 8 pm (SA Time) to The Money Show with Stephen Grootes broadcast on 702 https://buff.ly/gk3y0Kj and CapeTalk https://buff.ly/NnFM3Nk For more from the show, go to https://buff.ly/7QpH0jY or find all the catch-up podcasts here https://buff.ly/PlhvUVe Subscribe to The Money Show Daily Newsletter and the Weekly Business Wrap here https://buff.ly/v5mfetc The Money Show is brought to you by Absa Let's keep the conversation going online: 702 on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TalkRadio702 702 on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@talkradio702 702 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/talkradio702/ 702 on X: https://x.com/CapeTalk 702 on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@radio702 CapeTalk on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CapeTalk CapeTalk on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@capetalk CapeTalk on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ CapeTalk on X: https://x.com/Radio702 CapeTalk on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CapeTalk567 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

## Transcript

[0:00] Speaker 1: For the Money Show Personal Finance with Warren Ingram. Look,
[0:05] Speaker 1: I think I'm going to have a few fights tonight
[0:08] Speaker 1: with Warren Ingram, a financial advisor and co founder of
[0:11] Speaker 1: Galileer Capital, talking about the high cost of treating yourself.
[0:16] Speaker 1: I mean, we work so hard, the chips are down,
[0:19] Speaker 1: the economy is bad, the petrol problems, the prices are high.
[0:22] Speaker 1: There we deserve a little bit, at least, a little
[0:26] Speaker 1: bit of indulgence here, Warren't But in our personal Finance
[0:29] Speaker 1: feature today, you're going to be keeping us accountable and
[0:32] Speaker 1: making sure we take care of our money. But why
[0:35] Speaker 1: is it so wrong to spend a little bit on ourselves, Warren.
[0:40] Speaker 2: It's always a good idea materia to spend your money wisely,
[0:45] Speaker 2: and sometimes treating yourself or rewarding yourself is the wisest
[0:50] Speaker 2: thing you can do. But very often I think we
[0:54] Speaker 2: don't do it very intentionally, and sometimes we're doing it,
[0:58] Speaker 2: you know, very impulsively, and and maybe for the wrong
[1:01] Speaker 2: emotional reasons. And and then what you find is you
[1:05] Speaker 2: end up you end up spending money that you don't have.
[1:07] Speaker 2: So you end up, you know, you know, on the
[1:09] Speaker 2: on the card you tap and go on your phone,
[1:12] Speaker 2: and you know, you know, you're doing fifty bucks here,
[1:15] Speaker 2: six hundred bucks there, a thousand bucks there, you know,
[1:17] Speaker 2: somewhere else, and very quickly you look back over a
[1:20] Speaker 2: year and you've spent tens of thousands of rands on
[1:24] Speaker 2: stuff you don't need that actually meant nothing. And that's
[1:27] Speaker 2: where you get yourself into trouble.
[1:29] Speaker 1: But there's a reason why the lipstick effect, you know,
[1:33] Speaker 1: is any effect in the retail market. Right, if I'm
[1:36] Speaker 1: not feeling too great, if I buy something small for myself,
[1:39] Speaker 1: whether it's a cologne or a lipstick, if you're a lady,
[1:44] Speaker 1: or some a new pair of shoes, it just keeps
[1:47] Speaker 1: me votibated, keeps me going. Can't be too bad, can
[1:51] Speaker 1: it it?
[1:53] Speaker 2: It can? This is and I guess this is where
[1:56] Speaker 2: the fight starts. So it can be bad because I mean,
[2:00] Speaker 2: it's it's that that psychology of you know, I'm having
[2:04] Speaker 2: a tough time. I deserve it, and and so I'm
[2:09] Speaker 2: just going to buy something to make myself feel better.
[2:11] Speaker 2: And and that's great. I mean if if if, if
[2:14] Speaker 2: it's if it's affordable and it's something you've budgeted for,
[2:18] Speaker 2: that's that's no problem. But if you're just doing it
[2:22] Speaker 2: on impulse because you feel down today. The kick that
[2:26] Speaker 2: you get, that emotional kick, it lasts a few seconds
[2:30] Speaker 2: and and then it's over. And you know, sure, you've
[2:33] Speaker 2: bought something, but but it's not really something that's going
[2:36] Speaker 2: to change your life. It's it's something that makes you
[2:38] Speaker 2: feel better for a few seconds. And then you start
[2:41] Speaker 2: to feel even worse than you did before, because the
[2:44] Speaker 2: credit cards a bit bigger now that the debt you
[2:46] Speaker 2: owe is a bit higher, and the interest rate is
[2:48] Speaker 2: a bit more and and so now you start to
[2:50] Speaker 2: feel a bit worse again. And and guess what happens?
[2:53] Speaker 2: You buy something else to make yourself feel even better.
[2:56] Speaker 2: It becomes a very slippery slope very quickly.
[3:00] Speaker 1: Look, we're in a purring engine, or even a really
[3:02] Speaker 1: good colone could change your life. That's my art. But
[3:07] Speaker 1: looking at you know, the spending here and there, when
[3:11] Speaker 1: does it become a trap? Because there's obviously nothing wrong
[3:14] Speaker 1: with spending a little bit, But when does it become
[3:16] Speaker 1: a trap when you know that it's now affecting the
[3:19] Speaker 1: whole structure of your finances.
[3:22] Speaker 2: I think it's it's when you're doing it unintention In
[3:27] Speaker 2: other words, you know impulsively. I mean, it's wrong to
[3:29] Speaker 2: say mindlessly because that you know, that implies we're not thinking.
[3:32] Speaker 2: But it's when we dirt with our heart and not
[3:34] Speaker 2: our head. And so I would say that that that
[3:38] Speaker 2: impulse feeling is a is a real trigger. So so
[3:43] Speaker 2: you know, if I'm in a situation like this, I'd
[3:45] Speaker 2: be saying to myself, you know, set aside some money,
[3:48] Speaker 2: whether it's monthly or you know, if you don't, if
[3:52] Speaker 2: monthly is too too long a period, and maybe weekly,
[3:54] Speaker 2: to say I've got some money. And and it's whether
[3:57] Speaker 2: it's five hundred bucks for five thousand, does matter what
[4:00] Speaker 2: the number is. But but that's my money for fun.
[4:03] Speaker 2: That's the money that I can spend guilt free on
[4:07] Speaker 2: the things that I want that they are only once.
[4:10] Speaker 2: They're not the needs. You know, it's not buying food
[4:12] Speaker 2: and paying for accommodation. It's just the stuff that I
[4:15] Speaker 2: need to to kind of, you know, have some fun
[4:18] Speaker 2: and get a return on life. You know, we don't
[4:21] Speaker 2: live life on a spreadsheet. We live it out there
[4:24] Speaker 2: in the real world. So you should set aside so money.
[4:26] Speaker 2: But let's say your your number is five grand and
[4:31] Speaker 2: and suddenly the five you know, it's actually you're actually
[4:34] Speaker 2: spending seven, or you're spending eight, or you're spending nine.
[4:38] Speaker 2: You're taking yourself down, you're actually spending yourself into into
[4:42] Speaker 2: financial ruin. And that's where the trap becomes, you know,
[4:46] Speaker 2: an iron cage.
[4:48] Speaker 1: I never I've never really bought into the notion that
[4:51] Speaker 1: you have to cut things like coffee and you know,
[4:54] Speaker 1: because it all accumulates at the end of the day.
[4:57] Speaker 1: But how can somebody properly assess whether they emotionally spending
[5:03] Speaker 1: and intentionally spending.
[5:05] Speaker 2: We've got to talk about your coffee habit potato like
[5:08] Speaker 2: I think that that that's one, but we'll come back
[5:11] Speaker 2: to it. So so it's maybe, uh, you know, asking yourself,
[5:18] Speaker 2: why am I spending this? Why do I want to
[5:19] Speaker 2: buy this? And if it's just that that pure emotion,
[5:24] Speaker 2: I'm I'm feeling down, I'm I'm I'm feeling you know,
[5:27] Speaker 2: gloomy today, the world's tough, whatever the thing is, and
[5:30] Speaker 2: and it was there was no plan, there was never
[5:33] Speaker 2: an you know, an intention. When you woke up it's
[5:35] Speaker 2: wanting to go out and spend this money, then then
[5:37] Speaker 2: that's probably your first flag that that this is emotional
[5:41] Speaker 2: spending and and if it's not in the budget, if
[5:45] Speaker 2: it's not money that you've set aside and planned for,
[5:48] Speaker 2: and and you spend it and it's it's it's almost
[5:51] Speaker 2: like a quarters old kick, you know. It's like, you know,
[5:53] Speaker 2: I spend the money and I get ahead of of
[5:56] Speaker 2: feeling good. It's an emotional burst. You know that that
[6:00] Speaker 2: emotional burst is so short and it's so temporary. And
[6:04] Speaker 2: what happens is it becomes a bit of a trap.
[6:08] Speaker 2: I think you start to find reasons, you know, when
[6:12] Speaker 2: you stressed, or when you lonely, when you're bored, or
[6:14] Speaker 2: you're anxious. You know, then it's the temptation is just
[6:17] Speaker 2: to buy something. And you know, you see cases where people,
[6:21] Speaker 2: if you look at their credit cards, you'll you'll see
[6:23] Speaker 2: transactions where they're going into shops, you know, five or
[6:26] Speaker 2: eight times a day just to buy something to feel
[6:29] Speaker 2: a bit better. Now that those are extreme cases, but
[6:32] Speaker 2: I guess there are a lot of us out there
[6:34] Speaker 2: that are, you know, doing this without intent. That circling
[6:37] Speaker 2: back to your coffee, you know, like do we need
[6:40] Speaker 2: three store board coffees every single day? Some people do.
[6:45] Speaker 2: That's that's their function. It feels good, it does, but
[6:49] Speaker 2: but but it's coming at what thirty, forty, fifty sixty
[6:52] Speaker 2: round a shot, and you add those up, and you know,
[6:56] Speaker 2: you look at your you know, just look at your
[6:57] Speaker 2: statements at the end of a month, and you start
[6:59] Speaker 2: to say, that's quite a few thousand bucks. Could have
[7:02] Speaker 2: bought a beautiful coffee machine at the end of the
[7:04] Speaker 2: year and and have a lot more coffee for a
[7:06] Speaker 2: lot less money.
[7:07] Speaker 1: You make a great point there, But looking at the
[7:09] Speaker 1: line items on the bank statement that that's really telling
[7:14] Speaker 1: you where the money is going is one of the
[7:16] Speaker 1: hardest things for somebody that's trying to get their finances together, because,
[7:20] Speaker 1: of course you have to face reality, you are the
[7:23] Speaker 1: one that is causing the financial ruin, and that's often
[7:26] Speaker 1: hard to deal with. But how important is it. Is
[7:29] Speaker 1: it a monthly exercise or per quarter to look at
[7:32] Speaker 1: just where the money is going?
[7:35] Speaker 2: Yeah, I think you're right that it is tough to do. Fortunately,
[7:38] Speaker 2: sometimes the banks help us quite a bit.
[7:40] Speaker 3: Now.
[7:40] Speaker 2: You know, you look on your banking app and most
[7:42] Speaker 2: of the banking apps will give you a bit of
[7:44] Speaker 2: a breakdown as to you know what you're spending or where.
[7:47] Speaker 2: They even often have you know, budgeting tools on the
[7:51] Speaker 2: phone already, so you do get a lot of help
[7:54] Speaker 2: where they categorize your expenses for you. And and so
[7:59] Speaker 2: you know, looking at the at the smaller line items
[8:02] Speaker 2: which repeat all the time, you know, week after week
[8:05] Speaker 2: or month after month, is probably a very good step.
[8:08] Speaker 2: And and I mean, you know, the one point is
[8:11] Speaker 2: well made. Like we're not saying don't spend, don't have fun,
[8:16] Speaker 2: you know, don't do anything like that. That's you know,
[8:18] Speaker 2: that's terrible. Like we we you know, as I said,
[8:21] Speaker 2: we don't live life on a spreadsheet. So so you
[8:24] Speaker 2: should be looking at your expenses to say, you know,
[8:27] Speaker 2: I don't have a gap between what I earn and
[8:30] Speaker 2: what I spend. And that's that's a problem. So let
[8:32] Speaker 2: me have a look and see if I can create
[8:34] Speaker 2: a gap with art, you know, damaging kind of like
[8:37] Speaker 2: my return on life, you know, the return on fun,
[8:39] Speaker 2: Like what can I do that's relatively painless, relatively small,
[8:44] Speaker 2: you know, to cut and and still still have a
[8:46] Speaker 2: good life. And I think you'll be surprised when you
[8:48] Speaker 2: do go through your statements. You know what you can
[8:52] Speaker 2: cut without without much pain. I didn't answer a question,
[8:56] Speaker 2: but but to me, I think it's probably monthly is
[8:59] Speaker 2: my sense. In in the early days, it's it's a
[9:02] Speaker 2: bit like you know, getting a training program. You know,
[9:04] Speaker 2: you have to look at your training program every day
[9:06] Speaker 2: when you start, but after a while you know what
[9:08] Speaker 2: to do and and then then you develop the memory
[9:10] Speaker 2: and the muscle and and you don't have to look
[9:12] Speaker 2: at it all the time. So start monthly and maybe
[9:15] Speaker 2: then you jump to quarterly and then every six months.
[9:18] Speaker 1: It's an old age practice keeping up with the Joneses, Kumalo's,
[9:24] Speaker 1: the Naidu's them for gangs and our parents did it.
[9:27] Speaker 1: We watched them do it. If the other family had
[9:29] Speaker 1: a TV. We're also very soon going to get a TV.
[9:33] Speaker 1: But that still exists, and it could be even a
[9:35] Speaker 1: bit worse in the world of social media, where you're
[9:38] Speaker 1: seeing people post successful stories about themselves and you want
[9:43] Speaker 1: to keep up.
[9:45] Speaker 2: I think it's it's uh, you know, social media platforms
[9:50] Speaker 2: have have made this comparison problem, you know, hundreds of
[9:55] Speaker 2: times worse because because it's it's being bombarded at us.
[9:59] Speaker 2: You know, pretty much from the time we're awake. You know,
[10:01] Speaker 2: if you walk through any mall and and you know
[10:05] Speaker 2: you look at you know, mom, dad, and two kids
[10:07] Speaker 2: sitting at a table. They're not talking to each other,
[10:09] Speaker 2: they're on their phones looking at something. And and you know,
[10:12] Speaker 2: this thing of doom scrolling, it's it's often comparing. You know,
[10:15] Speaker 2: it's looking at people posting in you know, theoretically their
[10:20] Speaker 2: best lives. Uh and and so you can't help but
[10:24] Speaker 2: become a little jealous when you see, you know, someone
[10:26] Speaker 2: leaning against a nice sports car or you know, standing
[10:29] Speaker 2: in front of a fancy house or you know, on
[10:31] Speaker 2: an island somewhere. And and if you see that time
[10:34] Speaker 2: and time again, and you you know, you look at
[10:36] Speaker 2: your own life and you're you know, you're controlling, you're spending,
[10:38] Speaker 2: and you're not going on fancy holidays because you can't
[10:41] Speaker 2: afford them, you start to feel a bit jealous. It's
[10:44] Speaker 2: a it's a natural thing. What what we always need
[10:47] Speaker 2: to remember is we we don't know what's on the
[10:49] Speaker 2: other side of that camera. When someone's taking those pictures.
[10:52] Speaker 2: Usually you know, you know someone's leaning against the sports
[10:55] Speaker 2: car because you know they just walk past and it's
[10:56] Speaker 2: not theirs. And and now they're saying, you know, living
[10:58] Speaker 2: my best life and taking photos in front of like
[11:01] Speaker 2: someone's house, that's not theirs. And going on holidays that
[11:04] Speaker 2: they can't afford with enormous credit card debt and incredible stress.
[11:08] Speaker 2: So what we see on social media is in no
[11:12] Speaker 2: way a reflection of someone's whole life, but we get
[11:15] Speaker 2: trapped into this comparison story, and so we feel worse
[11:19] Speaker 2: about our lives. And the sad thing is we might
[11:22] Speaker 2: be living an incredible life relative to the people that
[11:24] Speaker 2: are posting stuff on social media, because they're just posting
[11:27] Speaker 2: a tenth of the story, and the ninety percent of
[11:29] Speaker 2: the story is really hard and really tough.
[11:31] Speaker 1: And retailers and marketers really pounce on this because we
[11:35] Speaker 1: can often make these purchases swiftly by just using our thumbs. Right,
[11:40] Speaker 1: We don't have to go to a physical store to
[11:42] Speaker 1: do this and other impulsive spending is far more quicker
[11:45] Speaker 1: than you used to be, so you could easily change
[11:47] Speaker 1: your mind saying you're going to go to a shop
[11:50] Speaker 1: late and say, actually I don't need that. But when
[11:52] Speaker 1: it's in your phone, it's much easier to make the
[11:55] Speaker 1: poor decision.
[11:57] Speaker 2: You don't even have to leave your couch. You know,
[11:59] Speaker 2: you look at something that someone's wearing and you go,
[12:02] Speaker 2: I would love that. You know that pair of shoes
[12:04] Speaker 2: or that you know, that new sports watch or whatever
[12:06] Speaker 2: it is. I'm just gonna buy it, you know, And
[12:10] Speaker 2: I don't even have to get off my couch to
[12:11] Speaker 2: go anywhere. It'll get delivered, you know, I just I
[12:15] Speaker 2: just sit here and it'll come. And and so that,
[12:17] Speaker 2: you know, the combination of online shopping and delivery and
[12:22] Speaker 2: the social media engine just you know, pumping all this
[12:26] Speaker 2: this kind of noise at you all the time. It's
[12:29] Speaker 2: it's it's sort of addictive, and I think it's very tricky.
[12:34] Speaker 2: So so so for me, I think it's you know,
[12:37] Speaker 2: maybe understanding this comparison thing. You need to zoom out
[12:40] Speaker 2: a little bit and go hang on, you know, this
[12:43] Speaker 2: is not real like this is, you know, as much
[12:45] Speaker 2: of a fiction as any movie or any cartoon that
[12:48] Speaker 2: I'm watching. It's just it's just a representation of something
[12:52] Speaker 2: a moment in time, not someone's life.
[12:55] Speaker 1: And those zeros, of course, do add up every time.
[12:58] Speaker 1: I mean, we're having a conversation here about not treating yourself.
[13:02] Speaker 1: I know we should have one about treating yourself. But
[13:06] Speaker 1: a warrant Ingram financial advisor and co found at Galileo Capital,
[13:09] Speaker 1: in our personal finance feature today just giving us a
[13:13] Speaker 1: sober assessment of where our finances should be, especially when
[13:17] Speaker 1: we claim we're just treating ourselves, but that could leave
[13:20] Speaker 1: us in a big debt trap. More after this for
[13:23] Speaker 1: the personal finance with warrant Ingram one Ingram being quite
[13:29] Speaker 1: strict with all of us and making sure our finances
[13:32] Speaker 1: are in order and stop treating yourself or over endwgering.
[13:35] Speaker 1: We have a caller Ryan and fourways talking about how
[13:41] Speaker 1: to make sure you can spend your money wisely? Ryan,
[13:43] Speaker 1: Are you better than me? Are you spending your money wisely?
[13:48] Speaker 3: I think so much I'm trying to. Basically, I was
[13:53] Speaker 3: taken aback by the call because I mean by the advice,
[13:57] Speaker 3: because I completely understand what it's like to go and
[14:01] Speaker 3: get a high from basically buying new pair of tackies
[14:04] Speaker 3: or going out for dinner. And a little while ago,
[14:08] Speaker 3: I discovered my app for my home loan or sorry,
[14:12] Speaker 3: my loging for my own loan that allowed me to
[14:15] Speaker 3: monitor whenever I wanted my statement on my home loan,
[14:20] Speaker 3: and I basically taught myself to let that be that
[14:23] Speaker 3: endorphin I get every time I want to go and
[14:26] Speaker 3: buy something and do a bit of shopping for myself,
[14:28] Speaker 3: I would put some money on my home loan, and
[14:30] Speaker 3: I couldn't believe quickly I started seeing my interest that
[14:34] Speaker 3: I was paying on my home loan, reduce and reduce
[14:37] Speaker 3: and reduce, and I stuck to it because it gave
[14:41] Speaker 3: me that great feeling. And within a couple of years
[14:43] Speaker 3: I had almost paid off my home loan, and I
[14:47] Speaker 3: thought to myself, Jeese, I feel like we should all
[14:50] Speaker 3: try and find a way to get that endorphin rush
[14:54] Speaker 3: from seeing that interest that we're paying and reduce and
[14:57] Speaker 3: reduce and reduce, because that did it for me, and
[14:59] Speaker 3: it so helpful.
[15:01] Speaker 1: Ryan. I think you make a very good point to
[15:03] Speaker 1: say we can treat ourselves but in ways that our
[15:06] Speaker 1: financially is financially feasible for our accounts, but also something
[15:10] Speaker 1: that's also beneficial for us. And I think Warren, that's
[15:12] Speaker 1: quite a great outlooker from Ryan there when it comes
[15:15] Speaker 1: to his finances rather taking care of business at home
[15:19] Speaker 1: and the roof over his head and using that as
[15:22] Speaker 1: that endorphin enhancer.
[15:25] Speaker 2: I love it. It's a it's it's like a man
[15:27] Speaker 2: off from my own heart. I wish I'd thought of that.
[15:31] Speaker 2: It is true and I think it's you know, something
[15:34] Speaker 2: that you know, if you can find the kick in
[15:37] Speaker 2: in a in a positive habit, in a in a
[15:39] Speaker 2: in a moving your life in a positive direction, you know,
[15:41] Speaker 2: that's that's fantastic. I think it's it would be the
[15:44] Speaker 2: best of worlds. Not not always possible for everybody, but
[15:48] Speaker 2: but certainly it's it's such a good suggestion, thank you, Ryan.
[15:51] Speaker 1: So looking at things you can do positively to treat yourself.
[15:55] Speaker 1: I know some people might considering considerate boring to take
[16:00] Speaker 1: five hundred grand and save it and try to get
[16:02] Speaker 1: the same excitement as you would you know, maybe going
[16:05] Speaker 1: to Barley or Paris. But it could work over time,
[16:09] Speaker 1: wouldn't it.
[16:11] Speaker 2: It is, so I think it's one of those things
[16:13] Speaker 2: that you've got to maybe change it from being impulsive
[16:17] Speaker 2: to being intentional. And and so for me, it's like
[16:20] Speaker 2: understanding what's the thing that really gives you a kick
[16:24] Speaker 2: that lasts longer than thirty seconds or a minute. For
[16:27] Speaker 2: some people, you know, that would be you know, planning
[16:30] Speaker 2: a holiday at the end of the year and you say,
[16:32] Speaker 2: I'm actually gonna work on this and I'm gonna you know,
[16:34] Speaker 2: I'm gonna do it with with someone special or I'm
[16:36] Speaker 2: going to go with a group. And and so the
[16:38] Speaker 2: planning of the holiday and the research and the excitement,
[16:42] Speaker 2: you know, can last quite a few months in the
[16:44] Speaker 2: lead up to the to the holiday, and then then
[16:46] Speaker 2: the holiday itself is obviously going to be amazing, and
[16:48] Speaker 2: and then afterwards, you know, sharing those memories and talking
[16:51] Speaker 2: about it, and you know, so you can find a
[16:54] Speaker 2: way to to to kind of get a long term
[16:56] Speaker 2: value from the money that you're spending. And the trick
[16:59] Speaker 2: there is allocate the money intention So you sit down
[17:03] Speaker 2: and you say, yeah, it's in my expenses. I can
[17:06] Speaker 2: afford five hundred bucks a month, or I can afford
[17:09] Speaker 2: five thousand. But now you're working towards a very constructive
[17:13] Speaker 2: goal with no guilt. And that's the thing that we've
[17:16] Speaker 2: got to get right here, is we're avoiding the downside,
[17:19] Speaker 2: which is additional guilt and it's the impulsive side of things.
[17:22] Speaker 2: We're still getting the kick, we're still getting the positive rash,
[17:26] Speaker 2: but we're doing it in a way where we're in
[17:29] Speaker 2: control and we're not being controlled by our credit card
[17:32] Speaker 2: and our impulses.
[17:33] Speaker 1: Were often caught up with the instant gratification. What are
[17:36] Speaker 1: some of the you know, creative ways we can use
[17:38] Speaker 1: to pause the transactions and the spending.
[17:43] Speaker 2: Can you take a day, maybe even two, In fact,
[17:47] Speaker 2: two days is probably better. Can you give yourself two
[17:50] Speaker 2: days to decide to buy the thing you want to buy?
[17:53] Speaker 2: So let's just talk about a pair of running shoes,
[17:55] Speaker 2: like if that's your thing, you know, fashion sneakers, whatever
[17:58] Speaker 2: it is, and it's so easy just to tap and
[18:01] Speaker 2: buy on your phone, but they'll still be there in
[18:03] Speaker 2: a day or two. Can you give yourself two days
[18:06] Speaker 2: and after two days, if you still absolutely convinced that
[18:10] Speaker 2: you need to get it, then maybe you take it
[18:12] Speaker 2: more seriously. So for me, that's one very good suggestion.
[18:16] Speaker 1: We do have a listener question saying, Hi Warren. I
[18:20] Speaker 1: have been selling handmade jewelry on Instagram and at markets
[18:24] Speaker 1: for about eight months. I started it as a hobby,
[18:26] Speaker 1: but it has picked up over the few months and
[18:29] Speaker 1: I've made just over forty five thousand ran last year
[18:32] Speaker 1: from it. I still have my full time job. My
[18:35] Speaker 1: question is do I need to declare this amount to SARS.
[18:39] Speaker 1: I have not been keeping any records. Will I get
[18:42] Speaker 1: into trouble? A key question?
[18:44] Speaker 2: Thereat great question, and I think a lot of people
[18:47] Speaker 2: you know, do have a side hustle and find themselves
[18:50] Speaker 2: in a similar position. So the answer is, you absolutely
[18:54] Speaker 2: do need to pay tax on this. There is a
[18:56] Speaker 2: section in the in your tax returns where you can
[19:00] Speaker 2: put in I think it's called local business where you
[19:03] Speaker 2: you know, you talk about the income that you're earning
[19:05] Speaker 2: outside of your your normal job, and so yes, you
[19:09] Speaker 2: do need to declare it and it will be added
[19:11] Speaker 2: to your taxable income for the year and you will
[19:14] Speaker 2: need to pay You will need to pay tax on that.
[19:16] Speaker 2: So so certainly it's something to get in front of now,
[19:19] Speaker 2: you know, maybe just go and spend you know a
[19:22] Speaker 2: little bit of that money that you've earned with a
[19:23] Speaker 2: tax person to to just help you sort out the history,
[19:27] Speaker 2: because you know, sores is pretty good if you're if
[19:29] Speaker 2: you're proactive in terms of going going to them and saying, look,
[19:32] Speaker 2: I didn't know, it's just been a few months. You know,
[19:35] Speaker 2: Yes it went over a tax yeah, and I didn't declare,
[19:37] Speaker 2: but I didn't know that. They do have these voluntary
[19:39] Speaker 2: disclosure programs and if you're if you're proactive about it,
[19:42] Speaker 2: then then they're a little bit more understanding. You just
[19:45] Speaker 2: don't want them to catch you out. Uh. And and
[19:47] Speaker 2: then going forward, you do need to keep records because
[19:50] Speaker 2: you know the fact that you're earning money, you've probably
[19:52] Speaker 2: incurred costs, you know, and you can write off those
[19:55] Speaker 2: costs against the tax that you're going to pay, so
[19:58] Speaker 2: all of your costs for buying the raw mater, etc.
[20:01] Speaker 2: You can actually claim back. So please keep the records
[20:04] Speaker 2: and maybe just you know, a chatter tax person to
[20:08] Speaker 2: get yourself up and running. And then after that you
[20:10] Speaker 2: can do your own records if you need to.
[20:12] Speaker 1: Alright, some sound advice and some gems there from our
[20:16] Speaker 1: Warren Ingram, financial advisor and co founder of Galileo Capital
[20:20] Speaker 1: now personal Finance feature today talking about the high cost
[20:24] Speaker 1: of treating yourself that particular culture and how it hurts
[20:27] Speaker 1: savings and also your finances here in South Africa

Shows are listed from Apple Podcasts' charts and directory, and Podcast Index where it is used. Every show and episode belongs to its publisher and plays from the publisher's own feed; this site hosts none of them.