The top 3 focus areas for creatives who are chasing financial freedom

By: Kekeletso Mabizela

Social media influencers are a growing force across platforms like Instagram and TikTok, successfully promoting brands and products that resonate with their audiences. This work calls for a fair price tag and sees many digital content creators gaining great financial ground and a consistent stream of work from the ROI their influence generates, but what are they doing with their hard-earned income?

Here are three top considerations to get on track:

Know your life stage.

If you’re in your 20s-40s, which many influencers are, you may consider getting married, buying a house, or having kids. Even if you already have the textbook adulting metrics covered or if you’re still working towards them, considering your long-term wealth plan is important right now. You don’t need a house or family before you get a retirement plan. But you do need as much time as possible to build a favorable retirement plan.

Know the cost of time.

The secret sauce to a comfortable retirement is compound interest. This is when your money makes money (interest) and then that interest earns interest (compounds), and so it builds, provided it remains untouched to grow into a substantial amount of savings for your golden years. You can start saving for the future with a Retirement Annuity (RA) from as little as R250 per month and you can increase, decrease, or pause your contributions as your earning potential changes, while the money you have saved continues to grow.

Lifestyle inflation is a very common issue to watch out for over time. When we earn more money, we get used to spending more too. The habits and aesthetics of it all make us accustomed to a certain lifestyle. Money has the power to grow if used wisely, but R1000 today vs in the year 2065, won’t buy you the same number of grocery items. The longer you put off saving, the harder it will be to have enough. The sooner you start saving for retirement, the better – this adage exists because it’s a fact.