Financial advice please

Debtridden said:
Whilst I do agree with you on that, there’s not much future survival if you don’t up your income. Living within meager means is no sort of life, it’s also unambitious. So it’s a balancing act, but certainly shouldn’t only be done with the view of living within current constraints. That’s all I was saying.
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Living within your means has nothing to do with not increasing your income... Live the lifestyle you can afford now (and by afford I mean don't have to go into debt to sustain). Once you start earning more, you can add additional luxuries. Always with the caveat that you should not go into debt to do so (with the exception of buying property and maybe a car, although the car will be debated at length here).
 
Jehosefat said:
Living within your means has nothing to do with not increasing your income... Live the lifestyle you can afford now (and by afford I mean don't have to go into debt to sustain). Once you start earning more, you can add additional luxuries. Always with the caveat that you should not go into debt to do so (with the exception of buying property and maybe a car, although the car will be debated at length here).
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You're not wrong but I also don't think it is that simple.

When you earn R15k per month, if your car breaks down it is a major issue. You have to fix your car or otherwise you cannot get to work and earn money. Depending on your car, that could be a month's salary or more. And you definitely cannot afford to replace your car.

That is just an example. There are many other potential things that can occur, things that you have no choice but to pay for, which can put a serious dent in your finances. Let's say you get a bad cavity in your teeth. You either get a root canal and a crown, which is a month's salary at R15k, or have it pulled.
 
Freshy-ZN said:
There is no way that you could be given 3 credit cards with R50k debt on your earnings/expenses. The banks and companies who have given you these are guilty of reckless lending which makes them responsible for you not being able to service that debt.

Investigate this avenue as potentially you could have the debt declared null and void.

info to start off with: https://www.schoemanlaw.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Article-reckless-credit-Jan-2017.pdf
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That...unless he lied on the application.

Gonna be a hard slog otherwise - and take literally years to resolve.
 
Ancalagon said:
You're not wrong but I also don't think it is that simple.

When you earn R15k per month, if your car breaks down it is a major issue. You have to fix your car or otherwise you cannot get to work and earn money. Depending on your car, that could be a month's salary or more. And you definitely cannot afford to replace your car.

That is just an example. There are many other potential things that can occur, things that you have no choice but to pay for, which can put a serious dent in your finances. Let's say you get a bad cavity in your teeth. You either get a root canal and a crown, which is a month's salary at R15k, or have it pulled.
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Agreed. It's never that simple. But to my mind, "living within your means" includes saving some money so you don't get hammered by unexpected expenses. And yes, I know it's not always possible and sometimes expenses can add up to a whole lot very quickly and burn through said savings, but as a general principle I think it's sound.
 
Jehosefat said:
Agreed. It's never that simple. But to my mind, "living within your means" includes saving some money so you don't get hammered by unexpected expenses. And yes, I know it's not always possible and sometimes expenses can add up to a whole lot very quickly and burn through said savings, but as a general principle I think it's sound.
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There's nothing wrong with dipping in to credit to fix a life knock, just don't leave it there. Credit, used correctly, is a very valuable tool.
 
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