Obstacles to Capital

Clear and present dangers stop you from building capital. By definition, there isn’t “extra” if there isn’t enough. 

One of the challenges for designers of Basic Incomes, or builders of Pension Funds, is when you should allow access to those funds. Should you be able to borrow money and agree to pay back, from your basic income? Should you be able to cash in retirement money to build an extension to your house or go on holiday? 

Similarly, how do you build capital when everyone around you is living hand-to-mouth? Especially when the need is so raw and so clear. As South Africans, we wrestle with in-your-face inequality, but even though we keep inequality in country-shaped containers, I don’t think moving to another container absolves you of responsibility. 

But what responsibility? How much should we just focus on the things we can control? The idea of being a “half-hearted fanatic”. You don’t want to be a martyr. It is a long-term game, and you can give more if you look after yourself too. You do need to be honest about what incentivizes you and keeps your energy up. 

I don’t think you can live in isolation and only focus on your story. Our stories are intertwined. Gradually, my reading on “learning and happiness” shifted to learning more about Universal Basic Income. The idea that everybody should get a regular income as a base from which to work.

Hard to grow without protection

Building an Engine

If you want to still the waves of money anxiety, you need to start with some fact finding. Where are you? For me that has changed in a pretty fundamental way. Quite often big life changes are a catalyst for relooking at your situation. I moved back to South Africa in December. That means thinking in Rands rather than Pounds. I spent the early part of my career getting my money jobs around the world. Building what I call an Engine. You don’t have to be the sole breadwinner. Your money can work too. Especially if you squeeze some space in between your hand and mouth. To create space, you need to have an idea of what you are spending. So for me, now... I have to wait for the dust to settle. As I adjust, the numbers are way bigger (thanks inflation!) than 13 years ago, and some of the basic ways things are done differ from up north. After a few months of paying attention, you can get an idea of the things you can expect. Then you can start to add space for the surprises. Then you can start building (or repairing) your Engine.

Mechanical Repair

 

Building an Innings

I once unsuccessfully tried to explain cricket to a Scottish Music Teaching Colleague who came to watch me play. I didn’t touch the ball while fielding, and she didn’t understand what my role was. I told her not to worry, I was batting third and she would see me play in the next innings (meaning our turn to bat). After a huge opening partnership ended, I walked in, double-stepped, missed the ball, got stumped, and walked back to her to tell her I had no “further” role in the game. She, understandably, still didn’t understand why I mattered. To build an engine, you need to get control of the ins and outs. We have fixed expenses that come off every month/year. We have bumpy, but predictable expenses which vary between a high and low. We have annoying, but predictable maintenance costs that are erratic. Then we have the unpredictable storms we need to build a buffer for, or they knock us back to zero. If you keep going out, it is impossible to build a significant innings.

 

Bavuma became the first black cricketer to make a Test century for South Africa