PLANNING FOR THE UNEXPECTED: FROM TWIN SURPRISES TO FINANCIAL RESILIENCE

Life doesn’t always go according to plan.

My wife Jamie and I had every intention of enjoying a few “honeymoon years” before starting a family.  We spoke about kids often, and from a financial point of view we even debated whether one child might be the sweet spot.  I have always been a saver by nature, while Jamie has traditionally been more comfortable spending money, but despite our different outlooks, one child was always the plan.

Then life had other ideas.

We found out Jamie was pregnant and we were over the moon.  A few weeks later, we went for our first scan and got the surprise of our lives…Twins.

I still remember walking out of that appointment excited, terrified, proud and completely overwhelmed all at the same time.

As a financial planner, people assume you have every possible scenario mapped out.  The reality is different.  Knowing what to do and actually living through it are two different things.  Surprise doesn’t care what your profession is.

The financial plan we thought we had suddenly needed to change overnight.

 

Financial Identities Can Change

One thing I see often is people boxing themselves into categories.

“I’m a spender.”

“I’m a saver.”

“I’m just bad with money.”

The problem is that once you start telling yourself these stories, you almost give yourself permission not to change. What Jamie and I learned very quickly is that neither of us could stay in our traditional lanes.

I had to become more comfortable spending money when it genuinely improved our lives or solved a problem.  Jamie had to become more intentional about saving and planning ahead.  Neither of us changed overnight, but we intentionally made changes.

Looking back, that probably had a bigger impact on our financial success than any investment or product ever could.

 

The Rules That Got Us Through

When life throws you a curveball, you need a few simple rules to fall back on.  These are the ones that worked for us.

 

1. Pay Yourself First

Decide what you are going to save every month and automate it.

If you wait until the end of the month to save whatever is left over, you’ll usually find there isn’t much left.  Treat saving like any other monthly expense and let it happen automatically.

 

2. Build an Emergency Fund

Life is expensive enough when everything is going according to plan.

Build up an emergency fund that can cover at least three months’ worth of expenses.  Keep it somewhere accessible.  The return isn’t the priority here; the priority is having money available when life inevitably throws you another surprise.

 

3. Start Investing for Your Kids Early

The greatest advantage children have is time.

Not intelligence.  Not income.  Time.

The earlier you start investing for them, the harder compound growth works on your behalf.  Even relatively small contributions made consistently can become meaningful over the long term.

 

4. Treat Bad Debt Like the Enemy

I’m not against all debt.  A bond on a home can make sense.  Financing an appreciating asset can make sense.  What I’m talking about is lifestyle debt.

If you’re borrowing money for things that lose value the moment you buy them, you’re making life harder for your future self.

One rule we follow is simple: if the purchase is going to put pressure on my finances, we need to justify it to one another and get approval!  Not like judge and jury, but as team mates working in alignment.

 

5. Cut Back Without Feeling Punished

Financial plans fail when people become miserable.

Find areas where you can reduce spending without sacrificing the things you genuinely enjoy.  For us, that meant giving up weekly sushi nights and making it a monthly treat instead.  We still got the reward, just not the expense that came with doing it every week.

 

6. Use Loyalty Programmes Properly

This one sounds small, but it works.

Most loyalty programmes require very little effort and the savings add up over time.

One trick we adopted was looking at the savings on the bottom of the till slip and transferring that amount into savings.  If we “saved” R150 at the checkout, we would move R150 into our money market account.

It sounds silly, but those amounts compound surprisingly quickly.

 

7. Don’t Spend Your SARS Refund Before You Get It

I’ve seen too many people treat tax refunds like bonus income.

Whenever I receive a refund, my default position is to invest it, save it or pay down debt.  If you don’t build it into your spending plans, it becomes a powerful tool for building wealth.

 

8. Keep Replacing Goals

One of the biggest mistakes people make is reaching a financial goal and then switching to autopilot.

Every time you achieve something, replace it with a new target.

Momentum is powerful.  Use it.

 

9. Build a Plan That Can Bend

Having children is stressful enough without adding financial stress to the mix.  What raising twins taught me is that the perfect financial plan doesn’t exist.  No spreadsheet can predict every surprise, every setback or every opportunity.  The goal isn’t perfection, it is flexibility.

A good financial plan should be able to bend without breaking when life inevitably throws something unexpected your way.

 

 

Looking back, the twins didn’t just change our family; they changed the way I think about money.  They taught me that financial resilience has very little to do with predicting the future and everything to do with being prepared to adapt when the future looks nothing like you expected.

If you want to investigate how your financial plan should look then get a hold of me – andrewbasson@magwitch.co.za and let’s work through your goals and aspirations and then scenario plan to introduce that level of flexibility and resilience that is needed.