Paul Nixon, Technical Marketer at Momentum Investments, lets us in on how we can use our bonuses wisely this year.

1. Momentum Collective Investments (RF) (Pty) Ltd
268 West Avenue Centurion 0157 PO Box 7400 Centurion 0046
Client service 0860 111 899 T + 27 (0)12 671 8911 F +27 (0)12 675 3889 ci.clientservice@momentum.co.za momentum.co.za/collectiveinvestments
Please refer to our website for directors and company secretary details Registration number 1987/004287/07
Momentum Collective Investments (RF) (Pty) Ltd is part of Momentum Metropolitan Life Limited, an authorised financial services and credit provider (FSP6406)
Momentum Metropolitan Holdings Limited is a full member of the Association for Savings and Investment SA
Use your bonus wisely
By Paul Nixon
It is bonus and increase time and many people spend their bonus before it even hits their
accounts. Before you start spending you bonus, having a plan to ensure that you use your bonus
wisely will go a long way to securing you financially for 2019 and beyond. Planning for your
financial future is complicated. There are many saving and investment options to choose from
when thinking about putting an extra bit away every month. Therefore, we recommend you meet
a financial adviser.
Here are some simple suggestions to follow:
1. Have a plan
Your plan should take your expenses into account, proportion your bonus according to debt,
savings and spending. The best way is to split your bonus on percentages and not rand values. This
will ensure that regardless of the bonus amount, you can ensure that you use a percentage on
reducing debt, a percentage on saving and the remainder on spending.
2. Pay off/down your short term debt
It is a good idea that a sizeable portion of your bonus goes towards paying off/down any short
term debt you have. These loans which can include credit cards, store cards or personal loans,
usually have a high interest rate and are quite expensive. Although it might be difficult, aimto
spend most of your bonus paying off this type of debt, just think how much extra money you will
save every month if you don’t have to pay instalments on this expensive debt.
3. Consider putting money intoyourhome loan.
It is also a good idea to put money into your home loan, where reducing the outstanding balance
on your home loan can result in paying off your home sooner, or having access to the funds in the
future if you need them.

2. Page 2 of 2Momentum Investments | Use your bonus wisely | December 2019
4. Set aside a portion for short-term savings
There will be other expenses you might be faced with that will crop up in the rest of the year
which could be expected or unexpected. It is a good idea to put money aside for those to avoid
going into debt should these incidences occur. These could include planned holidays, home or car
maintenance, emergencies resulting in unexpected costs or even that ridiculously low price shoe
sale that comes along once in a life time.
5. Plan to look after your future self
You also need to look after your future self, beyond this year. This means putting away some
money that you won’t touch until retirement
Important: Hopefully you have a retirement plan of some sort, if you don’t, look at getting on it
immediately and a financial adviser will be readily available to assist you.
6. Have a bit of fun
It is obviously unreasonable to expect that you won’t spend some of your bonus money on
yourself or having fun with friends and family. So once you’ve allocated money toward clearing
your debt, savings, and securing your future, there could be a little left over for frivolous spending.