Keabetswe Degracia Mafafo started saving for retirement at 26, which was too late, according to her, “I should have started when I got my first paycheque”.
But, says the mother of one and SAP Fico consultant from Tshwane, no one was around to advise her about saving for retirement then.
That is a ‘wrong’ that Keabetswe is now correcting by helping others get on the road to a dignified retirement by educating themselves. She has “even told my friends and colleagues to join 10X”, she adds, but that is easier said than done because people are sceptical, she adds.
“The thing that makes people a bit sceptical about investing for retirement is that they don’t have that trust, they have been scammed before. There are lots of scams these days.”
Her advice to people who feel uncertain is: “Get yourself educated, get more information, and the sooner the better.”
Talking about the sooner, the better, Keabetswe says, she is teaching her 5-year old daughter about saving, about not spending and rather keeping her coins in her piggy bank.
The little one is a way off understanding the meaning of saving for a rainy day, but she definitely has the head start that her Mum wishes she had.
Still, Keabetswe is not complaining: “If you have discipline, a goal and a plan, nothing will stop you from getting where you want to go.”