Occasionally someone will ask why my website is called ‘MoreThanMoney’. Well, I guess I wished for content that has a little bit more soul than your average financial publication. And for visitors whose lives have always been about more than money, but who now, out of necessity or as part of their personal growth, have to learn how this financial industry of ours works.

Also, money may be just a commodity, a unit of exchange. But the way we earn it, use it, lose it, spend or save it, love it, hate it, or fear it tells us more about what we believe about this world and our role in it, than we would perhaps want to reveal.

While our beliefs don’t change overnight, our roles can vary from one situation to another, covering a colourful spectrum of personae – all in just one day. And this is the way it should be. Play the part which the situation calls for. Unfortunately, we sometimes take on roles that are not only unasked for under the circumstances, but which become debilitating over the long run and also counterproductive. What are the different roles, how do they affect your finances and how can you break a destructive pattern? Let’s start with the Rescuer.

While I’m relieved to live in a world where friends, family and even strangers still lend a hand, Rescuers have made helping out, fixing problems and protecting the helpless their primary reason for existing. If there is no crisis, no poor, sick or sad around, they feel pretty restless and useless.

Yes, some guilt around ‘having things easy’ may motivate Rescuers. However, it is more likely that they are motivated by a deep desire to have their own needs fulfilled, but they have too little self-esteem to ask directly for what they want. Rescuing others boosts their self-esteem. Also, by helping others, they hope that some of what they’re giving will return to them.

Being a Rescuer makes it very difficult to build wealth and just enjoy the rewards of hard work and wise investments. Whenever someone who appears worse off than themselves enters their lives, Rescuers feel guilty if they don’t channel time and money towards that person. Rescuers are easily exploitable. But even worse, they sometimes actively scan the social landscape for signs of any helpless creature that could feed their hero complex. Unfortunately, often their need to be needed does not only prevent themselves from getting ahead financially, but also prevent those being rescued from fighting their own battles in the future.

Don’t get me wrong, being there for friends and family in times of crisis is a virtue. But secretly rejoicing in every opportunity to support someone or save the day probably signals that you may have become a little too attached to your superhero suit.

How do you break the Rescuer pattern? Diane Zimberoff suggests that you become honest about your own needs and take the first step of telling people what you want most from them. Part of this is examining your own discomfort with receiving. Secondly, you would need to establish a new habit of deciding what kind of assistance would really help someone over the long term. Realise that you are only there to support someone while they solve their own problems. Thirdly, if you’ve been caught in the Rescuer role for quite a while, you may have feelings of anger and resentment. Why are you always helping out, but no one seems to care about your needs? If these feelings are not addressed, you could easily switch to the complementary role: that of the long-suffering Victim.

‘How do you sell your way out of tough times?’ Bill Gibson shared his golden rules for selling at Nedbank’s Small Business seminar earlier this month. I add my thoughts on each of Bill’s rules.

Increase the number of right people that you contact. To me this would mean ranking potential clients according to the following criteria:

• How well your business offering fits their needs
• How big a portion of your net profit may come from that client
• Their payment record – if you deliver your products or services on credit. The bigger debtor the client will be on your books, the more important checking their credit record becomes.

Then make sure you speak to the decision-makers at each of businesses or households higher up on your list. But don’t shun the smaller clients either. They will bring in the cash over the short term while you work on bringing the larger, long-term clients on board.

Call potential clients more often and be well prepared for each call. Bill cites the National Dry Good Association of America survey, which found that the people who make more than three calls to potential clients are responsible for 80% of all sales. But I think there’s a very fine line between cheeky, but charming, and pushy and off-putting. Being able to read body language and tone of voice is crucial. And if your business is predominantly relationship-based, you have to be extra careful not to make a nuisance of yourself.

Increase the number of people selling. Remember, it’s not only your sales team that’s selling your products and services. Make sure all your employees know the basics of your product range and are enthusiastic about your offering. And if there are related, but not directly competing businesses around who could refer some of their clients to you, create incentives for these business to lead more clients to your door.

Increase your deal closing ratio. Bill has several techniques up his sleeve. Some of them are quite cheeky, in my opinion, but when used on the right customer, they will seal the deal. You could, for example, use the ‘assumed’ close, where you ask the customer what day would suit him best for the delivery before he’s even agreed to purchase your product. Or try the ‘puppy dog’ close, where you allow customers to take your product home and try it out before they buy.

Increase the average size of your individual sales. Try add-ons, e.g. “Hope you enjoy your new notebook. Do you have something to carry it in? Have you seen our bags and cases?” Or up-selling: “Hmmm, from what you’re telling me, the 1G package may suit you better. You may run out of bandwidth with the 500MB contract.”

Increase how often a client buys. Although not appropriate for all businesses, knowing your client very well usually enables you to sell to them more often. I have a friend who, unlike us mere mortals, buys most of her clothes at exclusive boutiques. She favours one particular designer, who phones her up every time he notices something in the new ready-to-wear range that suits her taste. She seldom leaves his shop without at least one purchase.

I’ve been uneasy ever since that phone call from an attorney claiming that I owe my previous gym a few thousand rand. It was easy to prove that it was an error and we quickly resolved the matter. But what else is lurking on my credit record that I’m oblivious to? Not knowing your credit status could waste precious time when your loan or new account application is rejected because of a poor payment history. It could take several months to clear your name.

Fortunately, there are no more excuses to be in the dark about your credit risk rating. It will take you a few minutes to register as a member on Experian’s www.creditexpert.co.za and after receiving your PIN via email, you can obtain your credit summary online for free. If you need a more comprehensive credit report, you simply fax them proof of identification, as well as proof of residential address. As a registered member, you are entitled to one free report per year.

What do you do if your record reveals long overdue debt? Firstly, if you’re in the wrong, settle it as soon as financially possible. If you believe there’s been a mistake, gather all documents that you believe will prove your innocence and contact your creditor.

While you’re busy clearing your name, you may want to lodge a dispute with Experian. It usually takes about 20 days to resolve a dispute and during this time credit providers would not be able to view the disputed item on your credit record.

Even if you have paid your dues, many companies will keep you blacklisted for a further few years, which could still make it difficult for you to obtain credit. Even when your loan application is successful, you could be paying a higher interest rate than other applicants. It is at times like these that the services of an attorney could come in handy to assist you in your application for a rescission (the removal of your name from the blacklist).

Hahn & Hahn, one of the firms specialising in blacklisting, also has a few tips on their website on how to avoid appearing on the list in the first place:

• Pay all your debts before the 7th day of each month.
• Notify all your creditors of a change of address.
• Attend to legal documents and letters immediately – they will not go away.
• Should you be unable to pay your debt, make suitable arrangements with your creditors and keep to your arrangements.
• Be very careful of what you sign.

One could also add to the list another tip from business coach Thayn Niemand: If a company offers you more credit than you need with them, don’t accept it without thinking of the implications. That higher credit limit reduces the amount of credit for which you qualify with a company offering the type of credit that you actually need.

Lastly, if you are still unhappy with the treatment that you are receiving because of your credit record, you can also call the Credit Information Ombud (CIO) on 0861 662 837.

It’s never been easier to find out what your credit record is telling other people about you. And it won’t cost you a cent. Go ahead and make sure that your name is clear.

It is not often that South African banks give their services away for free. That is why I’m surprised that not more business start-ups are taking up Nedbank’s offer of ‘free banking’ for 24 months after opening a new account. Transactions that will incur no banking fees are:

• Cash deposits;
• Debit orders;
• Internet banking;
• Cheques written from own cheque book.

Any other transactions, including credit card sales, will be charged. There is a catch, though. To qualify for the free transactions you need to take out a loan to the value of at least R100 000. This could be vehicle finance, a term loan, a home loan, a commercial property bond or plant and machinery finance. Although Nedbank is adamant that the interest rate associated with the loan will be competitive, it’s always a good idea to compare the rate with quotes from the other big lenders. The offer applies only to businesses that have not been in operation for more than two years and are projecting an annual turnover of less than R7.5 million.

Another free service is the Small Business seminars held twice a year. I attended the Cape Town session this week and can vouch that these seminars are not only informative, but also entertaining, inspiring and fun.

Nedbank has also partnered with a company called SwiftReg to enable you to walk into the branch and have your business registered at very competitive fees. They currently charge R360 to register a shelf or a new close corporation and R960 to register a shelf company.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is all pure altruism on Nedbank’s side, though. The first two years are often the time when small businesses are particularly fragile and most likely to fail. Nedbank is thinking long-term. By aiding business owners through this perilous period, the bank is counting on a larger number of mature fee-paying businesses ending up on their client book.

“Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, cash flow is reality.” From the many emphatic nods it is clear that the attendees of this year’s Nedbank Small Business seminar know what business coach Thayn Niemand is talking about. And Niemand has several suggestions that could help small businesses shape up their cash situations.

Use long-term finance when buying long-term assets. The interest rate on long-term, asset-backed finance is usually much lower than the rate associated with short-term finance, such as an overdraft facility. Yes, you’re right, if you pay cash for your long-term assets, you won’t have to pay any interest at all. But if you take out a long-term loan and the assets under discussion are used to generate business income, the interest on the loan can be deducted from your taxable income. More importantly, though, financing the assets means you are freeing up your cash to employ it where your business strategy needs it most. And you are less likely to end up paying the exorbitant interest rate on an overdraft when you run into cash flow trouble.

Don’t pay all staff bonuses in one month.“Your biggest overheads walk on two legs”, I’ve often heard business owners say. And Christmas time can rock your cash flow boat particularly hard. Niemand suggests mimicking the old government system of paying annual bonuses in the month of an employee’s birthday to improve your December cash flow substantially.

Move the dates of your debit orders. Do you find that most of your debtors only pay you after the 1st of the month? Would it then not help to move your expense debit orders to the 7th of the month – when you know you would have received most of your income due?

Get your money in quickly and let it go slowly. While you want to remain hot on the heels of your debtors, if your creditors grant you 60 days to repay your debt, use that grace period, especially while you’re earning interest on any positive balance in your bank account.

Keep your stock levels at the optimum level. When your wholesaler offers a large discount on one of your products, it may be tempting to buy as many units as you can possibly lay your hands on. But this large purchase may make it difficult to settle some of your other bills at the end of the month. It’s no use having a warehouse full of bargains if you eventually can’t pay the rent on your building.

Sub-let any excess space. While we’re on the topic of buildings, do you have any storerooms or garages that you could sub-let and earn some extra cash (if your contract allows this)?

Review your short-term insurance policies. The responsibility of updating the insured value of your vehicles and other insured assets lies with you, not the insurer. Insuring your assets at their current second-hand retail value instead of their purchase price could save you a handsome sum every year.

With Nedbank Small Business Services listing ‘poor management of financial activities’ as number one among their surveyed seven biggest reasons for business failure, the expertise of Niemand and other financial coaches seem to be much needed in South Africa today.

Falling interest rates is one of the precious few things to smile about at the start of a recession. Banks have dropped their prime lending rate from 15.5% to 11% over the past six months. But governor Mboweni has signalled that this might be the last rate cut for a while. Should you fix your mortgage rate now before prime starts soaring again?

In South Africa, variable mortgage rates, expressed as prime minus a percentage negotiated between you and your bank, are the norm. But most banks also give you the option to fix your mortgage rate for a period of between one and 10 years. Unfortunately, you can potentially run into two problems when you fix that rate.

Firstly, you are bound not only to the rate that you’ve been offered, but also the term that you’ve chosen. Should you wish to get out of that 10-year fixed rate contract, for example, your bank could enforce a heavy penalty.

Secondly, the fixed rate offered is often not very attractive. It is driven by the expectations of traders in the fixed interest rate market. If you think you have a few good reasons to expect rising interest rates, the traders have probably priced in those same expectations. In these market circumstances, the result is a fixed interest rate which is higher than the current prime lending rate.

There are exceptions. John Loos, strategist at FNB Homeloans, recalls that FNB offered 13% to a fixed rate client in January this year, 200 basis points below prime at 15%. At that time the overwhelming consensus in the market was that a series of rate cuts is on its way, the majority of traders predicting it would be somewhere between 300 and 400 basis points. Will this client beat the average rate of the interest rate cycle over his selected term? Who knows? Like any gambling game, the winner ends with a distorted sense of his or her powers of prediction.

Rather than an instrument to try and beat the country’s average official interest rate over a selected term, the fixed interest rate was designed to provide mortgage owners with some certainty. It makes most sense for those who would not be able to afford their mortgage repayments when rates rise, and for those who sleep better when they know exactly what their repayments for the next few years will be. Like any insurance, though, the certainty comes at a cost: the premium that traders in the fixed interest market charge for exchanging the risk of the variable rate and providing you with the safety of the fixed rate.