Has saving lost its meaning? | Why saving is really about creating choice

In this episode of Everything Counts, Motheo Khoaripe is joined by Investec's Nirvashni Rajkumar (KZN team teader for the Investec financial planning team) and Dorothy Asomaning (Wealth Manager at Investec Wealth & Investment) to explore why saving is about far more than building a bigger balance. Together they unpack how lifestyle inflation quietly limits our choices, why earning more doesn't always create more freedom, and how giving your money a clear purpose can change the way you think about your financial future.

Has saving lost its meaning?

For years, the conversation around saving has sounded much the same. Save more. Spend less. Start earlier.

It's sensible advice, but it also explains why so many people have switched off. Saving has gradually become another item on a financial checklist. Something we know we should do, but rarely stop to think about.

Perhaps that's because we've focused so much on how to save that we've forgotten to talk about why.

Most people don't wake up wanting a savings account. They want what that savings account makes possible. More time, more flexibility, more resilience when life takes an unexpected turn; the ability to support family without compromising their own future; the confidence to change direction when circumstances change.

Thinking about saving in those terms doesn't make it any easier, but it does make it more meaningful.

Why earning more doesn't always feel like progress

There's an assumption that financial freedom grows naturally with income. Work hard, earn more, and life becomes easier.

Sometimes it does. But sometimes a higher salary simply funds a more expensive version of the life you already have.

A larger home, school fees, subscriptions, holidays, insurance, responsibilities and the countless decisions that feel entirely reasonable on their own can gradually become permanent commitments. None of them look extravagant. Collectively, they leave very little room to move.

This is the quiet effect of lifestyle inflation. It doesn't usually arrive through reckless spending. It arrives through sensible decisions made over many years.

The irony is that someone can earn significantly more than they did a decade ago, yet feel no more financially free.

Perhaps the better measure of financial wellbeing isn't income. It's how much choice you still have once your commitments have been paid.

Saving is about creating options

One of the most useful shifts in thinking is to stop seeing saving as money you're taking away from today and start seeing it as something you're creating for tomorrow.

Every rand you put aside is quietly funding a future. The question is what future that might be.

For one person, it's the confidence to leave a job that no longer brings fulfilment. For another, it's knowing they can help ageing parents if the need arises. It may be the ability to start a business, take a sabbatical, weather an unexpected setback or simply enjoy the peace of mind that comes from knowing they have choices.

Retirement is often spoken about as the goal, but retirement itself is usually just shorthand for something much more personal: having control over your time.

When savings have a clearly defined purpose, they become easier to prioritise because they are connected to something tangible rather than an abstract financial target.

Knowledge isn't usually the problem

Most people already know they should save. The harder question is why that knowledge doesn't always translate into action. The answer is often less about discipline than behaviour.

It's easy to believe that next year's bonus will create breathing room, that things will settle down after the next promotion or that one more upgrade won't make much difference. Individually, those decisions seem insignificant. Over time, they shape the life our money is quietly building.

This is where systems often matter more than willpower. Giving savings a specific role, automating contributions and reviewing financial decisions against long-term priorities removes some of the emotion from the process. More importantly, it keeps the conversation focused on what the money is there to do.

Start with a different question

Traditional financial advice often begins with numbers: how much should I save? How much do I need? How much is enough? Those are important questions, but they make more sense once you've answered a different one first.

What future am I trying to build?

That answer will be different for everyone. For some, it will be security. For others, opportunity, flexibility or independence. Whatever the answer, it gives your savings a purpose beyond simply accumulating money.

Before opening another savings account or increasing a debit order, it may be worth asking one simple question:

If someone looked at the way I spend, save and invest today, would they recognise the life I'm trying to build? 

Because perhaps saving has never really been about building a bigger balance. It's about creating more choice.