“TAPINDA, tapinda” is the testimony I have been hearing all week from Zimbabweans expressing divine gratitude for making it into 2011 in one piece.

There is an excitingfreshness located in the word “new”for “old things are passed away, behold, all things become new!”

We come from a culture where the past consumes us so passionately to the point that it immobilises us from moving into the future with confidence. When we encounter challenges, our spontaneous reaction is to find something or someone to blame without taking any responsibility.

I remember back in Zimbabwe when I worked in industry and there was an incident. We were all required to write a report. In most cases, these reports were hardly used to solve the problem and prevent it from happening in the future but simply to locate blame and identify who to give a warning.

Perhaps it is the same reason why 30 years after independence we still put all our problems at the foot of the British for colonising us instead of taking charge of them and fixing our country. When I talk to my ANC colleagues in South Africa, I keep pointing out that although apartheid was brutal, after 16 years of Uhuru there is need for the leadership to take some responsibility for the current state of affairs in our host nation.

As we begin 2011, I suggest you talk to the person in the mirror. Explain to him or her that he or she is solely responsible for your financial well-being. Do not outsource this responsibility to the system or your employer. Taking responsibility gives you the ultimate power over your own life. It always begins with the thoughts you cultivate. John Kehoe says “weak and scattered thoughts are weak and scattered forces. Strong and concentrated thoughts are strong and concentrated forces.”

We must be like Paul of Tarsus who remarked, “Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize”. Sometimes we tend to linger too long around the mistakes we made in 2010 instead of grabbing the opportunities presented by the New Year. You need a degree of courageto take the leap in 2011 to bridge the gap between your current reality and your desired lifestyle through a financial plan.

Your 2011 financial goals must be specific, realistic and yet challenging.As human beings, we have the creative nature firmly embedded in our DNA. The natural instinct is to slide back towards some routine. Animals like cattle are addicted to routine. They graze, drink water, chew curd, and repeat the routine day after day.

Results are the culmination of action. Before we can effectively take control of our finances, we need to understand our attitude to money and how we may be unintentionally sabotaging our financial security. One of greatest challenges in starting a savings plan is deciding where to invest. Investments have become extremely complex and often the range of products available makes it difficult to make a final decision.

A long-term financial plan starts with understanding your financial goals so you can narrow down the investment solutions that will meet your needs.

We need to have a better relationship with compound interest which refers to the interest earned on interest that was earned earlier and credited to the capital amount. Go against the grain and choose to be a beneficiary of compound interest rather than a victim. Be objective about your financial decisions and make sure that you have a plan to protect and grow your wealth, no matter what the economic climate.

There is need to draw up a personal balance sheet as you enter 2011 which will help you understand your current financial situation and set financial goals. All you require to do this is the following:

List of all your assets and their current value such as your home, car, pension fund, savings, policies, cattle, stocks, the works.

List all your liabilities (outstanding debt) and their current value - mortgage bond, car finance, credit card, overdraft, store cards, personal loan.

Use this balance sheet to review your current financial situation. If you do it at the beginning of each year, it will tell you whether you are moving forward or backwards financially. To make sure you move forward every year, you need to concentrate on two things: debt and savings. By paying off your debt, you reduce your liabilities. By increasing your savings, you increase your assets.

If your monthly debt repayment is more than 45% of your income,you need to focus on your debt first. Pay off as much as you can, always starting with the highest interest debt. It is just as important to have a healthy financial balance sheet as it is to balance our time. Make a 2011 resolution to spend more time with people who make you happy, both family and friends.

At some stage in your financial planning, you need to ask yourself how much money is enough, how much time with your family is enough, how much time to pursue your passions is enough and how you can balance all this to achieve a true sense of fulfillment.

Biblical Solomon towards the end of his life remarks “everything was meaningless” after spending a good part of his life accumulating wealth, wives and concubines.

Tafirenyika L. Makunike is the managing partner of Napachem cc (www.nepachem.co.za), an enterprise development and consulting company