If you don't love yourself enough to save, rich people will take it from you and use it for themselves.

Is it not ironic that we work so hard for our money, and yet we give it away so easily? We spend our time chasing our tails, trying to make more and more money, only to squander it faster than we make it when we have it.

Ever watched the movie The Matrix? a science fiction film dealing with humanity being taken over by artificial intelligent machines. The only difference is that the artificial intelligent machines in the real world are businesses that entrap you into a lifestyle of debt.

Think of the matrix as a world economic system that we live in, that has been designed to make people poor for the rest of their lives. Let me explain.

It starts off with you as a young adult with your high hopes and aspirations of having the ideal job, the perfect family, and perfect life.

Then you join the working world. They require you to have a banking account. They give you a debit card, credit card, an overdraft facility and a revolving loan.

That's when your fun begins. Unaware you are now a member of the slave camp.

This system brainwashes you via media advertisements to believe that you can have it all now with the help of all the debts you are accumulating.

Now that you have the job, you feel you must have a car as it is a visible sign of your success and something to brag about to your friends. It's a great product to make your neighbours green with envy.

So you go to the bank to apply for finance for car. The bank rejects your application on the basis of "no credit record". They tell you to go and open a clothing account so they can see how you handle debt.

You go and open a clothing account. Guess what? You have just added another plus into the matrix system on top of all the bank facilities you already got. Quite a few slices of your money now belong to someone else.

Being new in the game, you handle your finances quite well, and pay your clothing account on time. Your credit score increases and you go back to the bank because you still want the car.

You eventually get offered a loan plus all the other bells and whistles - the warranty on credit, the insurance etc. They've charmed you with red-carpet treatment in exchange for a couple more matrix ratings.

To become fully independent, you now need to move out of your mother's house and get your own place. This will involve getting more indebted to others.

What you need to understand is that the matrix owners are like vultures - constantly and desperately waiting for innocent people like you. In fact, they plan and set goals in terms of the number of people they want to attract.

They don't sleep because they are constantly on the lookout to see how they can get more "victims" into the system.

They use the zombie box (TV), billboards, radio, newspapers and lots of other media to brainwash you into joining them to enrich their coffers.

They make their products look and sound very attractive, to such an extent that you believe you cannot live without it. They are in business and their goal is to make money.

So while they help themselves to your money every month, what percentage of your income goes to paying you? Perhaps it's time to close those connections and free yourself from unnecessary slavery.

Thedream@winniekunene.co.za