The Real Reason I Haven’t Started Investing Yet

I wrote a whole post about why building savings matters more to me now than ever. I meant every word of it. I still do.

But here’s the follow-up: I haven’t fully started investing yet. What I have started is something more urgent: building an emergency fund. Single moms in South Africa, like me, often can’t afford the luxury of thinking about investments before securing that safety net first.

Something always crops up. The car. The debt. The milestone birthdays. The month that gets away from me before I’ve had a chance to put anything away. There is always something, and I have spent a long time telling myself that I’ll start properly when things settle. But things don’t settle. They change shape.

I know investing is important. I am determined to start. But determination and action are two different things, and the gap between them is where I’ve been living.

I think part of it is psychological. Deep down, I know there isn’t much I can do right now, not properly, not the way I want to. And somehow, knowing that has made it easier to keep putting it off. To wait for a better moment. To tell myself the timing isn’t right yet.

But I don’t want to carry that mentality forward. I don’t want to repeat what wasn’t modelled for me when it comes to money. I want to break that cycle completely, not just for myself, but for my kids. And I know it comes down to one thing.

Just doing it.

Emergency Fund Single Mom South Africa: Three Months, Untouched

Before I can even think about investing, there is something more urgent. Something that keeps me up at night in a way that stock portfolios don’t.

I don’t have medical aid. It’s not a choice I made lightly; it’s simply not affordable for someone in my position—three kids, one income, and a company that doesn’t offer it as a benefit. The cost is unrealistic for my reality. So I carry that risk every single month, and I feel it.

That alone makes an emergency fund non-negotiable for me. Not a nice-to-have. Not a financial goal I’m working toward eventually. A necessity. Because if something happens, to me or to one of my kids, there is no medical aid to absorb that blow. There is only what I have put away.

And it’s not just medical. My car is my lifeline. It gets me to work, gets my kids to school, keeps everything moving. I don’t know much about cars, and I don’t have anyone to call when something goes wrong. No one to come and help, no one to split the cost with, no one to figure it out alongside me. When my car breaks down, it is entirely my problem to solve, alone, immediately.

Earlier this year, I had a situation with my car that cost me significantly. I’m still paying it off for over seven months. That experience made it very clear that an emergency fund isn’t a financial concept for me. It’s survival.

Three months of my salary, sitting untouched. That’s the goal. An emergency fund single mom South Africa can actually rely on. Everything else comes after that.

There’s another layer to all of this that I haven’t said much about yet, and I’m not ready to go into detail, but it’s part of why this feels urgent rather than theoretical. My company has been going through changes for months now. What’s come of it is exactly what we suspected from the start, even though we were told otherwise. I’ve never been in this position before, and if I’m honest, it’s left me feeling vulnerable in a way I wasn’t prepared for. It’s also part of why building this blog into something real matters so much to me right now.

I’m choosing to stay positive about it. I’ve been through enough in my life to believe that things eventually turn, and I’d like to think I’m at a point now where the hard chapters are behind me rather than ahead. But it’s also exactly why an emergency fund isn’t optional for me. It’s the thing standing between uncertainty and actual crisis.

And there’s a bigger conversation underneath all of this, too, salaries that haven’t kept pace with the actual cost of living, mine included. That’s a post on its own, and one I plan to write properly soon.

Learning As I Go 

In the meantime, I am learning. Actively, deliberately, honestly learning.

One voice I keep coming back to is Munya from Modern Money on Instagram. He’s local, he understands the South African context, and he breaks things down in a way that actually makes sense for where I am.

I’ve also been watching a lot of Nischa Shah, a former investment banker. To be clear, I don’t know either of them personally; I just find their content genuinely useful. Her videos make saving and investing feel achievable rather than overwhelming, which is exactly what I needed. One video in particular shifted something for me, and if you’re in a similar position, I think it will for you too.

One thing I’ve started doing is a weekly budget check-in, similar to how I approach my weekly reset routine, except this time, the focus is entirely on money. Every week, I review what I’ve spent, look at my bank balance and go over where I’ve overspent. It’s not always comfortable, but it’s necessary.

The Small Spending That Adds Up 

What it’s taught me is that the big expenses aren’t always where the money goes. It’s the small ones. Snacks after school because our days are long and the kids are hungry and tired, and I want to do something for them. A coffee here. Cookies there. Small purchases that feel like nothing in the moment but add up to something significant by the end of the month.

What I’ve realised is that it’s become a habit. And underneath the habit is guilt; if I don’t get them something, I feel like I’ve let them down somehow. Like I owe them that small treat after a long day.

But that guilt is costing me. Literally.

It’s going to take a mindset shift to change it. A complete change in how I think about those moments, what I’m actually giving them versus what I think I’m giving them. Because every rand counts. And all those small purchases add up to money that could be working toward something bigger.

That’s the work. Not just the numbers. The thinking behind the numbers.

I am not in denial anymore. I know exactly where I am, I can see clearly where I want to go, and I am ready to take action. My money habits aren’t where I need them to be yet. I still have a lot to learn and even more to practice. But that’s enough for now. That’s where this journey starts.

And I would genuinely love to hear from other moms. How do you manage it all? What has worked for you? What hasn’t? What do you wish someone had told you earlier?

Because I don’t think any of us has this completely figured out. And there’s something powerful about knowing that.

If this resonated, stay connected for more, and grab a free copy of the budget sheet I actually use.