CELEBRATING THE 500th ISSUE OF PERSONAL FINANCE!

Revisiting our illustrious past as we look forward to an exciting future

- STEVEN JONES

WHEN THE very first issue of Personal Finance came back from the printers in 1981, I wonder if founder Martin Spring looked upon his creation in amazement, gently caressing the pages in the way a father gently strokes his newborn baby’s cheek.

And like any new parent, he may have looked at those printed words and wondered what they would have meant to those very first readers. Would these words be merely interesting, or deeply meaningful—perhaps even life-changing? Would they be able to stand the test of time, or merely fall by the wayside like many others?

I, for one, am so glad that Martin Spring and his colleagues persevered, for it was about ten years later as a broke young articled clerk working for a small Johannesburg audit firm when I was introduced to this 16-page publication which would end up transforming the way I understood money. Of course, this was after I was faced with one of those money lessons that I had to learn ‘the hard way’!

Paying expensive ‘school fees’ for something not taught at school!

As clerks, being long on ideas and short on cash, we were always on the lookout for ways to generate cash.