Financial Wellness – more about the mindset and less about the money
12 March 2014
In just one month South Africans have endured a 0.5% increase in interest rates, a petrol hike and an announcement that the cost of meat was going up by 15%. A half per cent interest rate increase may not sound like much, but for those South Africans who have a bond of one million rand or more, it will have a significant impact on their budget, especially if added to that is a car loan and credit cards. For years, financial experts have been telling consumers to take advantage of low interest rates to pay off debt but the advice has gone unheeded. We are still as credit-hungry as ever – spending as much as 76% of our income on debt repayment. A hefty chunk of this debt goes to financing entertainment and gadgets, not wealth-building assets like property and/or education.
