Parents are plunging into debt, taking two-pot retirement savings to fund matric dances

John Maytham speaks to News24's Money Maven, Maya Fisher-French.

Listen below.

In Fisher-French's latest article in News24, she explains that parents are going into debt to satisfy their kids' matric dance desires. 

"I think there's this pressure that some kids and parents are feeling about what other people are spending.

"I wonder if they know the extent to which this spending is happening in debt; that people are actually borrowing money for the flashy cars,' explains Fisher-French.

Fischer-French did a survey and discovered that more than 50% of people who responded said they spend more than R10 000 on matric dances with many using credit cards to fund the day.

"... a woman admitting to me that she had withdrawn R30 000 from her two-pot to pay for her daughter's matric dance... someone defaulted on their mortgage because they needed money for their son's matric dance..."

- Maya Fisher-French

"It seems very clear to me that parents are prepared to take on significant amount of debt for this particular day."

- Maya Fisher-French

Fisher-French says this has shown two things:

1) We're incapable of planning. Parents know children will matriculate so should we not get better at planning for it?

2) What happens in January if the child goes to tertiary education? Where will the money come from if most parents cannot afford a matric dance?

But mostly, for Fisher-French, matric ball debt says a lot about priorities. 

"For me, it raises a lot of questions around priorities and what we're spending our money on and what we're prepared to take debt for."

- Maya Fisher-French

Fisher-French hopes that people start planning and having conversations around matric ball spending.

"You know it's coming, start planning for it..."

- Maya Fisher-French

Fischer-French says some questions around planning for matric balls might include asking:

• What's the budget?
• How much are we prepared to spend on it?
• How will you get to a point as a family to prioritise how you can pay for this without going into debt?

"I don't know if these conversations are happening... I'm not telling you how much you should spend on the matric dance. I'm saying, you have time to plan for it, and have time to make sure you can afford it."

- Maya Fisher-French

Scroll up to the audio player to listen to the interview.