Almost a third of working SAns report high to extreme financial stress, but it's fewer than last year

Stephen Grootes finds out more from Lizzy Mogale, Nedbank's Managing Executive for Insights and Advisory.

Working South Africans are making progress along their financial health journey despite immense financial pressures, says Nedbank.

It's released the second NedFinHealth Monitor Report, which reports the findings for 2024 after surveying over 1 500 people between the ages of 18 and 65, using the Marketing All Product Survey (MAPS) as a benchmark.

The report monitors and tracks financial health using 8 indicators grouped into 4 key categories: spend, save, borrow and plan.

Results show a 7 percentage-point decline in the number of working South Africans reporting high to extreme financial stress compared to 2023, to 32%.

It was also found that an improvement in financial health contributed to a rise in mental health, which increased by 2.8% points to 64.7%.

Lizzy Mogale, Nedbank's Managing Executive for Insights and Advisory, describes the 2024 Report as 'a study of two halves', with progress seen in some areas and slight regression in others.

"In terms of being forward looking, South Africans are showing that they have more confidence in achieving their long term goals - that increased by 5.6%."

"A lot of people are starting to look at their credit score and what needs to be done to be able to improve that. We also see the improvement in the appropriateness of  insurance cover."

Lizzy Mogale, Managing Executive: Insights & Advisory - Nedbank 

One area where a bit of a challenge was picked up, is that more South Africans are starting to use credit to pay for day-to-day expenses, Mogale says.

Spending in relation to income has increased slightly by 0.7%, and there's an increased tendency to delay paying bills, but for a constructive reason.

"We think South Africans are starting to trade off between paying bills and saving for emergencies. We're seeing more starting to save for emergencies, which we think probably is the impact of COVID, where people were caught off-guard without any savings."

Lizzy Mogale, Managing Executive: Insights & Advisory - Nedbank 

Listen to the conversation in the interview audio, and click here to read the full report