Page 38 - Waterfall_Issue 8_2022

Waterfall Today’s Child

TEACH YOUR CHILDREN

FINANCIAL LITERACY

By Sabrina IMAGE BY ALEXANDR PODVALNY

According to SASI (the South African HOW DO WE REVERSE THIS TREND?

Savings Institute), the savings culture Over the long-term, the best way to get the population
to buy into improving our savings culture is to start with
in SA is continuing to decline. It the kids. Enhancing one’s financial well-being is, after all,
a long-term exercise, so – as any financial adviser will tell
wasn’t that healthy to begin with, but you – it’s best to start young so that budgeting and wealth

it seems that more and more people creation become an integral part of one’s life philosophy.

are living beyond their means. HOW TO GET THE KIDS TUNED IN
The old fashioned way of getting children to appreciate money
was the notion of getting them to do chores around the home
A s opposed to countries like China, where the one and then paying them for work done. But that could involve
child policy prevailed between 1980 and 2015,
a lot of nagging and effort from the parents – who may have
grown up with domestic staff, so they don’t really know much
and Japan and South Korea, where fewer couples
are opting to have children, giving rise to ageing
are a bad idea – they equip kids with life skills for other reasons
populations, South Africa has a relatively young population, about doing chores themselves. That’s not to say that chores
with an estimated 20 million people aged between 15 and too – knowing how to cook, clean, tidy up, do the laundry
34. Reports from SASI indicate that these young people – these are everyday tasks best learnt when one is young.
have little interest in saving their money. They are more
inclined to tap into the availability of credit to get what On the upside, there are other ways to get the
they want now, rather than delaying gratification until they kids more street-smart about their finances.
have enough funds to make a once-off, full payment. SASI
attributes this trend to lack of financial literacy, not only MAKE IT A GAME
amongst the youth, but in all segments of the population. One of the methods to get kids more engaged without
having to nag them is getting them involved in comparative
“We need to fundamentally stop living beyond our means shopping. You can discuss the pros and cons of bulk
and drive a savings culture to break the cycle of inter- buying vs buying a smaller quantity; retail strategies
generational debt,” says Prem Govender, Chairperson of such as 3 for 2 offers and loyalty cards that give you
the SASI Board. “With the credit culture prevailing here in discounts and ‘cash back’ at the end of a cycle; as well as
South Africa, more and more people are paying money out how much one can save by not having to pay for those
merely to cover the finance charges and interest on their plastic shopping bags – not a lot, in the bigger scheme
debt, leaving little left over as actual disposable income.” of things, admittedly, but 100 shopping bags over a

36 Waterfall Issue 8 2022