Three out of every four South Africans are financially stressed, up from last year, with women in particular confessing to the consequences of financial stress at home, work, and on their health.
Lower-income individuals are the most anxious, whereas those with higher incomes have high amounts of unsustainable debt.
These constitute a few of the results from DebtBusters’ second annual Money Stress Tracker, a study of how financial stress impacts other parts of South Africans’ life.
The online 2023 poll had over 35,000 responses from South African customers who are not already in debt counselling.
Seventy-eight percent of respondents who said they are stressed about money (up from 70% in 2022) stated it is damaging their personal life, 78% their professional life, and 77% their health — a strong sign that money stress leads to other sorts of stress.
Sixty-two percent of the middle class have unsustainable debt levels. “There’s more month than money,” said one of the participants.
The biggest concern of half of those polled, was running out of money before the end of the month.
Since 2022, there has been a 22% increase in the number of people concerned about their ability to make monthly debt repayments.
Overall, 70% of respondents spent more than 30% of their after-tax income on debt repayment, however, the poll indicated that individuals earning more than R20,000 per month had the highest debt payback burden.
Sixty-two percent of respondents earning more than R20,000 had unsustainable debt levels. This income bracket represents the backbone of South Africa's middle-class people.
“We advise consumers not to use more than 30% of their take-home pay on debt repayments. Sixty-two percent of respondents in the two highest income bands we surveyed are spending between 40% or more of their income on service debt.
“This is simply too much, especially in a high-interest, high-inflation environment,” said Benay Sager, the head of DebtBusters.
The study also found that four out of five women suffer financial stress. In comparison to 2022, both men and women are 10% to 15% more concerned about their finances, job, home, and health.
Four out of five female respondents reported financial difficulty. In comparison to 2022, both men and women are 10% to 15% more concerned about their finances, job, home, and health. Four out of five women respondents reported financial difficulty.
Diane Salters, a psychotherapist and transactional analyst, noted that a larger proportion of women than men report elevated stress levels, for two reasons.
“Women are often carrying more of the burden of family care and responsibility than men. Secondly, women are more likely to admit to feeling stressed than men and reach out for help.
“Social conditioning often stops men from admitting they need help. Worldwide, women are more likely to use health services and social programmes. This is good because it means that women are more likely to get and use any help available,” she said.
IOL