HOW did you ever live without a 12 megapixel camera? Without a 25% brighter screen? You don’t just want it, you need it right? And you’ll happily pay the extra R399 a month to get it.
In a world of instant gratification, easy access to credit and sky high credit limits, this is a common scenario.
Most of us don’t stop to ask if we really can afford it. Or have a good enough grasp of our finances to know if we have a few extra bucks to get a better phone.
Through its Finance Budget Week launched recently, Sanlam wants to help more Mzansi people to start budgeting. The initiative uses a range of tools, including simple budgeting steps, in partnership with comedian Tumi Morake, to help people take charge of their finances.
Sanlam’s head of savings, Trurman Zuma, said: “People are aware of budgeting as every business, every school, church, shop and NGO has a budget.
“But we just don’t seem to want to do it.”
He said a budget is the first step to a financial plan.
“There is a common perception that the rich earn a huge amount of money. But in fact, their financial success is often down to clever money management,” he said.
Why don’t we budget?
“We’re afraid when we start to budget we’ll get a big shock. We’ll realise just how far outside our means we have been living in an environment where access to credit is so easy,” said Zuma.
