Younger individuals and those with lower incomes experience the highest levels of anxiety, with women, in particular, shouldering a significant burden of financial stress.
This finding comes from the Money Stress Tracker survey conducted by DebtBusters, which gathered responses from 26,000 registered users of www.debtbusters.co.za who are not currently in debt counseling.
The survey also indicated that older individuals and those in the higher income bands are the least worried. However, they have the highest levels of unsustainable debt and are less likely to seek help.
Benay Sager, Executive Head at DebtBusters, noted that the survey indicated a slight drop in levels of financial stress over the past year.
The stress levels of respondents was 78% in 2023, which is lower than the 75% in 2024. However, this was up from 70% in 2022.
“While the data points to a marginal decline, it is still at an elevated level. The trend over the three-year period is upwards.”
The survey was conducted in June. Factors that contributed to consumers feeling slightly less stressed at the time were a significant period without load shedding and interest rates that remained unchanged for over a year.
Between 2023 and 2024, concerns about interest rate increases declined by 22% while load shedding concerns dropped from 17% to 7% over the same period.
Of the 75% people who said they felt financially stressed, 93% said that the stress has a negative impact on their home life while 76% said that it has negative impact their work life and 74% their health.
Women are 10% more stressed about finances in comparison to men, with close to four out of five women saying they suffer from financial stress. They are also 20% more stressed about health and 30% more stressed about their home life.
Some of the main money concerns people have include running out of money before the end of the month and struggling to pay off debt, which are the dominant worries.
From an age group perspective, 70% of people under 55 said that they worry about finances.
People that are 55 or older are worried about making it through the month and paying off debt but they are most anxious about retirement.
According to the survey, 68% of middle-aged consumers said they are spending more than 30% of after-tax income on debt repayments.
Of these respondents, 53% use more than 40% of their pay cheques to service debt. Generally, consumers are advised not to spend more than 30% of take-home pay on debt repayment, at most they should spend 40%.
The older people are and the more they earn, the higher their debt levels as 60% of those aged 45 and upwards have unsustainable levels of debt. The same is true of people taking home R20,000 a month and more.
“The research clearly reveals that older people with higher incomes are under the greatest debt repayment pressure, yet are most resistant to seeking help. They cite not knowing who to trust as the main reason for inaction,” Sager said.
“By contrast, 54% of younger consumers show intent in dealing with money stress although are not always sure of the options available to them. The under 35s say they are embarrassed, while the people that are 35 plus tend to procrastinate.”
According to [psychologist, Andrea Kellerman, people that are older than 55 are often more concerned about retirement than paying off monthly debt.
Kellerman said that by contrast, younger people may feel stuck.
“They may be more motivated and adaptable, and have better trust levels and financial knowledge than their parents but they face other stresses. These include limited job opportunities, higher relative start-up costs and a sense of demotivation regarding their prospects,” Kellerman said.
Sager said that the tragedy is that many people could benefit from debt counselling and other forms of debt management but they don’t seek help.
IOL Business