Convention will drive savings literacy

WHEN it comes to saving, South Africa has its back against the wall. The 2014 Finscope survey indicates that there has been an increase in the salaried adult population in 2014.

78 percent of the adult population earned an average personal monthly income of less than R2 000 in 2014, and only 44 percent of the salaried individuals have any long-term savings or retirement products. Many are in a spiral of debt compounded by unscrupulous offers of credit.

It is against this backdrop that the South African Savings Institute (SASI), an independent non-profit organisation dedicated to developing a robust culture of saving in South Africa, is aggressively pursuing fresh initiatives to drive savings literacy and educate consumers about incentives to promote savings.

SASI strategist, Gerald Mwandiambira, has announced a new initiative, aimed at promoting a savings culture.

“We are excited are hosting the inaugural SASI Savings Convention in Soweto during the annual National Savings Month in July.

“This will be an annual family day of Savings Literacy at Maponya Mall in Soweto, providing consumers with a platform from where they can receive first-hand guidance on active participation in the savings and investments arena.”

According to Mwandiambira, the SASI Savings Convention is intended to be an annual one-stop platform for productive interaction between the demand and supply side of the financial sector – consumers, practitioners, regulators and policy makers.

Follow up initiatives will include- campaigns in communities and universities which will run until September 2015.

“Saving is an integral part of financial literacy and we are concentrating on raising awareness on key concepts of money management; educating people on incentives such as the such as the new Tax Free Savings Accounts introduced in March 2015; and helping them to access resources to manage debt.”