The latest Sanlam Benchmark research reveals that most middle-high earning South Africans are under financial stress.<\/p>\n
The survey\u00a0\u2013 which covered\u00a01,317 well-educated professionals, with more than 80% earning more than R200,000 per annum\u00a0 – found that 72.77% of respondents experience financial stress.<\/p>\n
The biggest sources of their stress related to short term debt obligations such as car payments, credit cards, personal loans, while not having enough for unanticipated emergencies was also a big concern.<\/p>\n
Source of financial stress<\/strong><\/p>\n “Saving for retirement as an explicit goal ranks as the sixth most pressing financial stressor among middle class South Africans. If we want to improve outcomes, we need to do so with the knowledge that it is not a \u2018top of mind\u2019 financial concern for most people,” Sanlam Employee Benefits CEO Dawie de Villiers.<\/p>\n Additional findings of the 2017 Sanlam Benchmark research include:<\/p>\n De Villiers believes evolving into a more customer-centric, well priced and efficient industry is within reach. \u201cA number of factors are counting in our favour. Technology has transformed so many aspects of the financial services industry, and it has begun to happen in the retirement space too.<\/p>\n “For instance, the impact of the Sanlam Retirement App on bridging the gap between the fund and the member is immense.\u00a0 Technology can go a long way to speaking to the growing number of millennials in the workforce. We need to speak their language and offer them a way of tracking their retirement that works for them and that may influence more of them to preserve.”<\/p>\n\n
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