DebtSafe urges children to be credit savvy

By: DebtSafe
 
PRETORIA, South Africa - June 8, 2015 - PRLog -- “If our parents taught us healthy spending and saving habits when we were children, we would all be pretty well off…”

Management at DebtSafe (http://pr.debtsafe.co.za/), a specialist debt review company, advises parents to teach their children from a young age to be “money savvy”.

The company has been voted South Africa’s favourite debt review company by the South African public at the 2014 Debt Review Awards, and leverages their extensive knowledge of the debt review process to find solutions for over-indebted individuals so that they may also enjoy a life free from the stresses of debt.

Wikus Olivier, debt management expert at DebtSafe, recommends a few vital principles to help parents teach their children about money. “The most important principle is to educate yourself. You as the parent need to know how to budget, cut expenses and reduce debt,” says Olivier.

He advises the parent to be a good example, because children follow their parents’ actions. “Children also want to see how something works, therefore you have to show them to set up a budget and let them allocate their pocket money. Give them control of their spending money, because that will teach them to take responsibility. When they learn this skill when they are young, they learn that money doesn’t grow from trees. It has to be earned.”

Olivier emphasizes the importance of reducing spending on unnecessary goods, especially after the results of a National Debt Survey, which DebtSafe ran during the first three months of 2015 on the company’s social media platforms. An astounding 41% of respondents indicated that they do not save and always over-spend on their credit cards.

“Another terrifying result from the survey showed that 67% of the participants do not have an emergency savings buffer, and will have to resort to other means in order to deal with a crisis. Ideally you need enough savings to cover your expenditures for 6 months, but unfortunately people make use of loans or credit cards to see them through an emergency period,” says Olivier.

He concludes by warning the youth to not overspend on their budgets. People take out personal loans too easily just to fund a certain lifestyle.

“My advice for young adults is to empower and protect themselves from the dire impact of debt,” Olivier adds.

Side bar:

More Tips on how to teach your child to be Money Savvy


·       Practice what you preach – Children learn more by you setting a good example for them to follow.

·       Take it slowly – You have a lot of time, so set up lessons early on and reaffirm them throughout their lives.

·       Keep it fun – Show your children that they can be confident with money without fear

·       Pre-School - Give them a set amount of pocket money with which they can buy treats.

·       Teach them to save – make a piggy bank / moneybox where they can put money away for the bicycle or doll or computer game they have their eyes on.

·       Primary School - Introduce more items they need to budget for to teach them to think forward into the month of what expenses they will need to purchase like birthday presents for friends, toys or movies.

·       Let your child borrow money from you. They have to pay you back with interest so that they realise when they owe money, interest has to be included in the amount they owe.

·       Help them set up a neighborhood car wash, or a nail bar and paint all the moms’ nails in the street.

·       High School - Take them to the bank and start an investment for them. Let them invest some of their savings to add to monthly over their high school career. They can use this to put a down payment on a car when they turn 18.

·       Add in more items to budget for such as cell phone and data bundle costs.

·       University – Let them take responsibility of budgeting and paying their way. Help them formulate a budget for university fees, books, rent and anything else they need to pay for. Give them the budgeted amount and check in with them on how they are finding the challenge. Give yourself access to all the account statements so that you can counsel them with their spending.

Contact
Liza du Plessis
***@debtsafe.co.za
End
Source:DebtSafe
Email:***@debtsafe.co.za
Tags:Debt Management, Save
Industry:Consumer, Financial
Location:Pretoria - Gauteng - South Africa
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