Transform end-of-year spending into an investment starting line for the future

Every December, South Africa shifts into financial high gear, as more money moves through household accounts in a few weeks than at any other time of the year.

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PayInc data shows that holiday-period transactions run into the tens of billions of rand in this one busy, sales-filled month, with cash payment alone in December 2024 reaching over R87 billion.

Despite this rush of money movement, very little of it ends up being saved for the future. According to Sisa Nkatu, Head: Retail Investment at Nedbank, that’s an unfortunate reality, given that the average household savings rate in South Africa is close to zero.

"We have normalised a pattern where December is all about spending first and thinking about the future later," says Nkatu, "but the problem is that 'later' keeps moving out, and the cost of catching up keeps rising."