How financial worries can undermine your mental health

We all know how our financial worries can keep us up and night and even affect our appetite and general ability to enjoy life. This is not something to take lightly - an expert says it can also affect your mental health.

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"Financial insecurity is not only about depleted bank accounts. It chips away at psychological resilience. When people lack financial confidence, they carry an invisible burden that permeates every aspect of their wellbeing," Dr Marion Borcherds, senior manager and head of well-being at AfroCentric, a Sanlam subsidiary.

Sanlam's Age of Confidence campaign shows most South Africans will need to work until the age of 80 to retire comfortably. Borcherds said that sobering projection alone creates heavy psychological strain.

Added to this, the 2025 Sanlam Benchmark report found that 44% of households have already dipped into emergency savings simply to make ends meet, a clear sign of how fragile financial and mental resilience have become.

A recent study confirms financial resilience is associated with a 37% decrease in the occurrence of mental health disorders.

Importantly, the study also shows that this relationship is mediated by life satisfaction and household expenditure.