The world can be threatening and uncertain for people with high levels of debt, as they feel trapped and the future is unsure. The resulting mental and emotional pressure can show up at work as distraction, low motivation and fatigue.
All too often a dangerous feedback loop can develop, where the debt leads to financial worry, stress, poor concentration and sleep disturbances, which then result in lower productivity and poorer work performance, which add to the financial insecurity and even more stress, and so on.
Unfortunately, for too many South Africans this is their daily reality.
The Old Mutual Savings & Investment Monitor 2026 found that one in two working South Africans are “highly concerned” about their debt, an increase on the 2025 figure, while 38% of consumers have asked a creditor to make a payment arrangement.
The FinScope South Africa 2025 Consumer Survey, based on interviews with 5,600 adults across all nine provinces, found that over-indebtedness and financial vulnerability were on the increase. One of the survey’s most worrying findings is that more and more people are using credit to buy food, with increases in the price of food and other everyday essentials and rising unemployment fuelling this trend.
The South African Reserve Bank puts household debt-to-income at 62%, in other words, 62c of every rand earned goes to repay debt.
Debt has been described as using tomorrow’s money to pay for today’s needs and wants, so saving for retirement is often badly affected.
According to the Sanlam Benchmark 2024, 50% of retirement fund participants have cashed in all their retirement funds at some point, with only about 6% of South Africans on track to retire comfortably. Adding to this tenuous situation, more than 2.4-million South Africans have already withdrawn from their retirement savings since the two-pot system went live, and as much as 80% of that went to debt repayments and essential living costs.
Debt makes both the present and the future very frightening, as repayments, overdue invoices and car or house repossessions pile up, and this fear can consume workers’ attention when they should be focused on work.
“Debt rarely starts with one big mistake. More often, it starts with small gaps in someone’s financial system. There is no emergency buffer. Spending is not tracked very closely or at all. Credit gets used to cover short-term gaps. Minimum payments create a false sense of control. Over time, those small cracks become expensive,” says Alex Cook, Chief Executive Officer of fintech company Wealthbit.
“But debt not only affects someone’s bank account. It affects their ability to focus, plan, and cope at work. When employees are dealing with ongoing money stress, it can affect confidence, well-being, and performance.”
A financial system that manages daily spending and prepares for the unexpected can make all the difference, says Cook.
One such system is the Wealthbit Financial Freedom Programme, which was designed to help employees get a handle on their finances, reduce financial stress and build better money habits.
“Debt is easier to prevent when you understand the habits, blind spots and missing foundations that make it more likely in the first place. Once you can spot those patterns early, you can respond faster, reduce the damage, and start to see how to get out of debt in a practical, sustainable way,” says Cook.
