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‘Don’t be a skhothane with your end-of-year bonus’

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The Insurer Old Mutual is warning consumers against reckless spending ahead of the Christmas shopping season. It’s that time of the year when many consumers are getting a 13th cheque from their employers and it’s also the most tempting time to use their hard earned cash on a spending spree.

The head of Financial Education at Old Mutual, John Manyike, has urged consumers to have a stringent budget for the festive season.

“Don’t allow you to turn you into a skhothane where you just spending this money because of the excitement that you’ve got more money than you are normally used to. It’s very important that you don’t get carried away simply because there’s additional bonus boasting to others about whatever money that you have.”

Manyike, has advised consumers to allocate a portion of their bonus towards an emergency fund for stressful and unexpected events. He’s added that the festive season is the best time for parents to buy full school uniforms for their children.

“For those with children its wise thing to actually start buying stationary and possibly uniform during the festive season before Jan so that when schools reopens you know that you’re covered. The worst thing that could happen is to fill up your boot with lots of alcohol and only to find that children are not ready to go to school because you were not ready as a parent. If you’re still not sure what else to do with your money start an emergency fund. You know there are a lot of people that literally live from hand to mouth. If you didn’t get paid for one month for a valid reason, the question is how long can you survive. Many South Africans don’t have an emergency fund.”

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