What is financial literacy?
The OECD defines financial literacy as a “combination of financial awareness, knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviours necessary to make sound financial decisions and ultimately achieve individual financial wellbeing”.
Many adults lack an understanding of financial concepts and basic financial skills, making it difficult for them to make sound financial decisions. Underdeveloped financial literacy directly affects people’s ability to manage their money and understand how to spend, save, borrow and invest.
More needs to be done to help ordinary South Africans understand money and make better financial decisions.
Why is financial literacy important?
Financial literacy is essential because it empowers people to make informed decisions about managing their money, leading to greater financial security. It helps them avoid costly mistakes, falling victim to fraud, or accumulating unsustainable debt, for example.
Being financially literate is a prerequisite for achieving your goals and being meaningfully included in the economy. In particular, it provides underserved populations – low-income households, women, and rural communities – with access to formal financial systems, enabling them to secure credit, protect their assets, and build wealth.
Financial literacy is essential to building a strong middle class, the cornerstone of financial stability and upward mobility in any country. It also helps to boost entrepreneurship and contribute to economic growth.
Interventions that are making a difference
Although South Africa performs poorly on financial literacy, the government, regulators, companies, and nonprofits are taking steps to address this.
- The Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA)’s MyMoney Learning Series offers free courses across five themes: Financially Smart, Financial Safeguard, Financial Protection, Financial Knowledge, and Business Finance. It is available as an e-learning component on the FSCA’s consumer website.
- Capitec’s MoneyUp Academy (previously the Live Better Academy) focuses on teaching South Africans how to invest, reach certain financial goals, and achieve financial freedom. There are a variety of free short courses on offer. Capitec has taken steps to help close the literacy gap and foster financial inclusion in South Africa.
- Old Mutual offers a variety of online educational resources to help South Africans, such as its Moneyversity courses and its On the Money programme.
- Momentum Metropolitan is developing the next phase of its flagship programme Motheo Financial Dialogues, Motheo 2.0, which will be offered to higher learning institutions, work readiness programmes, and young people entering the world of work. The programme will be implemented in three phases over three years into the 2026 financial year to support the company’s consumer financial education strategy.
- Standard Bank’s WalletWise is a financial education initiative that improves financial outcomes among participants. It provides information and tips on a variety of topics, including credit health, insurance, bank accounts, saving and investing, and more.
- Money School aims to educate young South Africans about finance by delivering financial literacy content to grade 11 and 12 learners at schools in quintiles 1-3 nationwide. The virtual learning platform livestreams interactive lessons to a learner base of more than 45 schools throughout the country. The nine-week programmes, currently sponsored by Satrix, focus on basic financial skills and concepts of investing, as well as budgeting, saving, and debt management.
- Avo Vision empowers small, medium and micro enterprises to develop sustainably. As part of its efforts, it offers financial literacy training and webinars to upskill entrepreneurs and employees. It has partnered with companies such as Absa, Woolworths, Hollard, Momentum Metropolitan, Unilever, Sanlam, Standard Bank, Santa, the De Beers Group, African Bank, Nedbank and more to provide individuals with the knowledge, skills and confidence they need to make informed financial decisions.
- Nonprofit organisation FunDZA Literacy Trust’s ‘What’s your story?’ is a free resource of stories about the fictional Majola family, which helps readers gain insights into financial literacy concepts. It has collaborated with the Momentum Metropolitan Foundation to focus on basic financial literacy and entrepreneurship.
- TCB is a non-profit social enterprise that empowers unemployed South Africans and their families through small business opportunities, mostly within the circular economy. It runs a full-day training/coaching programme, Me and My Money – My Journey to Financial Freedom – to empower individuals with the mindset and skills they need to become financially literate. In-person training is available in Gauteng, Cape Town, Paarl, Durban and East London, with online training options also available.
- The Money School – the exclusive financial education provider for The Truth About Money, holds financial literacy courses at Boston City Campuses throughout South Africa. This partnership with 1Life aims to provide financial literacy education to the broader South African public by launching the 1Life trust. The Money School also provides financial literacy training to company employees and customers.
- MoneyTime SA offers online financial literacy programmes for South African children aged 10 to 14. The course helps young adults manage their money.
