Many South Africans find themselves swimming and drowning in debt because we are ignorant, lack financial acumen and are not financially disciplined.

We don't have a saving culture as we are very good at spending money yet very poor at saving it. It's very important to draft a strict budget and follow it as we live in tough economic conditions. The mistake is we all love credit. This is spending the money we don't have.

Focusing on big spends like cars and housing is good spending as it takes years to pay for such credit. Borrowing money to buy food does make sense but l wouldn't recommend it as this happens due to lack of planning and reckless spending.

l was a stupid and a reckless spender during my early working days. Despite earning a decent salary, l would find myself knocking at "mashonisa's" (loan shark's) door borrowing money after drinking it all away over the weekend as l was a party animal. l was spending more and saving not even a single cent.

Prioritise your needs over wants. Wants are things like a TV, computer games, crockery etc. Needs are things like food as we can't live without it as we need it to survive. We won't find ourselves huffing and puffing in the jaws of debt only when and if we stop competing with our friends and neighbours, trying to impress them.

Do we know "ukuthi bayithola kuphi imali?" (where they get their money from?)This leads and forces us to live phony (fake) lifestyles we just can't afford.

Let's change our attitudes and start to be moneywise and maybe our education minister could include saving money in our children's curriculum as a subject.

Let's be moneywise and save for rainy days.

McDivett Khumbulani Tshehla, Halfway House, Gauteng