Debt Counsellors Busy in their Community
The Tour De Gat
Debt Counselling Firm DebtSafe is proud to announce its sponsorship of the Limpopo DebtSafe Schools MTB Series for the second year in a row! “This mountain bike racing series has increased in popularity mainly because of mountain biking being recognized as an official sport in most of the schools in the country,” says Hein du Plessis, MD of DebtSafe.
“The ‘Tour De Gat’ in Phalaborwa will be held on 25 July 2015, and this year we are expecting more than 200 racers,” adds du Plessis.
Secondary as well as primary schools are invited to participate. Children will race around the 4km to 6km XCO course, depending on their ages. Great prizes are up for grabs and the top cyclists will represent Limpopo at the Spur National Championships in Magaliesburg later this year.
Mountain biking is ranked as one of the fastest growing sports in South Africa and Limpopo has its own series in which riders may compete to qualify for participation at national events across the country.
Du Plessis continues, “DebtSafe is passionate about promoting a healthy lifestyle as well as providing healthy competition platforms for children. When children are encouraged to be healthy and fit, they generally blossom in all aspects of their lives.”
Visit www.limpopomtb.co.za for entry and contact information.
DebtSafe was voted South Africa’s favourite debt review company by the South African public at the 2014 Debt Review Awards, and leverages their extensive knowledge of the debt review process to find solutions for over-indebted individuals so that they may also enjoy a life free from the stresses of debt.
Training Kids to deal with Finances
Wikus Olivier, debt management expert at DebtSafe, recommends a few vital principles to help parents teach their children about money. “The most important principle is to educate yourself. You as the parent need to know how to budget, cut expenses and reduce debt,” says Olivier.
He advises the parent to be a good example, because children follow their parents’ actions. “Children also want to see how something works, therefore you have to show them to set up a budget and let them allocate their pocket money. Give them control of their spending money, because that will teach them to take responsibility. When they learn this skill when they are young, they learn that money doesn’t grow from trees. It has to be earned.”
Olivier emphasizes the importance of reducing spending on unnecessary goods, especially after the results of a National Debt Survey, which DebtSafe ran during the first three months of 2015 on the company’s social media platforms. An astounding 41% of respondents indicated that they do not save and always over-spend on their credit cards.
“Another terrifying result from the survey showed that 67% of the participants do not have an emergency savings buffer, and will have to resort to other means in order to deal with a crisis. Ideally you need enough savings to cover your expenditures for 6 months, but unfortunately people make use of loans or credit cards to see them through an emergency period,” says Olivier.
He concludes by warning the youth to not overspend on their budgets. People take out personal loans too easily just to fund a certain lifestyle.
“My advice for young adults is to empower and protect themselves from the dire impact of debt,” Olivier adds.
Financial Training Tips for Parents
More Tips on how to teach your child to be Money Savvy
- Practice what you preach – Children learn more by you setting a good example for them to follow.
- Take it slowly – You have a lot of time, so set up lessons early on and reaffirm them throughout their lives.
- Keep it fun – Show your children that they can be confident with money without fear
- Pre-School – Give them a set amount of pocket money with which they can buy treats.
- Teach them to save – make a piggy bank / moneybox where they can put money away for the bicycle or doll or computer game they have their eyes on.
- Primary School – Introduce more items they need to budget for to teach them to think forward into the month of what expenses they will need to purchase like birthday presents for friends, toys or movies.
- Let your child borrow money from you. They have to pay you back with interest so that they realise when they owe money, interest has to be included in the amount they owe.
- Help them set up a neighborhood car wash, or a nail bar and paint all the moms’ nails in the street.
- High School – Take them to the bank and start an investment for them. Let them invest some of their savings to add to monthly over their high school career. They can use this to put a down payment on a car when they turn 18.