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SIMON BROWN: I’m talking with Sarah Nicholson, head of customer experience at JustMoney. Sarah, I always appreciate the time. Stokvels – intuitively we know what they are. They are sort of savings groupings. We get a sense that there are a lot of them. Do we have any sort of data which tells us how many stokvel members there are, how much money is involved?
SARAH NICHOLSON: You are spot on. Stockvels operate on the principle of a collective benefit. Members contribute regularly. So they definitely are not on the fringes of society. There are about 800 000 of these community-based deposit-taking clubs nationwide.
They have assets of about R50 million [R50 billion, corrected below] that exist and there are more than 11 million South Africans who actually take part in at least one stokvel. So there are some big numbers there.
Read: Stokvels are becoming one of SA’s most powerful financial systems
SIMON BROWN: That is giant. I knew it was big, but you said R50 million – million or billion?
SARAH NICHOLSON: Sorry, R50 billion. You’re spot on. R50 billion.
SIMON BROWN: That is giant. And they come in different flavours. I was once on a birthday one. So it was your birthday month that you got paid. There are holidays, there are savings. They are sort of unique ‘fit for purpose’.
SARAH NICHOLSON: Absolutely. That’s what’s so great about them. I mean, it’s important. If this is something that you’re looking to do, you have actually got to be quite clear on what you want because you can get a stokvel that’s there for school fees, for uniforms and an emergency fund, for funeral plans, for unexpected costs.
So there are a lot of different options available there. And it’s actually fairly easy to start one yourself as well.
A number of banks actually offer you the capability to do that, and there are various platforms that do that as well.
So it is great way to save money. And it is, as we can see with those numbers, definitely something that one can explore, especially considering the savings culture that we have in South Africa and the fact that people struggle to save.
Read:
Stokvel deposits soar to R13.3bn, says FNB
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SIMON BROWN: Yes. Absolutely. I want to come to processes, bank accounts and the like. Before we do, I imagine not all are created equal. What separates a good from a less good? What are perhaps red flags if you’re looking to join, rather than perhaps set one up that listeners should worry about?
SARAH NICHOLSON: I’m so glad you asked. There are a number of things that you need to be aware of.
First, if this is something you’re looking at, just be super clear on what you need it for, because there are so many options out there. One of the things you’ll see with stokvels is that a lot of them are established through friends, family, community networks – and there can be things like family and societal pressure to force you into something like this.
If it does not meet your goals and you cannot afford it, avoid it. Don’t do it. So that’s one thing. Avoid the social pressure.
Two, you want to double-check for good governance. So a well-run stokvel should have some form of constitution or rules that you can access. There needs to be defined leadership. You need to know that there is a chairperson and a treasurer and there must be proper record keeping.
You need to be able to see what is happening with your money, and you want to see regular reporting.
Then watch out for scams. We’ve spoken about scams before. It is very, very important to understand that anything that is promising more than is possible is usually a scam.
So if there are unusually high returns or there’s a lot of pressure to join, and they’re unwilling to answer any questions or provide you with the rules and engagement requirements, then it is something to watch out for.
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SIMON BROWN: I was on a birthday one once. We had 12 people, each with a different birthday month, and all that happened is that on your birthday everyone gave you their money, so there wasn’t even a return per se. It was just R100 out every month, and then on your birthday R1200 in.
I like the idea around bank accounts. Back in the day – and we’re going way back in the day, probably 20 years ago, it was probably quite difficult. But, as I understand, you mentioned banks coming to the party. You even mentioned sort of platforms and apps that are helping with this whole process.
SARAH NICHOLSON: They are. What’s quite interesting is that 7.3 million South African adults remain unbanked. What that means is that a lot of the banks are competing for that market. And, because Stokvels are quite popular, they then offer that as a service that you can take.
I’ve seen it with Standard Bank, Absa and FNB. They’ll offer you a decent interest rate that you can access. You can create one through them. What’s great is you obviously get additional banking features like zero monthly fees. You’ll get really good competitive rates.
You also get the benefit of built-in security and requiring multiple signatories for payouts. So the security of this and the side benefits of this are great if it is an institution that you trust.
Of course, there is the realisation that about half of those seven million actually don’t necessarily trust the banks, and they save cash. So yes again, it’s up to you. You make a decision based on that.
Read:
‘Big banks target SA’s informal stokvel’s cash
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SIMON BROWN: Yes. The cash part slightly spooks me. But I take your point. There are some people who just aren’t in the formal banking system and absolutely don’t want to be in it.
The other point of it is we’re talking around here very much as sort of more of a cash savings type of process. I imagine if people wanted to get more advanced, they could almost do it as an investment sort of process/stokvel as well, buying some ETFs or something every month.
SARAH NICHOLSON: Yes, definitely. There are actually a couple of stokvels that are based on investment and actually helping you with that. So you’ve got to look what is available, do some research. There are quite a few that are available within South Africa, and you can certainly find something that needs your needs at a rate that you can actually afford.
It is a good way to use the collective of the community and additional funds to get more from what you are putting in.
Read:
To save or invest: Understanding the difference between stokvels and investing
Generational wealth – Part 19: Have you ever considered a ‘family bank’?
SIMON BROWN: Yes, and it’s that pooling of the knowledge. If folks are saying, ‘How do you find them?’ ask your friends, ask around at work, ask your family. At your place of worship you’ll probably find dozens of them that you weren’t aware we’re happening.
We’ll leave it there. Sarah Nicholson, head of customer experience at JustMoney, appreciate the time.
#faces #stokvels