At the recent Sanlam Benchmark Survey on retirement funds, Professor Steven Burgess, director of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Business School, revealed that South Africans are the most cynical people in the world.
The research has been conducted across many countries including other emerging markets. The final research paper is still to be finalised but the figures so far are enough to give one pause.
The cause and solution for the cynicism can be debated but more importantly, what does it mean for us as a nation trying to improve savings?
If we are cynical it means we do not trust the people around us and we probably are not optimistic about our futures.
The lack of trust feeds into the idea that investment houses and the retirement industry are going to bleed us dry through fees. Many people feel more comfortable doing their own investing rather than entrusting their hard earned money with advisers. The problem is that the world of investing is so complex and there is so much on offer, most people give up and find that it is just easier to spend the money rather than invest it on their own.
It is also very difficult to convince someone who does not believe in their future that they should postpone spending today for a future that is intangible; rather spend your money today whilst you are still around to enjoy it.
An interesting study to see would be whether savings is correlated to optimism. Do positive people have higher levels of savings? One would need to understand the direction of the relationship — is it that a person is positive because they have savings or do positive people have goals and dreams they aspire to that drive them to save? I suspect the latter is true. Find me someone committed to savings and I will show you an optimist with a plan.
As individuals we need to move away from the cynicism, look at the positives in our lives and start to create a solid picture of where we want to be in 10 or 20 years’ time.
Complaining, blaming and mistrusting will make us poorer and our cynicism will become a self-fulfilling prophecy.
Read more news, blogs, tips and Q&As in our Smart Money section. Post questions on the site for independent and researched information