Mothers would do anything for their children, right? And it is about time to give a proper ‘thank you’ to every mom.
They can face tough financial challenges/ constraints, but still continue to try and give their children the best possible future (and life).
As most South Africans will be celebrating Mother’s Day today (14 May 2017), Zeeva – which is a debt-management programme designed for women by women – thought it best to share some statistics when it comes to finances and single mothers versus married moms.
Over 3 200 female respondents took part in Zeeva’s 2017 Smart Woman, Smart Money survey. To give an indication of the respondents: 47 per cent are single moms, 30 per cent are married moms and 22 per cent are single women. Thus over 70 per cent of the women that took part in the survey, have children.
Here are a few statistics that stood out from the rest, highlighting what mothers out there tend to do when it comes to savings and their children:
• A total of 47 per cent single mothers take care of their finances while 56 per cent of married mothers take care of their household’s finances.
• Forty-nine per cent of single mothers indicate that more than 10 per cent of their net salary is spent on their children, compared to a 54 per cent married mothers.
• Fifty-five per cent of married moms see themselves as sometimes-savers and 20 per cent as super-savers, while 49 per cent single moms are sometimes-savers and 27 per cent are super-savers.
• Although 35 per cent of single mothers say that life is too expensive to put some money away, 51 per cent of single mothers put 1–5 per cent of their salaries away for savings. And interesting enough 59 per cent of married moms specify that life is too expensive to put a huge amount of money away, but this 59 per cent also say that they do indeed put 1–5 per cent of their salaries away as savings.
• Fifty-nine per cent of single mothers say that they specifically save for their child’s/ children’s education, 26 per cent indicate that they save for a rainy day and 12 per cent tend to save for their home (a house and home-related expenditure). While 40 per cent of married moms save for their child’s/ children’s education, 36 per cent save for a rainy day and an attention-grabbing 20 per cent say they save for vacations.
INFO-GRAPHIC HERE:
Mothers also have similar debts to pay:
Single mothers’ debt
• Clothing account (49 per cent)
• Personal loan (33 per cent)
• Credit card (22 per cent)
• Cellphone (21 per cent)
Married mothers’ debt
• Clothing account (48 per cent)
• Personal loan (38 per cent)
• Cellphone (37 per cent)
• Credit card (35 per cent)
Mothers are special, save-savvy and bitter-enders. It is time to give a big shout out to all the South African mothers. Although economic times are uncertain and difficult, you still tend to put a few bucks away for your children each month.
Thank you and keep on doing what you do best – being money-wise mothers for your kids. Zeeva celebrates Mother’s Day with all the moms out there and also encourages ladies to get in contact with their team if they feel burdened with too much debt.
