Each year, South Africa’s Budget Speech outlines how the country plans to raise revenue, manage debt, and allocate public resources. It signals priorities and sets the tone for economic direction. Yet behind the numbers lies a deeper question about the country’s future.
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As policymakers focus on growth, infrastructure and employment, the role of financial health among young people is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore. If the next generation is expected to drive economic participation and resilience, they must be equipped to navigate money, risk and opportunity. Without this foundation, even well-intentioned fiscal plans may struggle to translate into lasting progress for South Africa’s economy.
South Africa’s official unemployment rate remains above 30%, with youth unemployment near 44%. Inflation has eased, but growth projections remain modest. These figures are not simply economic indicators; they represent the lived reality of young people attempting to enter an economy that feels increasingly complex and unforgiving.
At the same time, Africa is becoming the youngest continent in the world. By 2030, more than 60% of its population will be under the age of 25. This is a demographic turning point. It holds the promise of a powerful youth dividend — but only if that generation is equipped with the skills, resilience and confidence to participate meaningfully in economic life.
That participation begins with financial health.
From policy to personal reality
South Africa’s Budget allocates substantial resources to education, enterprise development, infrastructure and employment programmes. These investments are essential. But fiscal allocation alone does not guarantee long-term economic participation.
Financial health is what transforms policy into personal agency.
Financial health is the ability to manage day-to-day finances with confidence, to understand risk, to absorb shocks and to plan beyond the immediate. It is knowing how to evaluate credit before signing a contract. It is understanding how inflation erodes purchasing power. It is recognising how taxation supports public services. It is building savings habits before crisis forces difficult choices.
Without financial health, opportunity can quickly unravel. A graduate entering the workforce without practical money-management skills may fall into debt traps that limit mobility. A young entrepreneur with access to funding but limited financial discipline may struggle to sustain a promising venture. A citizen who cannot interpret economic policy remains disconnected from decisions that shape their livelihood.
Financial health is not a peripheral life skill. It is economic infrastructure — less visible than roads or power plants, but equally foundational to growth.
It starts earlier than we think
Critically, financial health does not begin when a young person receives their first salary. It begins much earlier.
The habits, attitudes and understanding that shape financial decision-making are formed in childhood and adolescence. Waiting until university or workforce entry is often too late. By then, financial behaviours — both healthy and harmful — are already embedded.
If we want financially healthy adults, we must nurture financially capable children.
This means introducing age-appropriate financial education early, building confidence around money conversations, and helping young people connect economic concepts to real-world choices.
When financial capability is cultivated from a young age, it compounds over time — much like investment itself. The earlier we invest in financial health, the greater the return for households, communities and the national economy.
A strategic imperative for growth
South Africa’s development agenda rightly focuses on employment creation, enterprise growth and inclusive economic expansion. But financial health underpins all three.
It strengthens education outcomes by linking learning to practical life skills. It supports decent work and sustainable entrepreneurship by preparing young people to manage income and risk responsibly. It reduces inequality by narrowing the knowledge gap that so often reinforces income disparities.
In a fiscally constrained environment, strategic investments matter. Viewing financial health education as discretionary social spending would be short-sighted. Economies thrive when citizens are confident financial actors — able to save, invest, build businesses and contribute productively to the tax base.
At JA South Africa, we see the impact of this approach first hand. Through immersive learning in entrepreneurship, work readiness, and financial health, young people do more than absorb theory — they practise decision-making. They build budgets. They test business ideas. They learn to evaluate financial trade-offs before those trade-offs carry real-world consequences.
The shift is visible. Confidence replaces hesitation. Curiosity replaces fear. Young people begin to see themselves not as spectators of the economy, but as participants within it.
From direction to capacity
The Budget sets direction. But direction without capacity leads to frustration. As we approach 2030 with the largest youth cohort in our history, the stakes could not be clearer.
Africa’s youth population will shape labour markets, consumer demand and civic participation. Whether this demographic moment becomes a dividend or a destabilising force depends on whether we build financial health at scale. This requires collective action.
Government must embed financial health more intentionally within education and youth-development frameworks. Corporates should recognise that investing in the financial wellbeing of youth strengthens future markets and workforces. Development agencies and funders must support scalable, measurable initiatives that reach underserved communities.
At JA South Africa, we are actively seeking strategic partnerships and sustained funding collaborations to expand financial health programmes nationwide. With co-ordinated public-private investment, we can reach young people earlier, deepen impact, and align youth development more directly with national economic priorities.
South Africa’s long-term prosperity will not be secured by fiscal discipline alone. It will be shaped by whether the next generation is financially healthy enough to participate fully, responsibly and confidently in the economy.
If we are serious about inclusive growth, resilience and competitiveness, then we must treat financial health as what it truly is: economic infrastructure. And infrastructure, once built, supports generations.
