By Staff Reporter
WINDHOEK – Namibians are considered to lack a savings culture, with the excuse that life has become expensive and they, therefore, do not have enough money left after all deductions are made to put away something for a rainy day.
Financial experts will often advise you to start saving with whatever little you have, but it seems to be difficult for many Namibians to even put away N$50 every month. Most would rather spend the N$50 on something they don’t need.
Saving as a group could help with the problem of a saving commitment and discipline, as the pressure from your saving peers will force you to commit to put money away.
Bank Windhoek for instance offers a bank account that allows a group of people to deposit their money together in one saving account, to save collectively towards a common goal. This account is called a GroupSave.
According to the bank the GroupSave account is meant for friends, sport teams, social clubs, families, stokvels and other groups that want to save towards a common goal.
“The common goal can either be to save for a rainy day to cover the costs of funeral services, medical expenses, unforeseen events, weddings and birthday celebrations or simply to save and invest. Some can also take the form of the traditional South African concept of stokvels, where members make regular monthly deposits into the savings account and take turns in receiving a one-off lump sum to use however they wish,” said Bokkie Cloete, Manager: Business Development (Traditional Banking Channels) at Bank Windhoek.
Bank Windhoek’s GroupSave account has a minimum opening deposit of N$100, whereafter a monthly deposit of at least N$100 must be paid to a maximum of N$60 000 per year.
Cloete explained that the account is affordable as there are no monthly service fees and no deposit fees.
Over-the-counter withdrawals are done at a reduced charge, while balance enquiries within the bank are free of charge.
“Members also get to enjoy above average interest on their savings, enabling their funds to grow faster,” Bokkie said.