Story

By Gugulethu Petela
Sanlam
Working with prison officials is always a great experience, their discipline and attention spans make facilitation enjoyable. Prison officials much like every other South African have problems handling money, along with many fears and preconceived ideas on how best to handle it. So it was my task to alley those fears and change those preconceived ideas. I had 8 sessions with prison officials across the Western Cape, from rural towns to major centers. We covered Retirement (Aging gracefully) and Funerals (Funding a funeral). The topic that opened the most eyes was that of pensions and early withdrawals (Sizwe and Lucas), especially considering that the Government Pension Fund will be giving it's members an opportunity to withdraw a percentage of their pensions before hand. Participants were dumbstruck by the opportunity cost of an early withdrawal, some even swearing to not even go near their pensions. I also slipped in a bit of budgeting in these sessions because of its importance, 50/30/20 rule specifically. It was so well taken that one lady even came up to me during the break and asked me to help her through conceptualizing her budget, I remember the warm smile she gave once she had understood what she was meant to do. The training was well received across all centers, so much so that I was requested to return by all of them.