Financial pressure and mental health: Insights from the 2025 Cumulate Financial Resilience Index

The 2025 Cumulate Financial Resilience Index released on Wednesday indicates that money-related pressure has impacted the mental health of South African consumers.

The Index polling of  6 800 South Africans with healthy income levels indicated  that 29% say money-related pressure has harmed their mental health— impacting their relationships at home, sleep, productivity at work and overall well-being.

• 42% are constantly worried about money; delaying corrective action and relying on short-term fixes that only deepen long-term problems.
• Only 25% feel confident about investing or building wealth. Without that confidence, extra money tends to get spent rather than grown, reinforcing the belief that financial independence is out of reach. Over time, this mindset becomes deeply self-defeating.

Gary Kayle, the CEO of Worth, Cumulate’s flagship financial education brand, said that as the country joins the world in observing International Stress Awareness Day on November 5, their benchmark report shows that money stress can be measured, managed, and meaningfully reduced. "It's time to turn financial fatigue into resilience and renewed control for good.”

Kayle added that Financial Stress Syndrome is not a medical condition; it is a financial behavioural insight. “Unlike traditional financial indicators, it refers to the human side of financial health, the behavioural symptoms that surface when financial pressure mounts. We talk about money problems extending beyond budgets, starting to affect mental health, focus, as well as personal and work relationships. It can become systemic and addressing this requires practical money management and emotional recovery.”

Kayle described the condition as “middle-class poverty” – affecting typical aspirational South Africans, who earn good money and are well educated, yet find themselves financially on their knees. “When Financial Stress Syndrome is elevated, it indicates chronic financial fatigue and consumers who are emotionally overwhelmed.Measuring the human cost of financial instability, Cumulate developed a rating system analysing the financial behaviour of 6,800 clients who recently completed Worth’s behavioural improvement programme.”

Hayley Parry, Worth’s Head of Education, said the 2025 findings serve as a benchmark and will be updated annually as the cohort grows, providing valuable comparative data to tailor practical, evidence-based solutions. The data establishes two key diagnostic measures:

• Financial Health Score (FHS) – assessing financial control through budgeting, saving, and risk protection.
• Financial Stress Syndrome (FSS) – capturing behavioural strain such as avoidance, fatigue, and decision paralysis.

Parry added that together, these provide a full picture of customer well-being and financial readiness to act. “Financial strain often stems from a lack of money management skills, confidence, and clarity. The result is elevated levels of indebtedness, overspending and no personal bandwidth to tackle financial relationships at home. While that sounds daunting, the good news is that these are the very conditions most responsive to financial behavioural coaching.”

Parry said by measuring and addressing FSS, Worth’s programmes help people rebuild control and confidence. “Emotional recovery, not just financial literacy, is what unlocks lasting financial progress. The biggest barrier to financial improvement is not capability; it is fatigue.”

Parry added that most people have never learned or acquired money management skills and don’t understand that it is a learned behaviour that can be improved with knowledge and consistency over time; not unlike improving one’s physical fitness. “Reducing FSS restores the behavioural foundation for sustainable wealth-building.”

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