How mental focus transforms your financial future: research reveals

South Africans are juggling rising living costs, increasing debt, and constant digital noise, a combination that makes it harder to stay focused on long-term financial goals. As a result, distraction has become a major barrier to progress, often leading to short-term decisions that weaken savings, investment, and protection strategies.

 A Momentum’s 2024 BMR Household Finance Survey reveals that 70% of households rely on their own knowledge or advice from family and friends when making financial decisions. In addition, only 9% engage a professional adviser, despite evidence that households using certified financial advisers have, on average, 9.5 times more wealth than those who do not. This gap underscores how professional advice and focused decision-making translate directly into measurable financial outcomes.

 The cost of financial distraction

Distraction carries a cost to financial well-being, where divided attention leads to delayed decisions about saving, missed opportunities for tax-efficient investment, and neglect of long-term protection such as retirement or critical-illness cover. Consistent focus, by contrast, supports deliberate action, enabling individuals to align budgeting, saving, and investing with defined outcomes.

Focus starts with a single, measurable financial priority. Once the one number that matters for the next 12 months is identified, whether a debt-repayment target, a retirement contribution milestone, or a specific savings goal, every subsequent decision serves that outcome. It brings structure to financial choices and ensures that effort and intention work in the same direction.

 The pillars of financial focus

Financial focus can be strengthened through three key practices, namely prioritisation, automation, and protection.

Prioritisation means setting one clear objective for the year, such as maximising tax-deductible retirement contributions or settling high-interest debt. Concentrating on a single, quantifiable goal prevents attention from scattering across competing financial demands.

Behavioural finance research shows that investors are more disciplined when systems, such as automatic transfers into savings, retirement funds, or investment accounts, do the work for them, because these systems maintain progress even when motivation fluctuates. The Momentum Financial Advice Research study further confirms that households that use structured financial advice and automated systems achieve greater stability and asset growth.

Protection is also key because it ensures continuity, where critical-illness cover, comprehensive insurance, and appropriate tax planning safeguard progress against shocks. A single unplanned event, whether an illness, job loss, or sudden market downturn, can reverse years of effort if risk protection is ignored.

Sound, accredited financial advice acts as a timing tool. It ensures decisions align with life stage and market conditions, prevents costly detours, and keeps the plan moving at the right pace.

From distraction to focus

In South Africa, financial distraction is also influenced by social pressure and easy access to credit. Spending is frequently tied to identity and community obligations, often leading to status-driven consumption. Combined with high household debt and rising use of short-term credit, these patterns make sustained saving and wealth creation more difficult.

Maintaining focus begins with simple, practical steps. Establish a priority list that evolves with age and circumstance, such as balancing tax efficiency with debt repayment in your 30s, or capital preservation and retirement drawdown in the 50s. People should schedule quarterly adviser consultations to recalibrate goals and verify that protection measures, including critical-illness and income-protection cover, remain adequate.

Focus is a deliberate discipline that turns daily financial decisions into long-term progress. Beginning with one measurable priority, automating supportive actions and applying professional guidance creates a framework for enduring financial success.

* Mdikane is an executive of Momentum Brand.

PERSONAL FINANCE