Exploring South African’s Financial Behaviours
Designing Trust-Led Savings and Investment Systems for Real-World Financial Behaviour
Project Scope
National financial behaviour research and human-centred product design to inform the development of an accessible, intuitive savings and investment solution for underserved South African markets.
Outcome
A research-driven product concept grounded in real financial behaviours, mental models, and constraints, translating complex socio-economic insights into clear design principles, user journeys, and a validated savings and investment framework.
Role
Lead Researcher & Experience Strategist
The Challenge
South Africa’s savings and investment landscape is characterised by deep inequality, income volatility, and low trust in formal financial systems. While the demand to save and build financial security exists across generations, participation in investment products remains limited and uneven.
The challenge was not awareness, but alignment. Individuals prioritised immediate security, family responsibility, and low-risk choices, while existing financial products assumed stable income, financial literacy, and long-term surplus. Fear of hidden fees, scams, and inaccessible language further excluded large segments of the population.
The central question became: how do you design a savings and investment experience that aligns with real financial behaviour, cultural context, and varying income realities, without reinforcing exclusionary financial norms?
The Approach
I led a mixed-methods research and design process to translate behavioural insight into product direction, working across research, strategy, and early-stage experience design.
Financial Behaviour & Insight Analysis
Conducted a comprehensive literature review, competitor analysis, in-depth interviews, focus groups, and a large-scale quantitative survey spanning multiple age groups and income bands.
Behaviour-Led Experience Architecture
Synthesised insights into clear mental models, behavioural drivers, and barriers, reframing savings and investment as security-first, goal-based, and trust-led rather than purely growth-oriented.
Concept & Experience Design
Facilitated design-principles workshops, customer journey mapping, and task-flow development to translate research findings into a coherent product concept aligned with user realities and motivations.
Validation & Iteration
Developed paper prototypes and validated concepts with real users, refining the experience to improve clarity, accessibility, and perceived safety before technical build considerations.
Feasibility & Strategic Alignment
Assessed technical feasibility and market viability to ensure the proposed solution could scale within the South African context while remaining culturally grounded and financially inclusive.
A behaviour-led savings and investment framework grounded in real mental models, income realities, and cultural norms, shifting the focus from abstract wealth growth to security, family responsibility, and achievable goals.
A goal-based approach to saving and investing that allows users to start small, save for immediate and long-term needs, and build confidence before transitioning into more complex financial products.
A product concept designed to reduce fear and mistrust by emphasising transparency, low perceived risk, clear language, and visible value at every stage of the financial journey.
A modular experience architecture that supports different entry points such as savings-only, shared savings, individual goals, or investment exploration without forcing users into rigid financial pathways.
A research-validated foundation for a scalable digital product that aligns user needs with institutional requirements, enabling future integration with formal financial systems while remaining accessible to underserved markets.
The Evidence
Research Design
This comprehensive research study delved into the intricacies of financial behaviors and attitudes across generations. Employing a multifaceted approach, it encompassed qualitative methods such as 22 in-depth interviews with participants aged 18-69 and a focus group featuring 7 children aged 8 to 12. In addition, a quantitative survey reached 1000 individuals ranging from 8 to 85 years old.A key aspect of this research was the exploration of disparities based on employment status and income ranges, providing a nuanced understanding of financial dynamics.
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Data Analysis
Using cross-analysis and segmentation, I examined how people allocate wealth, where they save, and which financial products they trust, identifying the underlying motivations, trade-offs, and cultural logics shaping financial behaviour. Particular attention was paid to community-based saving mechanisms, family-centred decision-making, and risk perceptions, which consistently emerged as stronger drivers than formal financial advice or long-term investment incentives.
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Concept Design
This concept translated behavioural insights into an early-stage experience that reimagines how people enter and engage with saving and investing. The wireframes explore flexible goal-setting, contribution options, and social saving flows, reflecting real financial behaviours observed during the research. The outcome is a concept that prioritises clarity, choice, and psychological safety, laying the foundation for an accessible and trust-led savings and investment product.
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The Impact
Individuals Reached
+1,000
Behavioural Patterns Identified
10+
Community Saving Models Surfaced
3
Experience Pathways Designed
2
Personal Reflection
Designing for Financial Dignity
This project reinforced for me that financial exclusion is rarely about a lack of willingness to save or invest and more often about systems that do not reflect people’s lived realities. The research highlighted how family responsibility, income volatility, and trust shape financial behaviour in ways that traditional products often ignore.
Designing the concept required shifting away from idealised assumptions and towards empathy, humility, and realism, creating entry points that allow people to participate without pressure or fear. It reaffirmed my belief that in financial systems, good design is not only about efficiency, but about dignity, agency, and trust.
