Mlinjana Financial Group

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Mlinjana Financial Group Helping working South Africans get out of debt. Education, not financial advice.

Sometimes we stay stuck in debt simply because we've never taken the time to write it all down. Not some of it. All of i...
15/10/2026

Sometimes we stay stuck in debt simply because we've never taken the time to write it all down. Not some of it. All of it. The debts we're paying, and the ones we're not paying but quietly avoiding.

When I did my list, there were six creditors on it. Every one went on the page.

Where to look: debit orders on your statement, store cards in your wallet, your cellphone contract, that old loan, the account a family member opened. Paying nothing on it? It still goes on the list.

Don't guess. Don't do it when you're exhausted. Make tea. Treat it like admin, not a trial.

What's easiest to leave off a list like this? Tell us in the comments. Never your numbers.

Education, not financial advice.

In 2023 I was a floor supervisor. In late 2024 I was promoted to production manager.A lot of people expect a promotion t...
14/10/2026

In 2023 I was a floor supervisor. In late 2024 I was promoted to production manager.

A lot of people expect a promotion to be the end of the money story.
Mine wasn't.

When the promotion came, I was still in the middle of paying off what I owed. A new title doesn't make a single balance smaller.

So here's what the promotion changed with money, and what it didn't.

What changed:
I earned more, which meant I could put more money towards my debts.

What didn't change:
My lifestyle. I couldn't change it at all. I knew what my goal was, and a sudden change in my lifestyle would have got in the way of my plans.
And the debts were still there. But now I was putting in more money.

Today my title is shift production manager.

If your pay went up this year and the month still feels just as tight, you're not the only one.

The rest of the story is in my book, coming in the new year.

Education, not financial advice.

When your pay goes up, what's the first thing that quietly goes up with it: rent, transport, family support, or something else?

I took loans I knew were a bad idea while I was signing them.Let me be specific, because vague honesty is not honesty.Th...
07/08/2026

I took loans I knew were a bad idea while I was signing them.

Let me be specific, because vague honesty is not honesty.

The car. I live in Tembisa and worked on the other side of the city. Transport was not a luxury. But the R2,500 payment became R4,000 once insurance was added. Then fuel. Then repairs. The car that gave me mobility became the anchor pulling me under.

The personal loan. R3,636 a month, for tuition, because I had no bursary and no other way to study. That number was relentless. It did not care about the month my baby was sick. It did not care that she was born prematurely and I was driving to the hospital every day. It demanded its R3,636 regardless.

The credit card. The slow bleeder. R1,000 a month on minimums that kept the account alive but never touched what I actually owed. Month after month, paying just to stand still.

The micro loans. These were the desperate ones. I took them when every other door had closed, from lenders whose rates would embarrass a loan shark. And I knew, even as I signed, that these were not solutions. They were expensive ways of pushing the problem into next month — where it would be waiting for me, bigger.

Here is why I am telling you this in detail.
The financial advice industry loves to talk about discipline. But almost nobody explains that most bad debt is not a discipline problem at the moment it is taken on. It is a survival decision made with incomplete information, under pressure, with no better option visible.

Understanding that changed everything for me. Not because it excused anything — I still had to climb out, rand by rand, over three years. But because shame is paralysing, and I could not start climbing until I stopped hating myself for being at the bottom.

Your debt is not your character. Your plan is.
If you knew a decision was a mistake while you were making it, what would have needed to be different for you to choose otherwise?

People hear “R16,086 in monthly obligations on a R10,000 salary” and assume recklessness.Here is the actual list I wrote...
05/08/2026

People hear “R16,086 in monthly obligations on a R10,000 salary” and assume recklessness.
Here is the actual list I wrote in my notebook that night:

Second-hand car — R2,500
Car insurance — R1,500
Personal loan (my tuition) — R3,636
Credit card — R1,000
Short-term loan — R850
Short-term loan, high interest — R900
Rent — R1,400
Electricity — R300
Groceries for the family — R1,000
Baby formula and nappies — R800
Funeral cover — R1,000
Support for my mother — R900
Help for my sister — R300

Total: R16,086. Salary: R10,000.

Look at that list again and find the holiday. Find the designer clothes. Find the nights out.
There is no takeaway on it. No airtime for fun.

No small treat for my child.

There is formula for a daughter born prematurely. There is funeral cover, because where I come from you can be drowning in debt and still make sure your family will bury you with dignity. There is R900 for my mother, who had no job and lived on a government grant. There is R300 for my sister, who was earning too little to make it on her own.

Every one of those decisions was made by a man trying to keep his head above water.
This is what I want you to understand about debt in this country:

Most people are not in debt because they are reckless. They are in debt because they are drowning — and a drowning person grabs whatever they can reach.

If your list looks like mine did, you are not a failure. You are carrying more than one salary was ever built to carry.

That does not mean you are stuck. It means the way out has to start with honesty instead of shame.

Which line on your own list is the one you never talk about?

It was after eleven at night when I finally wrote down everything I owed.I had an early shift in the morning. I was tire...
03/08/2026

It was after eleven at night when I finally wrote down everything I owed.

I had an early shift in the morning. I was tired in the way that sleep does not fix. But I had been avoiding this for months, and that night I sat down at the table with a notebook and a pen and did the one thing I was most afraid to do.
Not the debts I sometimes remembered. All of them.

The car. The insurance. The personal loan. The credit card. The two small loans I took when there was nowhere else to turn. Rent. Lights. Food. Nappies and formula for my daughter, who had been born too early and who I was visiting in hospital every day.

Then I added it up.

I read the total twice, because I was certain I had made a mistake.

I was a floor supervisor at a distribution centre, earning R10,000 a month.

My obligations came to R16,086.
I was short by R6,086 every single month — before the month had even started. Before I had bought one thing that felt like living.

There is a word for that. Insolvent.

I did not know the word then. I only knew the feeling: no matter how carefully I counted, the numbers would never come out right.

That was the worst night of my financial life. It was also the most important one.
Because you cannot fix a number you refuse to look at. And the moment I could see the whole thing clearly, it stopped being a fear and became a problem. Problems can be solved.
Three years later, five of my six creditors are gone. The last one is settled in September.
It started with a notebook, a pen, and one honest hour after eleven at night.

If you have been avoiding your own total — that hour is waiting for you too.

What is the one number you have been avoiding?

Think about prepaid electricity for a moment.You buy R200 of units. You watch the number on the meter drop. So you becom...
30/07/2026

Think about prepaid electricity for a moment.

You buy R200 of units. You watch the number on the meter drop. So you become careful. You switch off the geyser. You turn off the lights in empty rooms. You unplug things.

Nobody taught you that. The meter taught you.

Now think about credit.

You swipe. Nothing happens. No number drops. No warning. It feels like the purchase cost you nothing at all.

The cost only arrives next month. And by then it has brought interest along with it.

This is the trap, and it has very little to do with being careless:

Prepaid makes you feel the cost immediately. Credit hides it until it is too late to change your mind.

So if you have ever wondered why you manage some things well but still ended up in debt — you are not bad with money. You simply could not see the price at the moment you decided to buy.

Here is the fix. Make the cost visible again:

→ Check your balance before you spend, not after. Every time.
→ Before any purchase on credit, work out what it costs with interest. That is the real price.
→ Use prepaid or debit for daily spending. Let yourself feel the money leave.
→ Keep one page with every debt on it. Look at it weekly.

You do not need more willpower. You need to see the price.

That is when the behaviour changes on its own.

What is one thing you would spend less on if you had to pay for it in cash today?

I earned R10,000 a month. I owed R16,000.That sentence used to be my secret. Now it’s my credentials.Because the strateg...
10/07/2026

I earned R10,000 a month. I owed R16,000.

That sentence used to be my secret. Now it’s my credentials.

Because the strategies I teach at Mlinjana Financial Group aren’t theories from a textbook. They’re the exact systems I used to clear five creditors while working full-time in operations — systems built for real South African salaries, real family obligations, real pressure.

Financial education in this country too often comes from people who have never felt a debit order bounce. I have. That’s precisely why I do this work.

Debt-freedom strategies I lived — not just studied.

If that’s the kind of guidance you’ve been looking for, you’re in the right place. Follow along — everything I share here comes from the road, not the mountaintop.

What’s one money lesson you learned the hard way?

Nobody taught us this in school. So let us fix that.Investing is not just for the wealthy. It is how ordinary South Afri...
09/06/2026

Nobody taught us this in school. So let us fix that.

Investing is not just for the wealthy. It is how ordinary South Africans — on ordinary salaries — build wealth slowly and deliberately over time.

Swipe through all 5 slides. Save this post. Share it with someone who needs to understand investing in plain English. 👇🏾

Please note — this carousel is for educational purposes only. It is not financial advice. For guidance specific to your own situation, always consult a registered financial advisor.

If you want to learn more about building a financial foundation before you invest — that is exactly what MFG coaches. DM us. The first conversation is always free. 🇿🇦

Your Money. Your Future. Your Plan.

08/06/2026

Nobody taught us this in school. So let us fix that.

Investing is not just for the wealthy. It is how ordinary South Africans — on ordinary salaries — build wealth slowly and deliberately over time.

Swipe through all 5 slides. Save this post. Share it with someone who needs to understand investing in plain English. 👇🏾

Please note — this carousel is for educational purposes only. It is not financial advice. For guidance specific to your own situation, always consult a registered financial advisor.

If you want to learn more about building a financial foundation before you invest — that is exactly what MFG coaches. DM us. The first conversation is always free. 🇿🇦

Your Money. Your Future. Your Plan.

Most South Africans are being denied bonds, cars, and credit — because of a number they have never once looked at.Your c...
29/05/2026

Most South Africans are being denied bonds, cars, and credit — because of a number they have never once looked at.

Your credit score is not just a number. It is the thing standing between you and the life you are working towards. It decides whether you get approved or declined. It decides the interest rate you pay. It decides how much of your salary goes to debt every month.

And most people have no idea what theirs is.

Swipe through all 5 slides. Save this post. Come back to it. Share it with someone who needs it because I promise you — someone in your circle is being hurt by a number they do not understand.

Your score is not a verdict. It is a snapshot. And snapshots change — with the right information and the right plan.

Pull your free credit report on ClearScore today. It takes 5 minutes and it costs nothing.

Your Money. Your Future. Your Plan.

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Midrand/Online
Midrand
1685

Opening Hours

Monday 09:00 - 17:00
Tuesday 09:00 - 17:00
Wednesday 09:00 - 17:00
Thursday 09:00 - 17:00
Friday 09:00 - 17:00

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