Court case highlights the lack of rights for spousal claims when it comes to a living annuity. UPDATE (13 May 2020): The Supreme Court of Appeal has recently overturned a previously publicised ruling that a living annuity cannot be taken into...
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Even financially sophisticated people fall for scams
About a year ago I was having coffee with an acquaintance who works in the financial industry. He is knowledgeable and well informed, so I was surprised when he told me about this amazing forex fund that he had invested in which was making him a...
Selling your car successfully
Selling your car can be a stressful experience, especially if you’re new to doing it. Follow these tips to sell your car without getting ripped off in the process. When it comes to selling a car, women in particular feel intimidated by the exercise...
Sneakers or saving?
A few weeks ago, a young man named Kuhle asked me a very simple question: “If I got a R3 000 windfall should I use it to party, to buy sneakers or to save?” My automatic, gut response is: “Save it all!” But that answer is not going to resonate with...
DebiCheck: putting an end to illegal debit orders
One of the more frequent complaints we receive from readers is around illegal debit orders. This is when bogus companies run debit orders of around R100 off people’s bank accounts in the hope that either the bank account holder won’t notice the...
The knock-on effect of our squeezed pockets
As I have been travelling away from home a fair amount this month, I filled up my car for the first time since the two price increases. I am writing this column as therapy to recover from the shock! My tank now costs me in excess of R1 000 to fill....
What kind of access bond do you have?
Access bonds have different rules so it is important to understand how yours works. Last month Standard Bank customers received notification that they could choose between two different types of access bonds. While this caused some confusion, it...
Afraid to ask your adviser about fees? That’s weird.
By Emma Heap, Chief Growth Officer, 10X Investments Even if you feel a tinge of anxiety each time you see another news report about the damage high fees have done to someone’s retirement plans, you remind yourself that your financial adviser is an...
Tenants benefit from tough economic environment
It’s a tough economy out there but savvy tenants can negotiate a good rental deal. Prices appear to be going up wherever you look, whether it be food, petrol, electricity or water. It seems the consumer just can’t escape a price hike. But the good...
Is free retirement counselling really free?
What Retirement Benefits Counselling would mean to retirement fund members and the financial advice industry. For years I have been calling on the retirement fund industry to provide financial education to their members. This is a...
Previous Articles
Crypto prices driven purely by mood of investors
New research has found that cryptocurrency prices are not influenced by any economic factors and instead are driven purely by the mood swings of investors. The stunning rise in the price of Bitcoin, hitting $17,500 last December as it increased by more than 500% in...
Can you get to eBucks Level 5 without debt?
FNB has updated their eBucks reward programme and depending on your type of account, it is worth finding out how these changes affect you or how to change your spending patterns in order to earn more eBucks. To get more “share of wallet”, Gold account customers must...
Are you ready for a money boot camp?
Call for entries for the 2018 Absa/City Press Money Makeover Challenge Would you like to be one of six lucky Absa customers to participate in the Absa/City Press Money Makeover competition? If debt keeps you awake at night and your money is running out long before...
Turn your car into advertising revenue
If you want to make some extra cash or get some freebies, sign up as an “influencer”. Zamokule, who may be familiar to readers as a Money Makeover contestant, recently turned his car into a moving billboard for Dialdirect in order to earn some additional income. This...
Are banks treating our children fairly?
Major South African banks (Absa, Nedbank, Standard Bank and FNB) appear to have made improvements in recent years in their accounts targeted at children. They’ve scrapped the monthly admin fees and lowered or gotten rid of some transaction charges. And rightly so,...
NHI: a storm in a teacup?
Why the NHI announcements will not affect your pocket yet. The massive media coverage around the recent announcements by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has everyone in a bit of a tailspin. People without access to decent medical cover believe that soon, improved and...
Taking cash out of your home in retirement
A lack of retirement savings has seen a significant demand from pensioners to use their homes to access capital, especially for medical costs. A reverse equity mortgage is a special type of home loan that lets you convert a portion of the equity in your home into...
How to pay off your home in ten years
By Rudi Botha, CEO of BetterBond If you have a R1m home loan, payable over 20 years at the current prime interest rate of 10%, you are set to pay more than R1,3m in interest by the time you’ve paid off that bond and the home is finally yours. But if you could pay it...
Godparent vs Guardian: debunking the myths
By David Thomson, Senior Legal Adviser at Sanlam Trust Whether you are a godparent or you’ve asked someone else to be your child’s godparent, do you have clarity on what the term actually means? There is a critical difference between a godparent and a legal guardian...
Helping your children to manage their money
As a mom, my goal is to see my two children grow up to be independent and to stand on their own two feet. A big part of this journey is financial education. You can give your children the best academic education you can afford, but if they don’t manage their finances,...