Chickens are coming home to roost for the credit insurance industry. Last month the National Credit Regulator (NCR) referred the financial services arm of JD Group to the National Consumer Tribunal for the mis-selling of credit life policies,...
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Is a wealth tax likely for South Africa?
Professor Matthew Lester weighs in on a wealth tax and whether it is a solution to South Africa's revenue needs. The Davis Tax Committee (DTC) believes that a wealth tax for South Africans is not the universal solution to South Africa’s revenue...
Millions owed in unclaimed benefits
Around R20 billion of pension fund assets remains unclaimed by an estimated 3.5 million pension fund members or their beneficiaries. This is according to the Financial Services Board (FSB) which recently held a round-table discussion to address the...
The ins and outs of financial emigration
Jules Galpin from The Sable Group’s Money Migrate service addresses some questions often asked about the grey area of financial emigration. What is the difference between emigration and financial emigration? If you emigrate without properly...
The One Rand Family: lessons from a social experiment
The One Rand Family project followed the experience of a relatively well-off family living on cash only ‒ in fact R1 coins ‒ for a month. If you haven’t followed the trials and tribulations of the One Rand Family aired on e.tv during July, it’s...
How to make a difficult decision
Managing our finances involves a lot of tough decisions and we often put off making those decisions because they seem so overwhelming. But often, it's the procrastination that can end up costing more than making a non-optimal decision. So here are...
Proactive consumers pay less for insurance
If you haven’t contacted your insurer lately, you’re probably paying too much for your insurance. When I moved home I contacted my insurer, MiWay, to inform them of the change of address and that my car would no longer be in a locked garage. They...
How to make some extra cash
Cutting expenses isn't the only solution when it comes to balancing your budget; you can also try to find ways to boost your income. Here are three suggestions. With everything from interest rates to tax to electricity and petrol increasing faster...
South African guide to fundraising for entrepreneurs
Seed Academy has developed a free ebook to help South African entrepreneurs navigate the fundraising landscape. Donna Rachelson, chief catalyst at Seed Academy says that based on surveys and their training of hundreds of entrepreneurs, raising...
Heading for a club sandwich generation
The dependency cycle is worsening, putting further pressure on those who have an income. I have to confess that the latest results from the Old Mutual Savings and Investment Monitor made for sombre reading. We all know that households are starting...
Previous Articles
Market selloff comes as no surprise
By Clyde Rossouw and Sumesh Chetty, portfolio managers, Investec Asset Management Over the past few months we have seen markets start to retreat, and the most recent turmoil is a more violent expression of this. While this may come as a surprise to many, we have...
You probably need a foreign will if you have invested offshore
Since the relaxation of exchange control, and as the Rand continues its downward slide, many South Africans are investing offshore with important consequences for their estate planning. If you have invested offshore, consider whether you need a foreign will to deal...
Financial Planning Week – free workshops to help get you on track
When it comes to offers of credit, everyone is a target, regardless of where you're positioned on the income scale. Whether you're a CEO of a large corporate, an unskilled labourer, or taking your first step on the corporate ladder, the credit providers will...
A trick to start you saving
If you've been putting off opening a tax-free savings account, here's a trick to help you get going. Last week I completed the herculean task of opening tax-free savings accounts for my kids and myself. I have had the forms ready to fill out since April, but they just...
Entrepreneurship is key to job creation
Andrew Lester, Chief Marketing officer of Different Life, offers a solution to the problem of unemployment in South Africa “Small business creates jobs” or so the saying goes. The corollary to this statement is that it is big business’s mandate to shed jobs as it...
Sleepwalking to retirement
Proposals by National Treasury aim to simplify retirement savings and reduce costs. National Treasury recently released its latest paper on retirement reform entitled Retirement reform: lowering charges and improving market conduct in which it makes recommendations...
Crystal-ball investing: speculation leads to losses
By Julie Macleod-Henderson, head of retail investment for Foord Asset Management in KwaZulu-Natal. The term “crystal-ball investing” appropriately invokes images of smoke and mirrors, charlatanism and faux clairvoyance. None of these has any place in investment...
The myth behind active management
Research continues to show that active management is not delivering on its promise. If you want to invest in the JSE via an investment fund, you have two main options: you can invest with an active fund-management company, usually in the form of a unit trust, or you...
Capital gains tax explained
By Ryno Oosthuizen, Business Development Manager at Glacier by Sanlam When investing in a unit trust or share portfolio there are generally two types of returns an investor can expect to earn: income and capital growth. Income earned can be received in the form of...
Savings: it’s about a change in mindset
Open up your bank statement and calculate how much of your monthly salary goes to repaying debt. Imagine if, apart from your mortgage, you had no debt repayments – think of all that money now available for savings. The reality is that we have already spent our future...