In this second podcast of our four-part series "Life behind the numbers", in partnership with Discovery Life, we look at how you can use life cover not only to provide for the unexpected, but also to save towards your child’s education. I have two...
In times of economic stress, we always see an increase in scams. Sadly, scammers are most likely to target financially vulnerable people. There are the loan scams, where the scammers promise loans to blacklisted consumers at low interest rates....
The process to cease tax residency requires that you submit extensive documentation to prove your claim that you are no longer a resident of South Africa. An ITR-12 checkbox, indicating that a taxpayer has ceased tax residency in South Africa, is...
In this first podcast of our four-part series “Life behind the numbers”, in partnership with Discovery Life, we look at the data to understand how our lifestyle choices influence the outcomes of disease and mortality risk. What can we all do today...
On 29 July, National Treasury released its draft legislation on the so-called two-pot retirement system. It highlighted that “the proposal does not include allowing immediate access to retirement funds, but rather moves to a system that can more...
Have you ever wondered why the rich keep getting richer? It has a lot to do with compounding. This is where your money makes more money when you are doing nothing. For example, you have R100 000 in a unit trust fund which is invested in the stock...
Reward programmes are becoming an integral part of our day-to-day financial management. It is no longer simply about getting a discount on your next purchase; these programmes have evolved so that you can now earn really meaningful rewards, which...
On 29 July, National Treasury released draft legislation around early access to pension funds and the so-called “two-pot” system. This draft legislation aims at addressing two key challenges facing retirement savings: improving retirement outcomes...
After 14 years of loadshedding, most households have found some way to make do in the face of intermittent electricity outages, but the latest wave of outages has prompted many people to wonder if they can afford to get completely off grid. Stage 6...
If you want to be a millionaire, you should buy a second-hand car! In the book The Millionaire Next Door: The Surprising Secrets of America’s Wealthy, the authors studied the behaviour and habits of America’s millionaires. One thing that they found...
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is supposed to reflect the spending patterns of the average urban South African across various categories of goods and services. Each of these categories (food, fuel, education, rent, insurance etc.) has a fixed weight in the index. The...
On Thursday, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to increase the repo rate by another 75 basis points (bps). The increase will see the repo rate increase to 5.50% per year. The decision was made on the back of the South African inflation rate surging above the...
In this podcast, Maya (@mayaonmoney) speaks to Ntombi Dube, a remarkable woman who paid off a mountain of debt ‒ R700 000 of it, to be precise. In a recent survey, a debt counselling firm asked financially stressed South Africans: “Why have you not done something to...
Victoria Reuvers, Managing Director at Morningstar Investment Management SA, explains that you need to sit tight and stay invested through a bear market (when the market is falling) in order to achieve successful long-term returns. What is the secret to successful...
When it comes to our financial priorities, there are so many things we want to achieve, such as paying off debt, building emergency savings, investing for our children’s education, paying off the mortgage and still having enough to save for retirement. The pressure to...
Rising prices and interest rates are relatively mild by historical standards, so why are we feeling so stressed? A lack of economic growth is why. While rising prices and interest rates may be draining our pockets, for middle- to upper-income earners, things are not...
It is tax filing season once more, and while some people look forward to tax season because they can get a rebate, for many others it can feel a bit overwhelming. The period to submit tax returns opened on 1 July 2022, and individual taxpayers who are not provisional...
Tax season has started, and while ordinary taxpayers have in theory until 24 October to file their returns, if you receive an auto-assessment, you only have 40 business days to verify and update the information. An auto-assessment is a pre-populated tax return based...
Many South Africans are unaware that they qualify for a medical tax credit if they belong to a medical scheme. We have always had a tax benefit for contributions to a medical scheme. In 2012, SARS changed this benefit from a tax deduction to a medical scheme fee tax...
There is one thing all parents have in common: a desire to give their children a better life, which means that saving for your children's education is crucial. We want our children to stand on our shoulders, and one of the best ways to do that is to give your child a...