The economic lockdown revealed how financially vulnerable self-employed people are. People in formal employment have certain protections stipulated by their employment contracts and UIF, but if you work for yourself, you must create your own...
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Understand your tax liability if you have multiple sources of income
By Peter Stephan, senior policy adviser at the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA) South African taxpayers with different sources of income are often shocked when they discover at the end of the tax year that pay-as-you-earn...
Monitor those payment holidays
We have received several complaints from readers who have been unhappy with the management of their payment holidays. Many bank customers believe they were not fully informed about the consequences of taking a payment holiday or in some cases were...
Video: Make interest-rate cuts work for you
When we began 2020, who could have imagined that mortgage rates would fall by almost one-third, decreasing from 10% all the way down to 7% percent. Economists are even predicting further rate cuts this year. While this has been great news for...
Could technology revive the lay-by market?
I remember as a teenager buying on lay-by. Jet stores had a red and orange jersey that I had fallen in love with. I didn’t have the money to buy it, and in those days store cards were uncommon ‒ and certainly not available to a teenager. I bought...
Listen: How financial advisers choose their insurance
Maya (@mayaonmoney) and Mapalo (@womanandfinance) speak to independent financial adviser Markus Bauriedl on what to look out for when selecting life insurance to make sure it pays out as promised. Not all cover is equal, and some products work...
Stay on top of your repayments
Most agreements to suspend debt repayments or monthly premiums have come to an end. Make sure you understand how this will affect your finances. In the initial stages of lockdown, most banks, insurers and retirement product providers offered...
Video: Create a debt repayment plan
We often believe that the only way to pay off debt is with a windfall like a big bonus or winning the lotto. But this thinking gets us caught in an anti-wealth trap. We spend on our credit cards all year and use our bonus or 13th cheque to settle...
Criminals want your personal information
With criminals constantly trying to access our personal information, we should behave as if our identity is compromised and act accordingly. In late August, credit bureau Experian notified the public that there had been an incident involving a...
Where would investment managers put their money for a five-year return?
If you had R1 million right now and a five-year time horizon, what would you do with the money? This was one of the questions posed to a panel of investment experts at the recently held Allan Gray Offshore Exchange. The two-day offshore investing...
Previous Articles
Video: Review your insurance and save
We should be in the habit of regularly reviewing our insurance cover, but if you haven’t done so for a while, COVID-19 lockdown is the perfect opportunity to make sure you have the correct cover in place and even save on premiums. You may find that the cover you have...
Consumers’ biggest complaints
The Consumer Goods and Services Ombud recently released its annual report. Over the past year, it resolved over 8Â 600 complaints of which 65% resulted in a favourable outcome for consumers. The average turnaround time was 42 days. The CGSO is not an adjudicative body...
Listen: Know the difference between good, bad and ugly credit
Is there such a thing as good credit? What forms of credit should you avoid at all cost? In this podcast, Maya (@mayaonmoney) and Mapalo (@womanandfinance) discuss the good and dark side of credit and whether the concept of the lay-by will come back into fashion as...
Borrowing from days already worked
A salary advance could be an attractive alternative to a traditional payday loan. A few years ago, I came across an article about how Walmart in the US allowed its workers to access a portion of their already-earned salary before month end. For example, if you have...
Video: Start that emergency fund
Most of us know that we should have some emergency cash stashed away for a rainy day, but how many of us actually do it? With the COVID-19 pandemic came job losses and salary cuts for many South Africans, and this in turn is shining a very bright light on how critical...
Is your retirement fund safe from plunder?
Many South Africans believe that their retirement funds are under attack. Financial planners are inundated with queries from concerned clients and some are even stopping their retirement contributions. Is this fear well founded or an over-reaction to media headlines?...
Income protection for ‘gig workers’ – finally!
By Elmarie Samuel, Senior Technical Marketing Specialist at life insurer FMI (a Division of Bidvest Life Ltd) South Africa’s gig economy is booming. More people than ever before are earning a living as so-called ‘gig workers’ - working as independent contractors,...
Video: Money mistakes for women to avoid
There are many money mistakes we all make that prevent us from reaching our financial goals and we could all learn better money habits. However, there are specific money issues that relate directly to women. To chat to us about the key money mistakes women need to...
Unmarried couples must ensure they have a valid will
By Elmien Pols, Private Client Trust In these interesting times in which we find ourselves, it is not unusual for people to live together, have children, buy properties and run a business together without formalising their relationship, either through marriage or a...
Listen: How to invest for your kids
Whether you are saving for your child’s education or investing for their future, it's tough to know where and when to invest. When is a tax-free investment appropriate? Should you invest in your child’s name? And where should you save for those school fees? Maya...