You really want to invest in the stock market but you don’t have enough money each month to buy expensive shares. Fractional investing is a cheap and easy way to invest at lower costs. After fielding numerous calls from listeners on Gareth Cliff’s...
By Sihle Lukhele, Institutional Investor Relationship Manager at Foord Asset Management. Benjamin Graham, the father of value investing, defined an investment operation as “one which, upon thorough analysis, promises safety of principal and an...
This week I was chatting to my independent financial adviser who told me that the majority of the claims he handles these days relate to critical illness. He says the claims for serious illnesses like cancer and heart attacks have escalated among...
By David Crossley, CFP® BDO Wealth Advisers You have received your first payslip, online or in an envelope from your finance department. You open it up and realise you have no clue what’s going on. It could be your first payslip, or maybe you’ve...
The secret to a successful resolution is to keep it simple and to break it down to something manageable. Financial change starts one step at a time. Instead of saying “I am going to be debt free,” rather select one debt that you are committed to...
Recently the MD of a small company asked me if I thought they should provide employee benefits such as life cover and retirement funding for their employees. Currently the company leaves that entirely to each employee to sort out for themselves....
I often receive emails from people who are trying to locate their pension benefits from an employer several years after they have resigned, and I often wonder how people lose track of their money – that is until this week. Over the last few years I...
By Tracy Jensen, Chief Product Architect at 10X Investments A retirement annuity (or RA) is a pension fund for individuals, and one of the ways to save for retirement. In principle, it is a voluntary, tax-efficient savings tool to help you achieve...
By Roger Eskinazi, head of wealth management, AlphaWealth I have spent 25 years working in wealth management, many of these for some of the most reputable companies. They all claim to have the best people, a proprietary investment process,...
Lars Kroijer, author of Investing Demystified and a former hedge fund manager, has created a five-video series to explain investing, why you can’t beat the market, and why that fact is important. So if you don’t have the time to read his 200-page...
If you are considering moving medical schemes or looking to take out a medical scheme plan for the first time, you need to consider the viability of the scheme as a whole and then select the plan that best suits your needs. The health of the scheme Jill Larkan, head...
Changes to the taxation of estates could leave a surviving spouse with a hefty tax bill. Last month the Davis Tax Committee (DTC) issued an update on its tax recommendations especially around so-called “death taxes”. Some of the key recommendations are to remove...
By Geoff Blount, MD, BayHill Capital Looking at the JSE super sectors, it is extremely interesting how their contributions to the JSE Top 40 index have changed over time. In part, this reflects the changing fortunes of the sectors in the South African economy, but...
I recently returned from an overseas trip that I started planning nine months ahead of time. I used the time to plan, budget and make sure that when I returned from my well-deserved break that there would be no scary credit card bills to deal with. One of the benefits...
Last month I spoke at a women’s day event held by Alexander Forbes about the importance of women, especially married women, having their own financial affairs in order. The most interesting part for me was speaking to the many women after the event who came to share...
10X Investments kicked off its campaign to #StopDaylightRobbery by causing quite a stir at Nelson Mandela Square, Sandton. Shoppers and lunch-time restaurant goers were greeted by the sight of a life-sized household scene, complete with furniture, appliances and even...
There has been a lot of talk about the Retail Distribution Review (RDR) which aims to provide transparency around financial advice and products, but how do customers really feel about it? At a roundtable discussion on RDR hosted recently by Liberty, Johan Minnie, head...
The new maximum interest rates do not apply to existing credit cards In May 2016, amendments to the National Credit Act came into effect which set new maximum interest rates which can be charged on a loan based on the repo rate. In many cases this has reduced the...
Research finds that the tax-free savings account is still misunderstood. If there’s one thing the financial industry is good at, it is complicating things that should be fairly simple. Tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs) were meant to be really simple long-term savings...
You don’t have to have a lot of money to invest in order to work with a financial planner. With changes to the way financial advisers are remunerated, some industry commentators believed that it would negatively affect younger investors who do not have large amounts...