The focus around higher interest rates has mostly been the effect it will have on our debt repayments, but what we forget is that higher rates are really good for savers who, for a long period of time, have received less and less interest on their...
Applying for a home loan is stressful for most people, but this simple financial process can become disproportionately complex for entrepreneurs or freelancers ‒ people who have uncertain or unpredictable income flows. The rigorous affordability...
Should you throw all your spare cash into paying off your mortgage before even thinking about investing? As most mortgage repayments are set over a 20-year period, we looked at three possible scenarios in terms of accelerating mortgage repayments...
Liberty recently released its 2015 claim statistics which make for interesting analysis. As the largest individual risk player in South Africa, recording the largest volumes of new risk business for the last 12 years and having paid out over R3.5bn...
When analysing clients’ budgets, debt counseling firm Octogen found that entertainment is consistently a category people tend to overspend, so it is perhaps not surprising that when interviewing 22seven users as part of the Show Your Money Who’s...
There is no doubt that 2016 is going to be tough on households financially as price increases across the board push up our day-to-day living expenses. At the same time it is unlikely that we will see salary increases keeping up with our rising...
Last month I cancelled my online short-term insurance policy when an insurance broker was able to beat the quote by R100. As I was selling my old car and buying a new one, I took the time to do some quote comparisons of direct insurers via the...
Craig Gradidge explains why “Where should I invest?” is the wrong question to ask your financial adviser. There is always an eagerness on the part of clients and prospective clients to learn more about investments, how markets work, and the...
Four new unit trust funds have been launched for longer-term investors with investment horizons of five or more years. 10X Prime High Equity Fund Simple, low-cost investment solution Towards the end of last year, 10X Investments brought its first...
Towards the end of 2011, when the gold price had reached heady peaks of nearly US$2 000 per ounce, I received regular queries from readers asking how they could invest in gold. Many people bought gold coins at the time, hoping to cash in on the...
Budgeting and knowing where your money is going is all well and good, but how do you use this knowledge to reach the goal of being debt free? The whole point of budgeting and money management is to help you get in control of your finances, but it’s usually something...
With interest rates rising and the economy slowing, is now the time to make the biggest investment of your life? There is one thing most economists agree on: our economy will continue to slow and we will see further interest rate hikes. Against this backdrop, property...
By David Knott, fiduciary expert at Private Client Trust Buying insurance, and drafting and updating your Will, can be put next to each other on the list of things that we don’t really want to do, and often put off doing. For many of us insurance is a grudge purchase,...
Mokgotla writes: I am 35 years old and I want to invest R700 a month in a retirement annuity. My company is also contributing to my pension fund. Is this a good idea and how do I invest? Maya replies: Since 1 March 2016 you are able to invest up to 27.5% of your...
Over the last few weeks I have been working on the Show Your Money Who’s Boss campaign, a collaboration between Maya on Money, City Press and 22seven.com, which required me to test drive the money management app 22seven.com. I had tried out 22seven.com before, when it...
If a member of a retirement fund passes away leaving minor children, the trustees of the fund are required to determine whether or not to pay out the child’s portion of the fund directly to the surviving parent or guardian, or whether to transfer the funds to a...
Geoff Blount, MD of BayHill Capital, finds that the underlying trend in the JSE has been negative since early 2015. Given that the South African economy has been limping along for at least three years, the strong stock market has confounded analysts. It seems there is...
If you are a government employee, you need to be wary of advisers who recommend that you resign in order to access your pension before retirement. Many commentators have attributed the spate of government employee resignations, just before retirement, as a result of...
By David Knott, a fiduciary expert at Private Client Trust Many people are unaware of the concept of “domicile” and few understand its implications. Domicile relates to the country where you have a permanent home, where you lay down your head each evening. How do you...
Rebecca writes: I am a 36-year-old professional and single mother of two. I had planned that this would be the year that I would buy my own modest home. I have been listening to financial experts on TV saying that first-time home buyers must delay buying due to the...