It’s that time of year when we all make our New Year’s resolutions. The secret to a successful resolution is to keep it simple and to break it down to something manageable. For example, don’t’ say “I am going to be debt free.” Rather select one...
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SMEs optimistic despite COVID challenges
South African small business owners are a resilient bunch: 86% of those recently surveyed by Retail Capital said that their business will survive the pandemic. This despite the majority not receiving relief from their landlords or financial...
Avoid starting January with more debt
If you do just one thing this festive season, plan for those 40 days to the next paycheque. Right now, the best thing you can do for your financial health is to plan for December and January. In most cases when people write to us with financial...
Absa admits to data leak
Absa recently announced that an employee had “unlawfully made selected customer data available to a small number of external parties.” According to Absa, the data leak relates to a small portion of Absa South Africa’s customer base, and while it...
Online service to value property and vehicles
If you are looking to buy or sell a property, or even just want to find out what the properties in your area are worth, Lightstone Property has introduced an easy, low-cost valuation service for individuals. In the past, the company provided the...
Five myths about payroll tax deductions
There are many myths and misconceptions about payroll tax in South Africa that simply won't go away. Let's look at a few of them and what the tax and labour laws actually say. Myth 1: Salary is taxed differently from overtime or commission No...
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...
Options for lockdown debt relief
Credit life payouts and payment holidays are on the cards. But it will only be for those who are directly impacted by the lockdown, and will come with Ts and Cs. While we are expecting more announcements from the banks, they have all indicated that...
When to consider debt counselling
As salaries struggle to keep up with inflation, and the economy in general continues to deteriorate, many middle- and higher-income earners are now relying more heavily on unsecured loans to maintain their lifestyles. As a result, many more South...
Debt levels rise as salaries fall short of inflation
Higher-income earners are tapping into unsecured loans to maintain their lifestyles as their salaries fail to keep up with inflation. Debt Counselling firm DebtBusters recently released their quarterly debt report for the last quarter of 2019, and...
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The best place for your emergency fund
Every financial plan should start with an emergency fund. Even if you have debt, before you start focusing on accelerating those repayments, you need to first build up an emergency fund. An emergency fund is what will stop you going back into debt. Ideally you should...
Make Black Friday work for you, not against you
On Friday 24 November, retailers will be offering discounts in a major sale ahead of the festive season. This “Black Friday” concept has been taken from the United States where the discounts are so enormous people queue overnight to be the first in-store to grab the...
What to do if you think you have been hacked
Last week a major South African domain service provider, Hetzner, was hacked, allegedly compromising personal information. My own website is hosted by Hetzner and on the same day I received an urgent email asking me to immediately pay and renew my domain name or my...
Are you trading with an unregulated forex broker?
By Daichi Hoang of bestforexbrokers.com. If you currently trade forex or have been thinking about it, the broker you choose to deal with will have a lasting impact on your experience. Pick the wrong one and you might be putting your entire capital at risk. For any...
Stressed out about money
The middle class is stressed out financially, but how much is a result of our lifestyle choices? Seven out of ten middle- and upper-income earners say that they are experiencing financial stress according to the annual retirement study conducted by the Sanlam...
Uber or drive? There’s an app for that.
An app is available that compares the cost of Uber to driving yourself. Upon returning to India after living in the UK for five years, Nishil Kohli noticed that Uber had made having a car redundant as its service is extremely cheap in India. He decided to create an...
Save your windfall
Receiving relevant financial information when you need it is the holy grail of financial education. If you can reach people at a time when they need to make important financial decisions, you can guide them to make the best decision for their future. How many people...
Investors may lose millions in suspect forex trading scheme
The Financial Services Board has confirmed that Profit Trading, which continues to operate, never placed any trades. Since publishing a reader’s complaint about forex trading platform Profit Trading, City Press has been receiving complaints from other angry investors....
The true cost of your DSTV subscription
When actuary Vinesh Maharaj was considering whether or not to change his DSTV subscription, he did what all maths nerds do – he drew up a spreadsheet to see how much DSTV would cost him over the next 40 years. He assumed an annual 8% price escalation on his Premium...
Car hire: the devil is in the detail
It may be tempting to take the keys of your hire car and drive off so that you can finally enjoy your holiday destination with your family. After all, you’ve waited a long time for this break and with all the political turmoil and work commitments bogging you down,...