My brother is my hero, for the simple reason that every day, as a small business owner, he makes a difference. Three years ago he made a massive leap of faith by leaving his employer to start his own business, today he employs six people and has a...
The discussion document issued by National Treasury on Strengthening Retirement Savings demonstrates that Treasury has a good handle on the issues within the retirement industry, however the challenge will be in finding solutions that are not...
How a 22 year old accumulated R360 000 through saving and investing. A wise man once said that thrift is a form of income. What he meant was that it is what you do not spend rather than what you earn that will determine your wealth. Twenty-two...
Since its peak in 2008 the single stock futures market has fallen from around R60 billion open contracts at any one point, to around R2bn today. Maya Fisher-French explores the demise of the single stock future industry against the rise of CFD’s...
A monthly debit order is undoubtedly one of the most powerful investment tools. It creates a savings discipline as it goes off your account before you have spent your money on consumables. But now studies show that, rand cost averaging, which...
What we can learn from our parents who survived the inflation beast of the 1980’s There is no doubt that our day to day living expenses are becoming increasingly more expensive as necessities like electricity, travel and food take a bigger bite out...
I was recently relating a story to a friend about a conversation I had with my two boys aged 7 and 11 where they had grilled me on financial matters. They wanted to know if we owed money on our house and if our cars were paid off. They wanted to...
We sent our new City Press intern Liziwe Ndalana to do some field research on opening a bank account. Liziwe’s experience highlights how important service is to us as customers. Liziwe was so impressed with Absa’s service she was nearly convinced...
Paul Stewart, managing director of Plexus Asset Management looks at the opportunity to invest in resource stocks. In the current global economic climate, solid growth is a rare phenomenon. And where growth exists, it tends to be more prevalent in...
The announcement of a 15% dividend withholding tax came as a shock to all investors earning dividends, despite Treasury’s claims that it should have been expected. The rate came in 50% higher than market expectations and there was very little...
As medical cover costs increase many people are unable to afford even an entry level option on a medical scheme. There are other options in the market which provide at least some cover for basic medical needs. While people may be familiar with hospital plans, health...
Having spent a weekend speaking to over 2000 young women about their finances, the most tweeted comment was “a man is not a financial plan”. This statement resonated not only with the young women in the audience but many of the men working at the event. The men were...
This budget puts very little back into the pocket of ordinary South Africans and indirect taxes such as the fuel levy and sin taxes will add pressure to our pockets. We take a look at two hypothetical South Africans and what the budget means to their bottom line....
"I have just paid off my car and now I must decide whether to buy a property or start saving for lobola and buy the house after I am married. The problem is that I cannot afford both and I need to do one of the two. I am currently renting a flat at the moment. ,"...
If one of your New Year's resolutions is meet with a financial adviser and put a financial plan in place, you need to know exactly what you can expect from your adviser. Financial adviser Warren Ingram who was nominated as the FPI 2011 Financial Planner of the Year...
Whenever I land overseas I withdraw some cash at the airport ATM using my credit card. However on my last overseas trip I discovered that my Mastercard was not accepted at the airport’s ATM’s which were all on the Cirrus network. It was a good reminder of the...
Online shopping is making our lives a lot easier and saving time fighting queues at shopping malls, but it has its own set of risks. Brian McGrory, Head, Consumer Debit Products at Visa identifies ways to keep your shopping safe. Christmas is almost here but are you...
Your favourite brand of toothpaste, chocolate, chips, rice or tomato sauce may be costing you the same, but are you getting the same amount of product for your money? As consumers watch their pennies some manufacturers are shrinking the amount of product they put into...
If you are looking for gift ideas here are some interesting stats from kalahari.com on what people are buying this festive season. Also a big increase in the number of people shopping online. Kalahari.com expects online sales growth of up to 30% over the holiday...
This week I was in Johannesburg and was amazed at how busy the shops were. I was told, although I have not confirmed this, that when fashion store Zara opened in Sandton City recently it did a turnover of R2 million in one day. Admittedly Sandton City is patronised by...