Earning your first paycheque and balancing the many financial demands is challenging for any graduate. For those who are the first in their family to become a professional, there are even greater expectations and financial demands. In this podcast...
MTBPS 2022: Key insights and takeaways
Maya Fisher-FrenchOct 27, 2022
Warren Wilkinson, franchise principal & financial adviser at Consult by Momentum, breaks down the key insights and takeaways from yesterday's Medium Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS). Higher inflation is eroding purchasing power and has led...
Medical scheme premium increases return
Maya Fisher-FrenchOct 26, 2022
The lower-than-average medical scheme premium increases that members enjoyed in 2021 and 2022 are largely over. During the Covid-19 pandemic, medical schemes saw a decline in claims as members deferred elective procedures or were reluctant to seek...
Stop worrying: a few reminders about investing
Guest AuthorOct 18, 2022
Debra Slabber, Portfolio Specialist Director at Morningstar Investment SA, reminds us that investing is a long-term endeavour, and you should stop worrying about what you don't ‒ and can't ‒ know. Year to date investors have been fleeing from risk...
Interest rate hikes: when will it end?
Maya Fisher-FrenchOct 12, 2022
Aggressive interest rate hikes may have more to do with the currency than local inflation. The decision in September to increase interest rates by 75 basis points was an aggressive decision by the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) considering the...
Listen: Strategies for novice investors
Maya Fisher-FrenchSep 30, 2022
Over the past few years, investing in the stock market has become more and more accessible for novice investors. In this podcast, I speak to Moroko Modiba, managing director of Fatima Capital and author of The Wise Investor: The Beginner's Guide to...
Beware rogue online operators
Maya Fisher-FrenchSep 28, 2022
Statistics from the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud (CGSO) annual report highlight the extent to which consumers are being defrauded by rogue online operators. The Covid lockdown saw an increase in the adoption of e-commerce, and many fraudsters...
Does a cellphone contract make financial sense?
Maya Fisher-FrenchSep 22, 2022
Many people are tempted to take out a cellphone contract in order to get the latest device without shelling out a huge sum of money upfront. These contracts make the phone seem more affordable, but in reality, they cost you significantly more over...
Wealth tax: what you should know
Guest AuthorSep 15, 2022
Jashwin Baijoo of Tax Consulting SA considers the pros and cons of a wealth tax as a tool to address the huge wealth gap in South Africa. The idea of a wealth tax has been bouncing around in South Africa for a long time, and it became a topic of...
Why your beneficiary nomination form is so important
Maya Fisher-FrenchSep 13, 2022
Most people have some form of insurance or death benefits. This could be a policy taken out for a specific reason, or simply because they are employed or a member of a retirement fund. How these death benefits are paid and to whom, all depends on...

Previous Articles
Video: Don’t spend yourself poor trying to look rich
Sep 8, 2022
In her book Smart Woman, author Sylvia Walker writes about creating your "designer life." She explains that instead of being driven by consumerism, trying to look rich, we can make smart choices and start growing our wealth. For many people shopping is a form of...
Scamsters are out in full force
Sep 7, 2022
There's been a concerning increase recently in the number of scamsters targeting South African consumers. This includes scamsters pretending to be representatives of your bank or your cellphone provider. There are SMS and email scams claiming your crypto wallet will...
Listen: Cancelling out cancer
Sep 5, 2022
In this third podcast of our four-part series “Life behind the numbers”, in partnership with Discovery Life, we look at the importance of protecting ourselves against the risk of cancer. Cancer can affect anyone, at any age. The number of insurance claims due to...
Listen: Does the value of the rand really matter?
Sep 2, 2022
In this podcast Maya (@mayaonmoney) talks to Michael Kruger, Senior Investment Analyst at Morningstar, to unpack the strange emotional relationship we as South Africans seem to have with the value of the rand. Kruger points out that when the rand is strong,...
Financial planning for women
Aug 31, 2022
Why do we focus on financial planning for women? Isn't money gender neutral? After all, investing in a unit trust or opening a bank account is the same, whether you're male or female. So what's all the fuss about? Apart from issues like wage gaps and single...
Video: Scammers play on your emotions
Aug 25, 2022
In times of economic stress, we always see an increase in scams. Sadly, scammers are most likely to target financially vulnerable people. There are the loan scams, where the scammers promise loans to blacklisted consumers at low interest rates. There are those...
It takes more than ticking a box to cease tax residency
Aug 23, 2022
The process to cease tax residency requires that you submit extensive documentation to prove your claim that you are no longer a resident of South Africa. An ITR-12 checkbox, indicating that a taxpayer has ceased tax residency in South Africa, is greyed out this tax...
The two-pot retirement system explained
Aug 17, 2022
On 29 July, National Treasury released its draft legislation on the so-called two-pot retirement system. It highlighted that “the proposal does not include allowing immediate access to retirement funds, but rather moves to a system that can more adequately cater for...
Reward programmes: get paid to spend
Aug 9, 2022
Reward programmes are becoming an integral part of our day-to-day financial management. It is no longer simply about getting a discount on your next purchase; these programmes have evolved so that you can now earn really meaningful rewards, which many South Africans...
Getting your home off grid – what it would cost
Aug 3, 2022
After 14 years of loadshedding, most households have found some way to make do in the face of intermittent electricity outages, but the latest wave of outages has prompted many people to wonder if they can afford to get completely off grid. Stage 6 loadshedding had a...










