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...
Getting your home off grid – what it would cost
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...
Does the CPI reflect the “real” inflation rate?
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) is supposed to reflect the spending patterns of the average urban South African across various categories of goods and services. Each of these categories (food, fuel, education, rent, insurance etc.) has a fixed...
What the rate increase means for your investments
On Thursday, the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) decided to increase the repo rate by another 75 basis points (bps). The increase will see the repo rate increase to 5.50% per year. The decision was made on the back of the South African inflation...
What to do in a bear market?
Victoria Reuvers, Managing Director at Morningstar Investment Management SA, explains that you need to sit tight and stay invested through a bear market (when the market is falling) in order to achieve successful long-term returns. What is the...
Video: Financial priorities and how to set them
When it comes to our financial priorities, there are so many things we want to achieve, such as paying off debt, building emergency savings, investing for our children’s education, paying off the mortgage and still having enough to save for...
Slow economic growth is the real issue
Rising prices and interest rates are relatively mild by historical standards, so why are we feeling so stressed? A lack of economic growth is why. While rising prices and interest rates may be draining our pockets, for middle- to upper-income...
Listen: Tax filing season is upon us again
It is tax filing season once more, and while some people look forward to tax season because they can get a rebate, for many others it can feel a bit overwhelming. The period to submit tax returns opened on 1 July 2022, and individual taxpayers who...
SARS auto-assessment: what you need to know
Tax season has started, and while ordinary taxpayers have in theory until 24 October to file their returns, if you receive an auto-assessment, you only have 40 business days to verify and update the information. An auto-assessment is a...
Use your medical tax credit to cover your medical expenses
Many South Africans are unaware that they qualify for a medical tax credit if they belong to a medical scheme. We have always had a tax benefit for contributions to a medical scheme. In 2012, SARS changed this benefit from a tax deduction to a...
Previous Articles
Video: Saving for your children’s education
There is one thing all parents have in common: a desire to give their children a better life, which means that saving for your children's education is crucial. We want our children to stand on our shoulders, and one of the best ways to do that is to give your child a...
Working remotely: what are the tax implications?
If you are working remotely for a foreign company, lawfully meeting your tax obligations can become complex. Martin Bezuidenhout, expatriate tax attorney at Tax Consulting SA, explains. The Covid pandemic brought about a lot of changes in terms of how we work. It...
Staying the course in crazy markets
Roné Swanepoel, Business Development Manager at Morningstar Investment Management South Africa, knows that many investors are currently unsure as to what to do in these difficult markets. She recommends biting the bullet and staying the course. Two years after the...
Is your car under-insured?
Used car prices have been increasing due to shortages, with the result that your vehicle could well be under-insured, according to getWorth CTO Mark Ridgway. If your car is insured and you suffer a total loss, where the car is stolen or written off, the insurance...
Save as you swipe
Several banks now offer a feature where you can “save as you swipe”, effectively creating a digital “change jar” into which you can save small amounts without even noticing it. FNB recently announced that its retail customers had accumulated over R2 billion in the...
Petrol price: parsing the pain at the pump
Petrol stations across the country were jam-packed on the last Tuesday of May as motorists waited in line to fill up ahead of the following day’s record increase in the petrol price. Old Mutual Wealth Investment Strategist Izak Odendaal analyses the ways in which high...
Loadshedding: counting the cost
South Africans are counting the cost of loadshedding – and it is significant. These are the findings of a survey conducted by InfoQuest/TrendER, a leading South African online research company. The survey interviewed 300 respondents, nationally representative of the...
Death benefit: what you need to know
After the death of a loved one, you may be entitled to a death benefit. Rita Cool, certified financial planner at Alexforbes takes a look. During what is a very emotionally-charged time, the paperwork which nominees are required to complete in order to claim a death...
Is medical insurance the solution to high medical premiums?
With many South Africans unable to afford medical schemes, medical insurance is filling in the gap. But you need to be aware of its limitations. Medical schemes are becoming increasingly unaffordable for the average South African household. Statistics show that only...
What does the rate hike mean for the economy?
Carmen Nel, economist and macro strategist at Matrix Fund Managers, delves into the implications of last week's 50 basis-point rate hike by the Reserve Bank. At Thursday's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) meeting, the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) hiked the policy...