As a financial journalist I am increasingly concerned about misinformation provided to members of the Government Employees’ Pension Fund (GEPF) by unscrupulous financial advisers. A recent example is a reader who was told by an adviser that on...
Listen: How to negotiate your retrenchment package
In this podcast, Maya (@mayaonmoney) speaks to labour lawyer Michael Bagraims about your rights when it comes to voluntary retrenchment – the benefits you receive, and what rights you give up. If you are being offered voluntary retrenchment, listen...
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...
Video: Investment scams
The current economic situation, with job losses, low interest rates and poor market performance, has created the perfect opportunity for scamsters to promote dodgy investment deals to try and lure unsuspecting victims. To tell us more about...
Court rules for insurer to pay up
The global shutdown in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic is testing the clauses of insurance policies – specifically business interruption insurance – with claimants and insurers across the world fighting it out in court. The Western Cape High...
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...
Reclassification of inward-listed ETFs – what it means for you
The market is alight with speculation over a statement which quietly crept into Finance Minister Tito Mboweni's recent medium-term budget policy statement around the reclassification of inward-listed financial products. National Treasury has made a...
Listen: Smart tricks for Black Friday
Maya (@mayaonmoney) is joined by personal finance blogger Brendan (@Your_Money_Blog) to discuss Black Friday. They chat about their approaches to Black Friday, and offer some tips on online safety when shopping for deals.
Video: Investing for your child
One of the questions we receive quite frequently from our viewers is where to invest for their children’s future. The answer depends on what the investment is for. Saving for next year’s school fees would be a very different investment decision...
Early access to pensions mooted
Legislation will be introduced to allow early access to one's pension, but it's not an end-of-year bonus. In the medium-term budget address, Finance Minister Tito Mboweni confirmed that National Treasury will be introducing legislative changes to...
Previous Articles
Accessing offshore shares via an ETN
Ordinary South African investors now have more options to access to global companies. Technology is making it easier and cheaper for South Africans to get exposure to shares in large global US-listed companies like Apple, Facebook and Netflix. This month FNB announced...
Safety tips when trading crypto-assets
By Wiehann Olivier, CA (SA) and Partner at Mazars South Africa While we wait for the experts to draw up a regulatory framework for crypto-assets, it’s crucial that you educate yourself on good practices for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASPs). Red flags Here are...
Lower medical premium increases thanks to lockdown
An unexpected side-effect of lockdown has been smaller-than-usual annual medical aid premium increases. Despite fears that the outbreak of COVID-19 would result in high claims from medical scheme members, and a resultant increase in the cost of healthcare, the...
Video: Financial resilience for self-employed people
The economic lockdown revealed how financially vulnerable self-employed people are. People in formal employment have certain protections stipulated by their employment contracts and UIF, but if you work for yourself, you must create your own financial protection. Many...
Understand your tax liability if you have multiple sources of income
By Peter Stephan, senior policy adviser at the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA) South African taxpayers with different sources of income are often shocked when they discover at the end of the tax year that pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) deductions...
Video: Make interest-rate cuts work for you
When we began 2020, who could have imagined that mortgage rates would fall by almost one-third, decreasing from 10% all the way down to 7% percent. Economists are even predicting further rate cuts this year. While this has been great news for borrowers, it has not...
Stay on top of your repayments
Most agreements to suspend debt repayments or monthly premiums have come to an end. Make sure you understand how this will affect your finances. In the initial stages of lockdown, most banks, insurers and retirement product providers offered installment or premium...
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 fraudulent data inquiry...
Consumers’ biggest complaints
The Consumer Goods and Services Ombud recently released its annual report. Over the past year, it resolved over 8 600 complaints of which 65% resulted in a favourable outcome for consumers. The average turnaround time was 42 days. The CGSO is not an adjudicative body...
Borrowing from days already worked
A salary advance could be an attractive alternative to a traditional payday loan. A few years ago, I came across an article about how Walmart in the US allowed its workers to access a portion of their already-earned salary before month end. For example, if you have...