I recently returned from an overseas trip that I started planning nine months ahead of time. I used the time to plan, budget and make sure that when I returned from my well-deserved break that there would be no scary credit card bills to deal with....
Research finds that the tax-free savings account is still misunderstood. If there’s one thing the financial industry is good at, it is complicating things that should be fairly simple. Tax-free savings accounts (TFSAs) were meant to be really...
by Nthati Khumalo, Tax Compliance Trainee at BDO South Africa The High Court recently held that Mr Julian Brown must submit a response to a SARS lifestyle questionnaire or suffer the consequences. SARS may in terms of the Tax Administration Act...
There is a big difference between knowingly investing in a high-risk technology business and being sold misinformation. I recently wrote about a group of companies: AllQuotes, BuyDirect and MiBiz, which fall under a parent company called FinGroup....
We recently ran an article on the various options for offshore bank accounts and highlighted foreign currency accounts (FCA) which are effectively on-shore accounts that are linked to your local bank account and have low minimum deposit rates....
Insiders raise the alarm over the business practices of AllQuotes and BuyDirect. When one receives anonymous tip-offs about unethical business practices, there is always the concern that the information is accurate and not just a disgruntled...
You don’t have to be a high flier to have a foreign currency account or even an offshore bank account which have now become an easily available and relatively affordable option for South Africans who would like to hold some funds offshore. As...
Times are tough and even though the inflation rate might be slowing down, prices are still going up. This means your cost of living is only going to increase as the months go by. According to the latest BankservAfrica Disposable Salary (BDSI) data,...
By Mark MacSymon, Certified Financial Planner and Wealth Manager at Private Client Holdings An increasingly common issue in South Africa these days is adult children still being financially dependent on their parents. This is due to low entry-level...
By Mike McDougall, CEO of the Actuarial Society of South Africa Faced with empty wallets and rising costs, thousands of South Africans are placing their faith in ‘get rich quick’ schemes that lure desperate consumers with promises of unrealistic...
The focus around higher interest rates has mostly been the effect it will have on our debt repayments, but what we forget is that higher rates are really good for savers who, for a long period of time, have received less and less interest on their cash deposits. Since...
Esther van Schalkwyk, senior tax consultant at BDO South Africa unpacks some of the important aspects of cellphone allowances and highlights the value of proper tax planning. Many employees receive a cellphone allowance in some form or other as part of their...
When analysing clients’ budgets, debt counseling firm Octogen found that entertainment is consistently a category people tend to overspend, so it is perhaps not surprising that when interviewing 22seven users as part of the Show Your Money Who’s Boss campaign, the one...
There is no doubt that 2016 is going to be tough on households financially as price increases across the board push up our day-to-day living expenses. At the same time it is unlikely that we will see salary increases keeping up with our rising bills, as companies also...
Budgeting and knowing where your money is going is all well and good, but how do you use this knowledge to reach the goal of being debt free? The whole point of budgeting and money management is to help you get in control of your finances, but it’s usually something...
Yesterday marked the day that I had been a mother for exactly 16 years, as this year my son’s birthday fell on Mother’s Day. The very essence of being a mother is to put our children first, so yesterday was all about his big day ‒ so no breakfast in bed for me,...
In the freelance world, PayPal provides a way for South African service providers to be paid by international clients. Although the fees are not insignificant, it is still the least expensive and most effective way to get paid. Banks make a lot of money out of foreign...
A few weeks ago, as I was about to leave my office for the day, my cellphone started to beep as several SMS notifications came through confirming online credit card transactions, including a R7 700 booking through an online travel agent. None of these were my...
I am now onto week three of testing out the 22seven app and it is already starting to have an impact on our household finances. On Sunday evening, the day before payday, rather than watching TV, my husband and I were both updating our 22seven budgets. It was an...
MMM markets itself as a social financial network whereby members support each other financially to help each other get out of debt with financial institutions. Its website suggests that members can earn returns of up to 30% per month, and many members have reported...