At the moment estate agents are calling this a buyers’ market as property prices have come off their highs and interest rates are at historic lows. However many young first-time buyers are not able to take advantage of favourable market conditions...
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...
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...
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...
Many of our readers are shareholders in BEE share schemes such as MTN and Sasol, but are these good deals, should you hold onto them and should you invest now if you missed the opportunity? Maya Fisher-French speaks to Craig Graddige of...
Fuel levy would need to increase by R1 to fund roads As Gauteng drivers protest against e-tolling, a debate on the merits of tolls versus increased fuel levies has been unleashed across the media, twitter and dinner tables. Finance Minister Pravin...
A banking price war is under way and is doing more to drive down bank fees than any government regulation could ever hope to achieve. Recently Standard Bank slashed its banking fees which, it claims, makes its range of transactional accounts...
This week I received a survey on what customers want from their banks. The Speak UP Report commissioned by Capitec aims to "draw attention to what people want from their bank and ultimately help give them what they really need". I have to confess that when I read some...
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....
FNB was the first bank to challenge Capitec in offering a no frills, simple bank account when they launched EasyPlan nearly two years ago. The other banks have followed and are now all aiming to provide low cost banking for under R30 per month. In July last year...
Absa recently extended Absa Transact in a bid to attract clients looking to pay less to transact and bank smart customers could pay as little as R29.15 in banking fees each month. Absa Transact was introduced in 2010, but has been completely upgraded as a product and...
This week I received two separate emails from readers who wanted to know where to invest their money. What made them stand out was that both of them had accumulated substantial money despite mediocre salaries. They had not built their wealth from winning the lotto,...
"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. ,"...
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...
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...