By Ian Anderson, chief investment officer at Grindrod Asset Management South Africa’s listed property sector continued its slide during the week ending 31 May 2013, as the Rand breached R10/US$ and bond yields moved sharply higher. Having declined...
Attend your medical scheme’s Annual General Meeting, answer two easy questions using the Facebook and Twitter accounts of the Council for Medical Schemes (CMS), and stand a chance to have your scheme contributions paid for three months. The CMS...
AMPS results show Capitec has pushed out Nedbank to become the fourth largest bank in terms of the number of people using Capitec for their main account. According to a press release issued by Capitec today, the bank has overtaken Nedbank as South...
The latest annual report from the Ombudsman for Banking Services (OBS) which was released recently showed that of the 4450 complaints received, 1753 cases were found in favour of the customer and a total of R16.4 million was paid back to aggrieved...
Ian Anderson, chief investment officer at Grindrod Asset Management, reviews the performance of the listed property sector over the past week. South Africa’s listed property sector soared more than 3% last week, as investors poured into sector...
The Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) recently launched the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud (CGSO), ahead of World Consumer Rights day on 15 March. The Consumer Goods Council represents 11 000 companies in the retail, wholesale and...
More than half of middle-class South Africans believe they will never be financially free, according to the Visa Wealth Worries 2013 survey. “South Africa, and indeed the whole world, has gone through a very tough time over the last few years. We...
Modern day philosopher and writer Alain de Botton wrote a provocative article in The Wall Street Journal entitled Why most men aren’t man enough to handle web porn. While this title may seem completely irrelevant to personal finance (apart from the...
“As part of one’s personal financial plan, I believe in having 3-6 months living expenses saved up and easily accessible in case of an emergency. “My wife and I have saved extra funds into our mortgage bond and estimate that the value of the...
If you form an investment club you will still need to have a bank account for the group in order to collect money and pay out withdrawals. Speak to your bank about the best account for your needs. These bank accounts are specifically aimed at...
Absa recently launched the first fully functioning bank card that enables customers to simply tap and pay for low value items. Building on Absa’s PayPassTM technology which is behind the roll out of the My Citi transit card in Cape Town and the BRT in Johanneburg,...
It is that time of year when many students will be selecting their courses for the year. In an ideal world one would have saved enough to pay for one’s studies, but unfortunately this is seldom the case and most students need to consider taking a loan. Borrowing money...
A study by international fund rating agency Morningstar showed that the best indicator of outperformance by a fund was low costs. It is however often the cost of accessing that investment rather than the actual management fees that really hurts long term performance....
This month some households will experience a financial boost with either a bonus or a tax-rebate. Many South Africans have become used to having bonuses and tax refunds as an expected additional income instead of an ‘unexpected extra’, and subsequently include it in...
One in four people can no longer afford to pay for medical aid, a flash survey among users of online financial guide, Justmoney.co.za, has revealed. As the price of medical aid premiums rises by an inflation-busting average of 9.11%*, adding to the cash woes of many...
In line with its mission to promote good financial planning among all South Africans, the Financial Planning Institute will be offering pro-bono financial advice to South Africans across the country during the upcoming Financial Planning Week, from 26 November to 30...
If you are new to investing on the JSE and are looking for a good way to get your feet wet or you feel more comfortable learning about investing with others than on your, you can start a share club where you research companies and to discuss investment topics. When...
“Are RSA retail bonds still a good choice of investment over a 3 or 5 year period. And what interest rates are the offering at this stage?” writes Peter who is 65 years old. Maya replies: If you are simply comparing interest rates to a bank deposit then the RSA retail...
“Are RSA retail bonds still a good choice of investment over a 3 or 5 year period. And what interest rates are the offering at this stage?” writes Peter who is 65 years old. Maya replies: If you are simply comparing interest rates to a bank deposit then the RSA retail...
“Are RSA retail bonds still a good choice of investment over a 3 or 5 year period. And what interest rates are the offering at this stage?” writes Peter who is 65 years old. Maya replies: If you are simply comparing interest rates to a bank deposit then the RSA retail...