Beplanning onderwerpe
It is estimated that there were 2.55 million students enrolled across all tertiary institutions (universities and Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges (TVET)) in South Africa in 2020. Public universities make up the largest portion (44.9% of all students), followed by TVET…
Some ombuds and complaints mechanisms have been established by law and apply to specific Acts of Parliament. Examples are the Ombud for Financial Services Providers, the Consumer Goods and Services Ombud, the Tax Ombud and the Pension Funds Adjudicator. These are known as statutory ombuds.But there…
“How much do I need to retire on?” The answer to this frequently asked question is not a simple one, because it depends on a number of factors, the two most important being your age and your monthly expenditure. However, one can arrive at a rough estimate using a few basic assumptions.…
The Office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator has been inundated by a raft of complaints about unnecessary delays in the payment of death benefits. Three recent cases involved Old Mutual Superfund Provident Fund, with Old Mutual Life Assurance (SA) Limited being the administrator.Although the…
South Africans are struggling to keep up with their monthly expenses in the wake of a string of interest rate hikes that have seen steady and steep increases in loan instalments, leading to more people defaulting on debt repayment, especially with regard to home and vehicle financing.This is…
The South African Revenue Service (Sars) has implemented some big changes to personal income tax returns, trust tax returns and pay-as-you-earn (PAYE) penalties for the Filing Season 2023, that affect individual taxpayers, trustees, employers and tax practitioners.Each year, there are several…
Many people seem to treat life insurance like short-term insurance – it’s a grudge purchase and not something worth wasting too much time on, and if you are unhappy with one provider you can always switch to another.Wrong! Insurance on your life or, in the case of disability insurance, on your…
Every year, thousands of South Africans leave the country. In fact, more than 914 000 citizens left the country between 2015 and 2020, meaning that the number is probably significantly higher now. Many more will leave in the coming months and years, too. According to a 2022 survey, 53% of…
Our local collective investment industry attracts many of our brightest minds and boasts a level of sophistication and expertise to match the best in the world. I have always marvelled at this, considering how few South Africans consciously save.Strange as it may seem to an outsider, there is a…
In Western society the traditional roles of man as breadwinner and woman as caregiver have become blurred. However, they still apply quite strictly in many cultures and remain relatively entrenched in South Africa.Discrimination against women in the workplace is forbidden and the pay parity gap is…
When the proposal to regulate religious practitioners in South Africa was put forward by the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities in South Africa in 2017, it was heavily criticised from various avenues. The Commission had been…
Today we talk about debt review. I recently wrote a Rants and Cents column, on the matter stating that the process is not the be-all and end-all of becoming free of debt, as a matter of fact, it is an expensive exercise and there are a lot of chance-takers out there. I was even threatened with…
The one thing all of us try to avoid, or at least reduce to the minimum, is paying any form of tax. Tax can take the form of a compulsory contribution that we all have to make from our salaries to the state coffers in terms of the Income Tax Act. It can also come in the form of the heavy demands…
It’s onwards and upwards for the Coega Development Corporation as it welcomed four investors with a combined investment value of over R385.2 million to the Coega Special Economic Zone (SEZ) during the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year.Reflecting on the Q1 performance, Coega's Head of…
Investec has welcomed iKhokha, the fintech that makes it easier to start, manage and grow your business, into their well-established Partner Hub to provide medical professionals with fast and reliable payment solutions.“We believe that iKhokha will bring immense value to our clients as we continue…
WITH the most historic BRICS 2023 Summit under way one cannot help noticing the hypocrisy shown by the banks, to have the group chief executive of Standard Bank, Sim Tshabalala, get a platform, while the bank is also in a bid to shut down Independent Media.BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India,…
Author: Bertie JacobsWithout quality oversight, output suffers.Without transparency, deception thrives. Misinformation and misinterpretation are promulgated to become the norm as fiction becomes indistinguishable from fact. In a developing country such as South Africa that face a multitude of…
At the Sixth BRICS Media Forum, media executives and experts from the BRICS countries urged further promotion of cooperation to address shared global concerns.Media executives and professionals from the BRICS countries called for efforts to further promote cooperation to address common global…
Life is rarely predictable, and we are often faced with adversity. Preparing for what could be or what could happen seems to form the premise of financial planning. Risk management and scenario planning can guide you to be somewhat prepared for life’s challenges. At the age of 31, I was diagnosed…
The Guardian’s Fund (GF) is a statutory trust established in terms of Chapter V of the Administration of Estates Act, 1965. The GF consists of all money received by the Master of the High Court under the Act or any other law or pursuant to an order of a court or any money accepted by the Master in…