Many of you may have heard of the Fiscal Cliff but few people seem to understand exactly what this refers to or what it could imply. Here are some of the facts you need to know. The end of this year will bring with it the expiration of tax cuts put in place by presidents [...]

Investors are often confused when a portfolio with an excellent return over one year could have a poor return since the inception of the investment. In line with this certain funds may have stellar returns over 1, 3 and 5 years in one month and only a few months later indicate a dismal performance over [...]

  Since the start of this year the South African Banking sector has been a driver of returns within the All Share Index. While most of the banks have delivered in excess of 15% year to date, there is a clear outlier in the shape of ABSA Group LTD. The reason for this clear underperformance [...]

For those of us contributing diligently toward our retirement we generally believe that by starting early, contributing as much as possible and choosing funds with good performance track records we are doing all we have to... but are we really? We rarely pay close attention to the costs we incur when choosing our investment platforms [...]

This month has been a turning point in the global market. Pessimism has returned and some would say with good reason.  Europe is undeniably in a recession which does not bode well for its trading partners, including South Africa. Couple this with a new socialist French president who is fundamentally opposed to the austerity measures [...]

Upon retirement most of us are, or will be, dependent on our accumulated retirement capital for an income. It is at this time that your • Retirement Annuities, • Pension funds, • Provident funds and/or • Preservation funds will purchase a Living Annuity income. Income Once you have purchased a Living Annuity you are required [...]

This post covers the most significant pro’s and con’s of the Retirement Annuity product.  You are able to invest in a Retirement Annuity either via a unit trust Linked Investment Service Platform (LISP) or within an Insurance Policy.  Pro’s Your invested capital is able to grow without incurring Capital Gains Tax(CGT) or any Income Tax [...]

I know I promised to begin covering the various investment products in this post, but so much noise has arisen around the tax changes set out in the National Budget Speech that I believe it is prudent to give some attention to this topic first.  Let us first cover the income tax rates for individuals. [...]

How do you form a realistic idea of what your retirement needs will be? We refer to the replacement ratio -the percentage of working income that an individual needs to maintain the same standard of living in retirement. As we generally don’t have the same level of expenses in retirement as we have while employed we generally only require, [...]