South Africans are panicking and holding their breaths while international markets decide our country’s fate. We have recently been thrown with words such as non-investment grade, junk status, and downgrading. But what does it really mean? Why the junk status and where does it come from? There are three international rating agencies including Fitch, Standard
After a few weeks of exciting talks and reviewing Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s Budget Speech, people are starting to have confidence in the economy. Taxpayers, for example, heaved a sigh of relief when the budget didn’t contain any income tax hikes. Consumers do not have to be over-indebted and take out loans to survive on
South Africans are facing radical increases in especially daily living costs and housing in a time of increasing unemployment and poverty. But, in reality, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan’s 2016 Budget Speech held no surprises… The greatest surprise of the minister’s speech was the fact that income tax rates will not be increased. But, by increasing
National Treasury this week announced changes to tax treatments of retirement fund contributions in provident, pension and retirement annuity funds, which will come into effect from March 2016. These are not the only amendments and most of the reforms are aimed to encourage South Africans to save money in their retirement funds. People are not
When do you know it’s time to investigate whether debt review is something you should consider? Let’s take a look… The New Year has brought new challenges to the South Africans – fuel and electricity price hikes, food price increases as well as the fall of the rand, influencing prices on imported products. We must
The holiday season is just around the corner and people are holding their breaths… 2015 has been a year filled with crazy increases in living expenses. So how do you spend less in December? Our advice… Think twice about spending too much of your hard-earned money during the holiday season. People tend to get carried
Most people never or rarely look at their bank statements or credit card statements. And when they do they’ll often find strange amounts deducted for things they haven’t authorised. The easiest way to find any strange amounts going off your accounts is to plan debit orders for more or less the same time each month.
For the past few weeks’ South African universities were under siege by students protesting increasing tertiary fees and student debt – until President Zuma stepped in and made an official statement that no fee rise will be enforced next year. While campuses are calming down and some classes are back to normal, the ever-present issue
In an effort to stop reckless credit granting, the National Credit Amendment Act (NCAA) has proposed affordability assessment requirements. Consumers will find it more difficult to get credit. But at the same time, the new amendment will protect consumers who can’t afford more debt. On 13 March this year, the DTI published the regulations. But
People’s cash-flow is getting stretched more and more each month. But if you’re finding yourself relying heavily on your credit card to get you through it’s time to have a serious look at your spending habits. According to statistics from our survey, a little over 50% of the participants indicated that they don’t have a savings