Tips for a less taxing tax season

‘Tax season’ elicits in most people the kind of shudder you’d imagine ‘open season’ to elicit in hunted animals. We all hate doing our taxes and, because of this, we often postpone the inevitable, sometimes with horrible consequences like penalties and waiting hours at SARS.

Explaining credit risk

Last month we talked about interest rate risk – the risk of your investment devaluing and you losing money due to changes in interest rate. In a sense, this is about an investment’s possibility of flailing due to macroeconomic conditions. This month, we’re going to look at credit risk.

Taking an interest in interest rate risk

Education around the basics of wealth creation and preservation is like a good, solid diet packed with healthy food staples, it can help you enjoy healthy finances for years and create a strong foundation for building your future.

Betting on cars – how to invest in motor innovation without getting a flat

“Never look back unless you are planning to go that way,” Henry David Thoreau once said. Investing in the future is an exciting prospect, but a daunting one as well. And what could be more of a ride than investing in motor vehicles?

But the road can be a bumpy one, even if it is a fast ride, so prudence is paramount when investing in all things motor.

A shout out to dads

It’s Father’s Day time, and we would like to honour the men, and the women too, who have been parents to us. Our dads.

… And by ‘Dad’ we don’t necessarily mean our fathers. Ever seen the Omo Father’s Day advert that went viral on YouTube? It showed a little boy reading a Father’s Day card, with all the important things dads do listed in it like providing financially and teaching right from wrong, to his grandmother. She was his ‘Dad’.

The retirement you know will be gone by the time you retire

One of the most important reasons to save throughout our working life remains retirement. It’s shocking how few people afford themselves the ability to live with dignity and independence, without sacrificing a huge drop in standard of living.

The four numbers of retirement – and why they aren’t enough

‘It’s my life, it’s now or never. I ain’t gonna live forever…’ The famous Bon Jovi words could well be used to describe retirement – and saving for it.

Most people don’t know where to start when contemplating something as big and hectic as retiring in decades’ time, but there are ample titbits of conventional wisdom from the financial planning industry. Let’s take a look at some, and their pitfalls.