We use my long-awaited holiday to catch up to some user questions for the next three weeks. We hope you enjoy the shorter episodes as much as I plan on enjoying my break!

Suzanne

After finding your podcast during hard lockdown, I have been binge listening …..and can honestly say: You have changed my life! Thank you! I have kicked Sanlam and their 5.4% TIC under the arse, and moved my Retirement Annuity to OUTvest.

The buggers charged me a R30,000 exit fee; but thanks to OUTvest's amazing product – within 5 months I made up the loss; ½ coming from my contributions, and ½ from real returns!

Following Nerina Visser's fantastic presentation, I am also spreadsheeting everything, but have run into a bit of a snag and hope you can help.

As a medical professional, I hold a PPS Policy which includes a sickness- and disability benefit, as well as life cover.

Thanks to Stealthy Wealth, I now know that 'PPS is a mutual society, and doesn't operate like a normal company. They distribute any profit they make back to the policyholders'.

These profits are linked to the above policy, and deposited annually into my PPS Profit Share Account. Annually, PPS provides me with a current Rand value, for the value of my PPS Profit Share Account – and I am happy to say it has been growing steadily.

On my policy statement it further states that 'These accounts do not vest until the policy holder reaches 60 years;….and on this date the Profit Share Account can be taken TAX FREE as a cash lump sum'.

Can I safely count this Rand value, and the projected growth, towards my retirement planning? And if so, any suggestions on what would be the best (tax efficient) way to do it?

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Brett

If you take out a life policy of a R1 000 000 and nominate a beneficiary.

-Then SARS assesses you and says you owe them R800 000.

-You don't pay the debt due to SARS.

-Can SARS nominate the Insurance Agency as a 3rd party in terms of the Tax Administration Act to collect the outstanding debt from the Insurance provider?

-In other words whose money is it/The beneficiary or the policyholder.

-I have looked into this a bit and it seems that creditors cannot access life policies which would indicate it belongs to the beneficiary and not the policyholder.

Kobus

I have offshore funds in a Bank account earning nothing at the moment.

I am considering investing this in the Sanlam Glacier Global Life plan and will do this without a FA to save on costs.

What other reputable companies in SA offer this service where you can invest directly without the help of an intermediary?

Rudolph

I have a decision to make that I am a little confused about. I am wondering about the order that I should give preference to. I am currently first trying to max out my RA for the Tax benefit, but keeping myself from accessing the funds till I am 65. Then I try to max out my TFSA and Finally I allocate the remainder of my extra money to my house bond to pay it off quicker. I am not sure if this is the best order to give preference to.

Ken

We used to contribute to Little Eden and St Bernhards Hospice as part of our monthly tithe. But with our aging parents, and their lack of retirement savings, we are anticipating needing to help them out in the years to come. So we are diverting our tithe savings into a Allan Gray money market account (lowest fees on the market from what I can tell). But I often have a pang of regret when I think that we are no longer supporting these companies that are working so hard to help others. I wonder. if by no longer supporting them, we have resulted in them having to turn somebody away.

My idea is a Charity "ETF". like the "top 40" of non profit worthy (researched and vetted) organisations that are helping others. The Charity "ETF" fact sheet will look a little bit different, with links to all of the top 40 organisations websites and a brief description of what they do. I was daydreaming about it popping up as an option when you are submitting a trade on Easy Equities (like the R2 KFC thing). There would be a management fee for whoever was running the "ETF" I suppose, but ideally all of the contributions go directly to the top 40 organisations.

The main thought behind having the Charity "ETF" is that it may seem silly wanting to send, a once off, R100 to one of these organisations. And even sillier to try and split that R100 up into smaller amounts to spread the contribution to multiple companies. But that is what an ETF does best! take a little bit of everybodies money, combines it into one big pot and distributes it to the top 40 organisations.

What would really be nice is if Easy Equities could provide you with a section 18A receipt at the end of the financial year as part of all the other tax certificates they provide.

Greta

Having recently been paid a lump sum (divorce agreement), and needing to live off the yield of my investments for the rest of my life, I have educated myself on personal wealth. I have a pretty sound understanding of my options and how I would like to invest - again based on sound investing principles that you and Simon live by.

My question now is a completely practical one: I have the investment pots - one for growth, one for emergencies, one for income. But how do I give myself a monthly income drawdown (I am not a retiree or of retiree age - still 13 years to go).

What investment vehicles are my options to hold my three years of expenses in from which I will draw my monthly income - is it a bank account? Or is there some other investment vehicle I can use to invest my 3-year-expenses money in and get a monthly income drawdown from?

Robin

I'm interested to understand how Bonds work as an investment vehicle.

Can you and Simon dive into when and why one should invest in bonds? Should they be SA or Int. Bonds, and which Bonds should one consider?

In the next month, I will have a maturing fixed investment, where I was getting a reasonable 7.58% compounded return. I want to re-invest these funds. However, with the decline in interest rates this year the bank will now only provide 4% compounded return, which doesn't help my cause at all.

I have Tax Free savings in place, I have a Living Annuity that I recently moved from an RA as I can allocate the full investment to offshore equities rather than on 30% as per Reg 28, where the 2.5% compulsory payout of which I re-allocate to my TFS.

I have a diversified SA ETF portfolio (SYGUK; STXNDQ, STXCHN, GLODIV, ETFPLD, ETFGRE, ETFIT, CSPROP, CSP500, STXEMG, STXRES, STXWDM, SYG4IR SYGEU, all in equal allocations) which I am building on (waiting for lower prices to allocate more funds). I also have an offshore Investment portfolio that I actively manage in both Offshore Equities and ETFs.

My goal is to increase growth over the next three years, therefore I have taken an active investment approach. (I am 57 years old and I live abroad, therefore having both an SA and Overseas Investment Portfolios serves me well)

Any pearls of wisdom where I can invest the funds that will be freed up next month? Taking all of the above into consideration.

We use my long-awaited holiday to catch up to some user questions for the next three weeks. We hope you enjoy the shorter episodes as much as I plan on enjoying my break!

Willem

I have an endowment in my portfolio which was a five year investment which started in July 2003 with the last payment in July 2007 which matured July 2008.

Tax was deducted on all these investments for this endowment at ACSIS/OLD MUTUAL as per quarterly reports, as well as capital gains tax.

When inquiring at Old Mutual recently, they presented me with a figure for CGT if the investment is drawn upon. The investment was 4 payments of R30,000 and the the last one R36,000. The value as at February 2020 was R572,089.

Would you be kind enough to let me know how else can I get this investment to work for me in the light of being able to access this investment like a conventional discretionary investment without tax complications. I have a discretionary investment, as well as a living annuity in the same portfolio.

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Veronica

You guys seem to be big fans of ETFs but when I looked into buying one they all recommend an investment period of at least 5 years or more (i.e. they're high-risk and therefore long term investments).

My husband and I are looking to potentially emigrate in about 4-5 years from now. In light of that, where would the best place be for us to invest our savings? I currently have a money market emergency fund and am putting away a bit into an Allan Gray Balanced Fund (both recommended by a financial advisor, although the more I listen to your podcast the more I'm thinking to start handling investments on my own ☺).

ETFs sound like the best place to invest but are suited for way long term, in which case we might be out of the country before the product matures. Is the solution then to keep the savings in something like the money market? Is it still worth opening a tax-free savings account for 5 years?

James is wondering about Zambezi preference shares.

Can you please discuss the place of this product in a portfolio for someone that is on pension.

Will it help with cash flow during pension?

Pieter

The thing people miss about the 4% rule is that the study didn't work on the principle that your money should last forever.

Success was measured on the fact that you would have more than $0 after 30 years at a 50:50 equity:bond allocation. That might also mean you have $1 left for year 31 which accounts for the 95% success rate. Another caveat is the study was run during a high interest period in America.

Also just on a correction how the 4% rule worked in the study. You withdraw 4% in year one. After that, you withdraw what you did the year before plus inflation, not 4% of your asset base.

Josh

I plan to emigrate to the UK at the end of the year.

I have been maxing out my TFSA and contributing to a Provident fund. When I maxed out my TFSA for this year, I started setting aside that cash monthly that was going to the TFSA, and reduced the amount going into my Provident fund monthly with a view of investing it when I got to the UK (after having converted it to pounds obviously).

The UK equivalent of a TFSA allows contributions of a max of £20,000 per year (with single shares allowed). I plan to liquidate my TFSA when I move, cash out my Provident fund when I resign (and take the tax hit), and chuck all of that cash into a stocks and shares ISA, probably a Vanguard all world ETF. Also, I'll be using a broker called Trading 212 if anyone is interested.

Do you think this is a silly idea? Cashing out of a TFSA and Provident fund is a big decision.

And just something separate: I wish I hadn't bought a property now that I'm immigrating. I just want to sell the stupid place but am struggling. Wish I just rented a place.

Conrad

I've requested information on the OUTvest investment options for a preservation fund. I am not happy with these just by looking at the top 10 holdings in most of these options. I agree with your view on simplified broad-based ETF investments and wondered if these are the only options that Outvest offers or if I can structure a more simplified ETF based combination that will be Regulation 28 compliant.

Sean

I WAS one of those people who has religiously put monthly money away with a broker who was smiling all the way to the bank from the tender age of 15. I am now 29. In the past three years I have been paying a lot more attention to where my money goes.

Thanks to you guys, I had that awkward conversation with said broker and have taken all of my funds away from them and reinvested in a much cheaper, passive investment group.

Although this new firm is cheaper, it's not as cheap as Easy Equities, so I have been splitting my monthly contributions for the past year with EE. Things have been going so well that I recently started looking into the TFSA on the EE platform. I have been able to max it out for the last three years. If I had known about it earlier it would have been longer but it turns out they aren't very profitable for high rolling fund managers.

With this being said, I did some deeper research on EasyEquities, and I was shocked!

I have had a great experience with them so far, however I have not tried to withdraw any of my money yet.

This seems to be a huge problem on the platform, if you have a look at Hello Peter.

It's a scary prospect to have your hard-earned money on such a platform that "doesn't pay out withdrawals and doesn't answer any emails or phone calls" the dreaded word "scam" is even mentioned by one of the disgruntled users.

I know Purple Group is a legitimate, listed company that has legal obligations in place but other people's VERY poor experiences are something I cannot look past. It has been an amazing platform for me so far, but there is a big BUT in the back of my mind now.

Is there anything from your side that could put an innocent investor's mind at ease?

With Simon celebrating his birthday on the beach, this week's episode is a tax bonanza. De Wet de Villiers, King of the Tax Elves and Great Guy finally shares with all of you what he shares with me for free every Monday. I love talking about tax, which is why this week's episode is much longer than usual, and much shorter than it could have been.

He gives us a useful checklist of things all of us should do when we submit our tax returns, among them:

• If you earn less than R500,000 per year, you don't need to file a tax return.
• You can ask your HR department to factor in your medical aid and retirement contributions, even if you signed up for those services privately.
• You should check your details annually, including address, SMS number, email and bank details.
• Keep a record and declare all income streams available, including directorships and side hustles.
• Make sure all your investments and bank accounts are included.
• Provisional taxpayers should keep track of the following expenses:
  • Expenses: Rental property magazine, conferences
  • Side-hustle: Phone calls, data costs,
  • Business travel: fuel, vehicle expenses
  • Home office: Fibre at home, cleaning costs
• Don't accept the auto-assessment. It doesn't work yet.
• Check your prior-year tax return to look for things you may have forgotten. This is especially true if your circumstances haven't changed much.
• Get a statement of account from SARS from e-filing.
• Don't do everything in one go - do a tax recon every quarter so it's not so overwhelming.

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Win of the week: Jess

Let me start by saying that the Fat Wallet Show and Just One Lap have completely revolutionised the way I think about my personal finances. In fact, I used to avoid thinking about it at all because I found it so overwhelming and confusing. But since listening to your show I actually understand words like "equities" and "diversification" and "All Share Index". I feel like a brand new person, so thank you for that.

I was working on cruise ships and earning USD but thanks to Covid I had to come home. I am currently working in the public sector but might go back on board for another contract.

Since listening to your podcast I have corrected some financial errors that the ignorant past-Jess made. Luckily, keeping expenses low and saving money comes naturally to me so I was doing that anyway - but my mistake was saving a lot of cash and being afraid of equities. I have an RA to which I am currently contributing 10% of my income, but other than that all my savings are in cash. Thanks to you, I am now moving my TFSA (currently at max) from cash to ETFs (which I did via EasyEquities much to my financial advisor's annoyance - now she won't reap the benefits of my investment). I also have a home loan on a house that I am renting out. The rest of my savings is in cash (32 day account for emergencies, standard savings account, extra payments into my bond and a USD global account) - I know, really silly!

I want to move more cash to equities but I have a few questions and would like to hear what you think?

1. Should I contribute even more to my RA (which has high fees and a financial advisor fee) first to get the tax benefits or should I rather buy a discretionary investment with lower fees?
2. I stopped paying extra into my bond because of the low interest rates at the moment (in order to keep my rental income profits low and reduce my income tax). Is this wise? Or should I rather continue to put extra into the bond and just pay the income tax but get rid of the debt quicker?
3. Since I have USD I want to open an EasyEquities USD account too. For someone who has no idea where she might live one day, what is a good balance between local and offshore investments? And this might be a stupid one, but what is the difference between investing in global ETFs in ZAR vs buying ETFs via the USD account?

Gerard

Can you possibly spend a bit of time on Physical Offshore investment accounts and how these things should be declared to SARS.

I have an EasyEquities USD account, and they withhold 15% of Div tax, so do I get a credit for that or should I apply for a credit?

You might not be thinking about where your family will be in 2120, but Greg is. This week he shares a mad plan to make a 100-year investment.

Greg

I thought about starting an investment with a 100- year time horizon.

A lot can happen in 100 years. Maybe we don't use money anymore. Maybe earth explodes. Who knows? But if things still kind of resemble the way they are now and there's still a stock market then once off R10,000 invested in equities could be worth around R30m in 100 years (in today's money). So I think it's worth taking the risk.

I'd have to get my offspring onboard when it came to that point and then their offspring, to keep it invested and change the investment vehicle if and when needed. Worst-case scenario, a greedy grandchild decides to cash it all in and blow it on bubbles and a house with a sea view, which is also not a bad outcome.

I started with R10,000 in my EasyEquities USD account and bought the Vanguard S&P500.

Ultimate goal - I'm not sure yet, but hopefully it would get used wisely, to help supplement income for a few families, not get depleted and continue to grow.

Just curious if you have thought about doing this?

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Win of the week: Nokuthula and

Bea

Thank you very much for your thorough answers to my questions. Kristia, I love how you answer questions from the perspective of all - you do not assume that everyone knows all the financial keywords. I appreciate your guidance and the presence of JOL in our lives. Being new to all of this, both yourself and Simon's ongoing presence is a comfort to me and so many others - I am sure.

Simon's answer to my furniture and storage question was classic and was taken to heart. ' Burn it!' This got my attention since family have said things along the same lines. Both of you also seem to understand life situations, in my case the hold that belongings have and how they really own you. The grim reality is that, like Simon says, these things that we attached so much worth to...end being worth so little - in monetary terms...years later.

Ina

My brother lives in SA and I'm in the UK. He advised me to listen to some of your podcasts - I think they are truly brilliant!

Could you recommend anything similar in the UK that I can listen to in regards to advise as I really need some tips on the UK market?

Get in touch with Garth McKenzie.

Peter

I listened to your podcast which I enjoyed a lot.

Someone asked what to do with a large amount of money- a windfall, obviously keeping tax efficiency in mind. I noticed that buying gold and specifically Krugerrands was not mentioned.

Could you explain why not especially with the current Bull phase of gold.

Sandy

I have a life insurance policy that has age-rated premiums. Looking ahead even just 10 years, these monthly premiums become shocking.

My policy is tied to a dread disease benefit, so maybe that's why. But as I get older, that's when I'll need this benefit, right? Especially with a family history of breast cancer. But how will I afford it? I don't want to pay all this money in and then have to cancel my policy.

Are there alternatives to age-rated premiums, and if so what are they? Could you be insured for a specific amount that doesn't grow each year. But then, what about inflation? Urgh!

Please help. I'm so confused!

Mike

A few years before I retired I became aware that I should take responsibility to inform myself about financial issues. At work in a secure enjoyable technical environment I did not have any exposure to financial issues.

I was unprepared to manage the expected pending inadequate pension which I accepted with-out seeking informed advice from anyone. During that time I was introduced to Red Hot Penny shares material.

I was also fortunate enough to have a small amount of capital to open an equities broker account with Imara. This is now Momentum Securities who charge me R40 per month even though I do not seek their advice and make all my own trading decisions. Over the years I have gained an interest in investing as basically a buy and hold investor. However I do now have a share portfolio despite my largely ignorant independent cautious DIY approach.

I am a client of Standard Bank dating back to 1990, but I believe the time has come to move my broking account. I have made a feeble attempt to do this before but have failed to complete the exercise.

I find my isolation as a pensioner in the new, to me, digital environment and lack of informed personal interaction is daunting for me such that I have not achieved the move.

I know that with change I would have to work on an unfamiliar platform. Before I take the decision to commit to Standard Bank do you know if I am able to use a Demo trading account? Please could I speak to you about who to contact to get the website details and if there is a tutorial I can use to familiarise myself with the platform.

Ben

Before she even gets going she gets penalised with R20k, not to mention everything else that looks terrible with this option.

Needless to say I put this on hold - I'm careful to meddle but couldn't let this one fly. I will recommend as an alternative a similar split in equity, bonds and cash (the proposed split is appropriate for this portion of her money), but the first two in ETFs.

Here are my two questions:

1. The equity ETF portion is easy, but is there also a bond equivalent of the "one ETF to rule them all" for more moderate risk investments that I can consider for the bonds portion in this case? (Bonds in your ETF portfolio.)
2. The product is being sold to her with the benefit that it won't form part of her estate and will be easily transferable and keep going if anything happens. Is there any merit to this? What will happen with her Ashburton 1200 and Bond ETF I buy if something goes wrong that could be avoided with the Glacier option? My first thought is to call BS on this too.

Adam

Is it possible to use the R40 000 CGT allowance each year? By selling shares for a profit just before the tax year end at a profit and then buying them back in the next tax year, would you then recognise the purchase of shares at the new purchase price? Is this a way to minimise future tax costs since you now recognise future profits off of this higher value?

I've seen this being referred to as bed and breakfasting but I'm not sure what regulation is applicable in South Africa and how one would go about it.

Marco

I have a comment or question in regards to your use of acquiring a foreign currency "hedge" against the rand value declining over time. The problem (as I understand from reading around) is that there is a yearly tax "drag" on this method because any unrealised appreciation in foreign currency is taxed as income, as interpreted here: https://www.rsm.global/southafrica/news/tax-implications-foreign-exchange-differences .

Now, I'm unsure if this is entirely applicable to a "buy and hold", as I have used this method in order to do my own taxes as I do some day trading using USD and not ZAR. Perhaps this doesn't apply if you can show you were buying foreign currency as a "capital" gain if you hold onto it for longer than 3 years?

We spend a lot of time thinking about building an asset base and which assets we should be buying.

As you approach financial independence, getting rid of assets starts to present problems. Which assets should you get rid of first? How do you manage your capital gains liability? How many of your assets should you get rid of and when? How can you use a capital loss to offset your capital gains liability?

This week we consider the challenges in living off your investments. If you've spent your whole life accumulating assets, getting rid of them is bound to feel like sacrilege.

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Win of the week: Gert

Was listening to your show about the confusing jargon, synonyms and abbreviations/acronyms we use, especially the term "coupon" used in describing the return on a bond.

I seem to remember reading about the etymology years ago and looked it up on Investopedia, but found a better explanation on Wikipedia:

The origin of the term "coupon" is that bonds were historically issued in the form of bearer certificates. Physical possession of the certificate was proof of ownership. Several coupons, one for each scheduled interest payment, were printed on the certificate. At the date the coupon was due, the owner would detach the coupon and present it for payment (an act called "clipping the coupon").[2]

The certificate often also contained a document called a talon, which (when the original block of coupons had been used up) could be detached and presented in exchange for a block of further coupons.[3]

Hannes

For equity investments, I've read that it's important that there is a "CSDP account" for each user of the platform. central securities depository participant

They note:

"First World Trader Nominees holds a Securities Account with an authorised central securities depository participant (CSDP) admitted to Strate, in the name of FWT Nominees into which Clients' Securities are deposited or stand to be credited."

So it sounds like some rights are seeded to EE here. Should I be concerned?

Luan

I have an RA with work which is invested in Momentum Focus 7 fund of funds which I believe has a TIC of 2.08%. Work contribute 5% and I match that – I have come to the realisation that while they will continue to contribute into that, I can choose not to and rather put my portion into something that works better for me.

I do have an RA with etfSA which I have been contributing to and wondered what your thoughts were on topping up into this or whether I should rather put it into ASHGEQ type investment?

I am also looking to help my sister start her own additional RA and wondered what your thoughts were on the etfSA RA or Sygnia Skeleton 70 fund? (will be starting fresh so not beneficial to do OUTvest)

My sister and I will likely not retire in SA and I wondered what advice you would offer on how to safeguard our future, specifically with the value of the rand (in 15-20 years) when our RA's begin paying and we are in another country? Are we being silly contributing into personal RA's now for the tax benefits and should we rather be buying investment ETFs like ASHGEQ it STXWDM with those monthly contributions (+-R5000)?

We do not have offshore investment accounts (do have a UK bank account) and am assuming for now the best route is through EasyEquities USD account until we have a more substantial amount – would you agree?

I want to make sure that we are putting our money to work in the right places and can then let that compounding go wild.

I find it odd that so many people fear the stock market and then get lured into financial scams. Inspired by James, who is trying to keep his clan from being conned, we help you figure out when something is just not right.

Here are some tips to get you going:

• Find out if the company or product is registered with the Financial Services Conduct Authority (FSCA). This is not foolproof, but it takes a diligent kind of con artist to steal money in this way. It does filter out a lot of the scum.
• Run the opportunity through the Just One Lap five concepts filter:
  • At the end of this experience, will you own an asset?
  • Will you earn income on that asset and will that income compound?
  • Will the returns beat inflation?
  • Compared to what your index of choice did over the same investment period, do the returns seem too good to be true?
• The promised returns are a huge red flag. If you're new to financial matters, it's hard to know what's a lot and what's a little. As a rule of thumb, when an "investment opportunity" offers monthly returns, be very suspicious. It's industry practice to quote returns for a year.
• Google not just the company or product (that's usually fairly easy to control), but also every individual's name associated with the product. Scammers love getting away with scams, so they tend to circle back.
• If you find media articles about the legitimacy of the product and the person you're dealing with tells you they're taking legal action against the media house, be very suspicious. This is an old trick to put potential investors at ease. Remember, you don't have to be in the right to bring legal action.

We also spend a little time on helping you think about alternative, unlisted investments and the place they should have in your portfolio.

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James

How do you know you are investing with a fraud? More importantly, how do you convince your friends or family that they are going to get fucked?

A friend of mine invited me to listen to a guy that is willing to invest your money through his company. The returns are absolutely amazing! 77.64% for the year in 2017!

To the untrained ear, this guy sounds lekker. He explained that they move the money to America and use a computer program (that his son developed) to predict the market. The level of risk is then adjusted by the amount of gold (held at the bank of England) in a portfolio. They do all of this at a fee of 1%.

I asked him a few questions about custodian accounts, insurance, brokerage, total investment cost, TAX and all kinds of clever shit you and Simon spoke about on the show. I could see this guy has no idea what I am talking about and then he referred to an ETF as an "Electronic Traded Fund" then I knew this is a fucking keeper! He told me that he is not here to convince or force anyone to invest with him. But there he was, trying to convince people to invest with him.

I am convinced this guy is a fraud, but my friends are not and eating up every word this guy is saying. My friends have family invested with him and have seen returns so now they are true believers.

What do I do?

Win of the week: Martie

I enjoy your writing and podcasts. Think the fact that you do not come with a background in finances makes it easier for the ordinary person to relate to you. And the fact that you have learned so much about finances gives us hope that we can do it too. Definitely an inspiration.

You and Simon are a mean team and I am really glad I discovered you.

Ani

I have an option to take a pension backed loan. Each month, the payment will be deducted from my salary. Should I default, they will take the money from my pension.

The interest rate for the loan is prime minus 1%, and there are no registration costs (which would be a minimum of R35000 according to the bank should I apply for a 2nd bond).

We are expecting the renovations to cost between R300,000 and R400,000, worst case scenario. We are also planning to move overseas within 5 years.

We don't want to overcapitalise. Houses similar to ours in our area are in the market for between R2.2 and R2.4 million. We are trying to ensure our house is the most attractive house on the block. If we run into financial trouble, and we need to rent out the house, we shouldn't have a problem finding tenants. If we want to sell, we offer a better house for a similar price to the "outydse" one down the road. If we don't move out of the country, we will stay in this house.

Is the pension-backed loan worth it, or should we take the R35,000 out of our emergency/insurance money(for registration costs) and rather take out a second bond? The Ts and C's indicate that should you leave the retirement fund, you can settle it in cash, or they take it from your pension (thinking about tax implications etc, that's the last thing I want to do).

Or should we live with shitty floors and cupboards (and increased spending on sinus meds along with cracked heels) until next year March when we have more certainty on whether there will be salary cuts etc?

Ndida

How do I use this cost per use on a running shoe bought for R3,000. Do I use the 12 months I have used the shoe or the kilometers I have done?

I am under debt review working my way to be debt free. I entered debt review in April 2019. In 2016 I bought timeshares with LPA under the impression that I was investing in property. The contract is for seven years until I have paid them in full, plus the annual management fees which are quite steep. I still have five more years to pay. Since I am occupying the place only once per year I am a loser ito cost per use. I am not sure how to untangle myself from this. I am paying a monthly installment of R1,700 and each year there is a seven percent increase.

Wesley

I have a bog standard TFSA with Standard bank that I've been contributing to for 3 years now. I only recently discovered your site and the opportunity to take this long-term investment and use it to buy ETFs to give me a better interest rate than the minor 3.5% I'm getting from Standard Bank.

I want to make this money work harder for me and I don't plan on using it for at least 10 years, probably longer.

Is it possible to transfer this TFSA from SB to a place like EasyEquities and start using it to buy ETFs? Is there any tutorial/how to on this process outlining what I need to do at the bank as well as with EE?

Chris

I would like to offer the staff some resources to help them with their personal finances, I can offer some help in my personal capacity from what I've learnt from you guys, but can you give some resources/tips on how to deal with reduced income?

The school has applied to TERS from day 1, but those F%^&* have paid us diddly squat, and won't tell us why…

Much of what makes investing confusing is that we use different terms to talk about the same thing. This is so frustrating for beginners. This week, we tackle jargon head-on. Not only do we tell you which terms are used interchangeably, but also what they mean. Here are the terms we discussed:

• Stocks, equities, shares.
• Stock market vs stock exchange
• Coupons and interest.
• Debt instruments, preference shares and bonds.
• Index-tracking products, index funds, ETFs and UTs, collective investment schemes, hedge funds
• Real return, future value.
• Retirement, financial independence.
• Brokers, investment platforms.
• Property, fixed property, REITs
• Tax-free savings, TFSA, tax-free investments.
• Tax on income, tax on interest.
• Listed, on the stock market
• MDD, fact sheet

And then some stuff that's used interchangeably (sometimes by us) that's not.

• Marginal tax vs effective tax
• Pension, provident, RA, retirement fund

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André

My initial plan was to have more off-shore equity, of which I put mostly into a global equity ETF. I chose the Satrix MSCI world ETF purely due to its lower cost.

I was wondering why you chose the Ashburton 1200 global ETF for this purpose. However, now that I got my first dividends from my property ETFs, I noticed the meaning of distributions was dividends, and then realized that the Ashburton ETF pays dividends and the Satrix ETF doesn't.

In my mind, I'm thinking that if the dividends of the Ashburton cover the difference in costs between the 2 ETFs, then the Ashburton ETF will outperform Satrix MSCI world in total returns to me. Is this due to a difference in the type of ETF (feeder ETFs) that the one pays dividends or not, or is that simply a choice of the ETF creator to pass on dividends or not?

My question is if you could elaborate a bit in your thoughts comparing the Satrix MSCI world ETF vs the Ashburton 1200 global ETF regarding the dividends.

Win of the week: Leonora

I have it that Reg 28 doesn't apply to Living Annuities. I have mine with Momentum in Coreshares S&P500 and a small percentage in their money market.

(After asking, my EAC is now down to 0.77%. Still too bloody much. I take a minimum 2.5% drawdown. The fee was +/- R2000 per month, now R1700! For what?)

Zanele

I wanted to open a tax free savings account but a friend told me that after 15 years I or my Son who is 5 years old will not be able to contribute because a person is only given 15 years to utilise the tax free account. I have researched this and I got no information on the time limit, please assist if this is true or not.

I am currently investing anything from R200 to R500 a month which is what I can afford.

When you've gotten your debt and spending under control, it can be comforting to hold on to your free cash for a while. Taking the leap from that safe pile of money to the Big Bad Market is not easy.

However, as we've discussed before, cash is not a risk-free investment. The longer you sit on a lump sum of cash, the more risky it becomes. This is because of inflation. The effects of inflation are difficult to internalise because the rand value of your money stays the same.

Let's say you put R100,000 in a low interest cash account today. The interest you earn is enough to cover the annual cost of the account, but nothing more. At an inflation rate of 5.5%, in 10 years you'd only be able to buy what R58,543 can buy you today. The rand amount is still R100,000 so it seems like you haven't lost anything, but you can afford half of what R100,000 can buy you today. In 20 years your bank statement would still reflect R100,000, but you'd be able to buy what R34,272 can buy today. As you can see, the inflation risk increases every year.

This week we help three listeners figure out how to put their cash lump sums to use. The checklist we managed to come up with for a cash lump sum is as follows:

• Fund your tax-free investment vehicle:
  • Commonly referred to as tax-free savings accounts or TFSAs, these products should be every South African's first investment. As an investor you are liable for dividend withholding tax, tax on interest and capital gains tax outside of a tax-free account. As we discuss in this week's episode, these accounts are not meant for cash savings.
• Don't speculate unless you can afford to lose the money:
  • While cash makes it easier to capitalise on investment opportunities as they present themselves, cash can also make it easier to hop on a bandwagon that's not suitable. Don't invest your cash into a speculative investment (think alternative asset classes, sub-indices or individual companies) unless you can afford to lose that money.
• Lump sum vs average:
  • While the math shows us investing an entire lump sum in one go makes more financial sense in terms of potential future earnings, going into the market one small investment at a time is a legitimate option if you're scared. If this is your first investment, think of it as a teaching tool initially. Once you feel more confident, you can add the rest.
• Work out the future value:
  • If cash is giving you a feeling of safety, find an online calculator to work out the future value of your lump sum using a 5.5% inflation rate. Now play around with higher or lower inflation rates. Hopefully seeing the value of your investment deplete will be the motivation you need to get going.
• Diversify:
  • If you're holding on to a large amount of cash, you are not diversified. Make sure to put your money to work.

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Win of the week: Matt:

If I earn a salary from a foreign company and then decide to do the nomad thing and travel around low cost of living countries for, say, a year but remain a tax resident in SA. My understanding is the first R1m earned will be tax exempt- is that the case?

"Tax residents in South Africa will be taxed on their worldwide income. But that is dependent that they're still SA tax residents. Offshore salary earned is taken into account. R1.25m ito the latest tax amendments will be exempt from tax in SA."

Harry

This was mainly due to the fact that I did not know what the best option was, and my new employer only offered a provident fund.. I've been maximizing my tax benefit with my new employer provident fund. I'm also sitting on cash in a savings vehicle with my bank, currently returning around 3-3.5% interest.

I'm living rather small (renting only, no debt of any sort) and have quite a bit of money to invest/save every month.

What would you advise I do with my portfolio? The preservation fund? Should I keep maximising my provident fund contribution? What about my cash savings account? Should I consider taking money out of the country? Investing offshore?

Joe

I know we may have missed the boat both with gold and Tesla, would you suggest we go for an ETF with some gold in them? We don't mind going moderately aggressive.

Steven

I currently have free cash in my TFSA with ABSA Stockbrokers. Besides the fact that its not earning that much in the way of interest, they also charge a 1% service fee annually, which I believe is based on the value of the funds in the account?

I'm reluctant to invest in the market right now as I feel there's no value and would prefer to wait for a correction, when it eventually comes?

Although I have no previous experience investing in bonds I am thinking this could be a suitable option at this time.

Looking specifically at the Stanlib Global Government Bond (ETFGGB), it seems to be doing very well so far but is this mainly due to the Rand's weakness over the past few years as opposed to any other factors?

Considering that this is a reasonably low risk product, is it currently a better option than investing in a regular cash instrument which is offering such low yields at the moment?

According to the fact sheet the time frame for this ETF is 3 years so assuming my investment period was 1 year or less, would you say that this is not going to be suitable?

Santosh

Based on FIRE (my FIRE btw is Fuck It, Retire Early) the rule is to have around 250 - 300x monthly income. So Kris, I know your FIRE number is R7M as you've stated this.

so assume you have the R7M already and are still work and assume is sort of split into Cash, Bonds, Stocks and Property.

If this portfolio yields you a modest 6% PA it amounts to your investments paying you R420,000 PA - Gross.

Now this is gonna have a major impact on the tax you'll pay as there's no way that you can "hide" this from SARS and there's no way your PAYE accounts for this.

You're gonna have to pay SARS either way. I know one of the solutions is to dump it all into an RA but then you are not liquid and you'll pay the tax in the future anyway.

I'm sure the other FIRE guys like Patrick, Stealthy face this.

What's the solution ?

Does on just lap it up & pay the tax comforted in the knowledge that they're paying tax cause they've made money

This tax liability is quite substantial as if you're an average earner, it pushes you 2-3 tax brackets higher and if you're a HNWI, even an increase of 0.2% of your taxable income can add R20000-R50000 to your tax bill for that year.

Leon

For the inflation linked option, the capital balance would increase by the cpi calculated rate at payment dates and interest is fixed at 5% of capital.

The website mentions an index ratio calculated by cpi divided by base ratio or value, do you know where this base value(divisor) is obtained from? It only mentions that the cpi (numerator) is obtained from Stats SA.

The fixed rate on the inflation linked 10 year bond is at an all-time high of 5%? Is this an opportunity to lock in a great rate or are the fixed rate bonds still the better option?

It seems like there is more upside potential on the inflation linked bonds as it is unlikely cpi will remain at current lows over the 10 year period. I may be incorrect but it seems both options offer the roll over or restart option so you could capture any improvement on the fixed rates either way.

Ross

There is an awesome book by Andrew Hallam - "Millionaire expat" that details expat investing (He details options for people all around the world) He also has a blog. Another is Bogle heads investing advice and info based on Singaporean expat investing.

Often the fear of making a mistake keeps us from starting our investment journey. It feels like everything is on the line when we make our first investment, but missteps can be corrected fairly easily. Even the mistake of waiting too long and starting too late can be corrected. This week we think through some of the mistakes new investors fear most and how they can be corrected. Hopefully this episode will give you the courage you need to take the plunge.

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Win of the week: Rory

I started learning about the investing world about two months ago and stumbled upon your website within the first week.

Most of the things you discussed in your podcast just flew over my head, but it did direct me to the things I had to go read up about. Two months later I realized I am able to follow your podcasts without any problems. I want to thank you both for that. If I didn't stumble upon your website it would have taken me much longer to actually understand the investing world.

I have a friend, he is 25 and about to get married. His plan is to move to New Zealand in the next ten years. I told him he should look at starting to put money away in his TFSA, then the question came up about what happens to that money when he emigrates?

I see EasyEquities opened a properties platform, where you can buy shares in buildings and earn your share of the rent. What are your opinions on this? Do you think it would be a good idea to invest some money there and what would the tax implications be?

Travis

I recently made my first attempt to begin investing using my TFSA. I have been listening to the Fat Wallet show whenever I can.

I decided to invest in the Satrix NASDAQ 100 and the Satrix S&P 500 hoping to acquire some international exposure. I did not realise the NASDAQ has some S&P 500 companies. Now I am wondering whether I have begun on the wrong note, making a mistake and overinvesting or spreading myself too thin in some of these companies in the indices.

Is there any way that way that I can correct this "imbalance" in my TFSA or should I even bother? Have I made a blunder in choosing both the NASDAQ and S&P 500?

Ash

Like many of my colleagues, I was hopeless with my finances for most of my working life. I had 2 RAs with my insurance broker that were fee- and penalty-laced products that underperformed my cash savings account. Four years ago, I started a tax-free and a discretionary investment with my bank which were both heavy on fees (2-3%) and did not perform as expected (annualized return of

A year later, I took a two-year private scholarship, which meant leaving my government job after 10 years and my pension fund (GEPF) paying out. The scholarship only paid about 60% of my usual salary & I would have had a hard time keeping up with my bond repayments, instead of moving the pension payout into a preservation fund or my RA, I used it to settle most of my bond and reduce my monthly payments. Needless to say, this 2 year gap left a big dent in my finances overall as I had no other source of income & relied heavily on my savings.

Earlier this year, when I was looking at investment options for my toddler's education, I started reading up on personal finance & investing, discovered your blog and podcast, and realized all my missteps along the way.

This set off a series of changes in rapid succession:

I switched banks to a bank with a single, lower fee, and better cash investment options. This meant closing my access bond. With my biggest debts paid off, I cut down aggressively on unnecessary expenses, brought my expense:income ratio to about 40% and focused on saving and investing the balance. I started 2 new money market accounts with the new bank - 1 immediate access for my emergency fund (now have 3x monthly expenses covered), and a 90-day notice account with a higher interest rate (between 6.5-7%).

I transferred both my insurance-based RAs (despite the protests and threats of penalties from my broker) to a low-fee new generation RA (10X) and started a new one with Sygnia (Skeleton Balanced 70). I increased my contributions from 5% to 10% of my income, and plan to increase further to 15%.

I repurchased the poorly performing discretionary investment with my bank and reinvested this in an Allan Gray unit trust (High Equity Fund) - lower fees but still in the range of 1.6%. This was just at the start of the current crash so it has nosedived, but I am planning to hold rather than sell low.

I began investing in a range of ETFs in quick succession:

a) Satrix (50%): initially Top 40 (12.5%) and MSCI World (12.5%) - later added Emerging Markets (6.25%), NASDAQ 100 (6.25%) and most recently, the new SA Bond ETF (12.5%).

b) Sygnia (25%): 4th Global IR ETF (12.5%) and S&P500 (12.5%) (initially also had MSCI USA but stopped the recurring contributions when I realized the huge overlap with the S&P)

c) CoreShares (25%): S&P Global Property (12.5%) & SA Property Income (12.5%).

I switched my tax-free investment from the 'multi-managed growth fund of funds' with my bank to the NewFunds MAPPS Growth ETF (using the same platform), and split my maximum contribution between this ETF (50%) & the Sygnia Skeleton International Equity FoFs (50%) (*factsheets attached).

I would like to know your take on my financial moves and if there was anything I could have done better?

My concerns are:

1. Was it a mistake to close my old bank account just to save on fees, since this was my oldest and most diversified line of credit (home loan + first ever credit card)? Will this damage my credit score, especially when I apply for a new home loan?
2. Am I overexposed to global (especially US) markets in my choice of ETFs & is there too much overlap in the holdings of the global ETFs (MSCI World, S&P500, NASDAQ 100 and the Sygnia International Equity FoFs, not to mention the 30% international equity in my RA's)?
3. My discretionary investments currently outweigh my RA contributions by about 40% & both RAs still only represent 10% of my income. I wanted to gain more equity and global exposure than a Reg28 product would allow (and have access to the funds if needed before age 55), but is this short-sighted and should I rather aim to maximize my tax deductions?
4. The listed property ETFs are the worst performing products so far & I understand this reflects the poor performance of property markets in general - would reducing my exposure to this sector be wise at this stage since recovery is very likely to be sluggish given the current crisis?
5. How do you feel about holding the NewFunds MAPPS Growth ETF in a tax-free investment? This is 70% local equity (SWIX) and also holds a significant proportion in SA bonds or cash (30%). Is this kind of 'balanced' ETF not ideal for a tax-free investment (TFI) since we are looking at long-term growth and equity-only would give higher returns? After listening to your podcasts, I understand the Ashburton 1200 to be one of the best choices for a diversified equity-only ETF. I am thinking of transferring my TFI to the ASHGEQ via Easy Equities, however this overlaps quite a bit with the Sygnia Skeleton International Equity FoFs (*fund breakdown attached), including emerging market exposure. Would I be better off consolidating my TFI into one 'global' ETF or is there any benefit to splitting between the ASHGEQ and the Sygnia International Equity FoFs (*not sure if this is really a 'passive' fund since it seeks to 'outperform' the MSCI ACWI)? Should I rather split the TFI between the ASHGEQ and a local equity ETF like the CoreShares Top50 since the SA market is not represented in the ASHGEQ?

How do you and Simon feel about the Ashburton World Government Bond ETF (TER 0.51%), particularly as a part of 'balanced' ETF portfolio? I see from their factsheet that their returns have exceeded even the ASHGEQ (>20%), but I understand that this may change with interest rates over time, and may not reflect future performance.

Would the combination below in a TFSA wrapper be the best long-term bet?

1. Ashburton Global 1200 Equity ETF (1/3)
2. Ashburton World Government Bond ETF (1/3)
3. CoreShares S&P SA Top 50 ETF (1/3)
4. I have been looking at the RAs offered by EtfSA & their Wealth Enhancer RA seems quite attractive - it includes more commodities (gold in particular), local mid-cap and Africa ex-SA exposure than my current RA holdings. The fees though stand at 1%, similar to 10X. What are your thoughts on this RA & would you recommend adding this to diversify my RA portfolio?

Matt

With many companies transitioning to remote work and deciding to stay that way, it's becoming easier to find a location independent job for a foreign company.

If I earn a salary from a foreign company and then decide to do the nomad thing and travel around low cost of living countries for, say, a year but remain a tax resident in SA.

My understanding is the first R1m earned will be tax exempt- is that the cae? Am I missing anything and does this seem like a feasible thing to pull off?

Access the ETF comparison tool Edwin shared here: https://www.etfrc.com/funds/overlap.php

Anne

My employer pays into a Liberty Provident Fund on my behalf. For the first time this month I requested my Provident Fund statement.

I saw, with disbelief, that Liberty is taking 12% of my contribution each month in fees! Given what I have learned about fees from your website and podcasts I am dumbfounded.

I queried this with Liberty and they said it's because their fees are based on 0.02% of 'payroll' i.e my salary, rather than my contribution. I checked with our company CFO and she said these fees are in keeping with what is charged by other companies and I can't go to another provider.

• What do other reputable SA companies charge to administer Provident Funds?
• Why is it so hard (for me, anyway) to find this out?
• Do you know if my company can compel me to stick with Liberty under SA law? Why can't I leave the company provident fund to go to another provident fund or RA of my choosing? If not, Liberty can just make up a number (as they seem to have done) and charge me what they like and there is nothing I can do about it except leave my job.

I've been avoiding talking about endowment policies, because what even are they? I haven't come across one in my own investment life. This week, a question from Sandile sent me down the endowment road. I had fun with it. I got the Tax Elves involved. They had fun with it. Fun was had by all.

Endowments are the love child of insurance and investments. They have a five-year lock-in period, a tax rate of 30%, a life assured and a beneficiary. If you are in a higher tax bracket and looking for a long-term investment vehicle, endowments are worth investigating. They can also play a role in estate planning. It pays out directly to the beneficiary, which is great if you are leaving someone behind who is financially dependent on you. As De Wet de Villiers pointed out, the fact that they pay out tax-free doesn't mean they're not taxed in the estate. It simply means the estate is liable for the tax, not the beneficiary.

In addition to teaching me a thing or two about endowments, Sandile's question could serve as a template if you're hoping to add new holdings to your portfolio. His clear reasoning and systematic approach to adding this investment is worthy of emulation.

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Win of the week: Pru

I've tried to break up with my advisor for the last year, but it has been difficult! Everytime I say to him, we need to talk and I want to move my investments, he takes me out on a nice date, listens to me and then goes on to scare me into staying with him.

He tells me EasyEquities is not the right platform for me and I should be careful of companies like 10X. It does not help that he also butters me up and tells me how great I am, while also telling me about his life, so I end up feeling I can't leave him because he confides in me. My people-pleasing self feels bad for wanting to break up with him. It's the perfect emotionally manipulative relationship and I JUST CAN'T LEAVE!

How does one amicably break up with their financial advisor? More importantly, how do you leave them when you have a fear of managing your money independently?

I have listened to your podcast, and some episodes more than once. I read Sam Beckbessinger's book and Vicki Robin's book called Your Money or Your Life. I aspire to be a Patrick Mckay and I have a financial strategy to reach FIRE, but my greatest hurdle is letting my financial advisor go and trusting myself that I can manage my investments myself.

When he is not around I feel as though I can manage my money independently and I do not need him, but after meeting with him, I leave with a great sense of fear about moving my TFSA from Sanlam to Easy and moving my RA from Discovery to TenEx or Outvest.

All the financial aspects that do not involve him I have managed relatively well, like my emergency fund. I know I can manage my money, I just fear that if I move my investments to the "big bad world of ETFs" (which is how he makes it sound), I will lose everything! I know he may be playing Jedi mind tricks on me, but how do I stop myself from being tricked! Also, he is not a bad person, he is a very nice guy, but I think this is part of my problem, I am making this whole relationship too personal! I feel defeated!

Sandile

I stumbled on this product by Sygnia where you can get direct exposure to Berkshire Hathaway.

Here is why I'm looking into buying into this fund:

• I believe that Berkshire is going to have ample opportunity to buy really decent businesses at decent prices as Covid continues to decimate some much needed industries.
• I believe Berkshire is one of those great businesses that one can buy at a decent price, thanks to Covid;
• I bought a few units in late Jan through EasyEquities and the costs to transfer funds and transact in USD was rather hefty, so I think I'll leave that to a local fund to handle that;
• I have looked at the S&P500 (which I hold) and in my view, the Berkshire allocation there is rather small and I'd like more exposure;

Sygnia offers this fund for "discretionary savings into a 5-year endowment, a retirement annuity or a living annuity". I would like to avoid setting up an RA with yet another service provider at the moment and I have no need for a living annuity, which leaves me with the endowment fund option.

From the little that I could read up on endowment funds:

• I am fairly comfortable with the idea of leaving the cash invested for at least five years (if not more);
• My marginal income tax rate exceeds 41% so at 30% tax, the fund is saving me some element of tax;
• I have set up an emergency fund (around 6 months' salary) so I think the risk of cancelling the endowment before 5 years is low;
• TFSA has been maxed for 2021 year of assessment. I contribute far less than the allowed 27.5% into my RA (I am busy assessing contributing into an RA vs increasing my employer-pension fund contributions);
• I am just uncertain if I'm opening myself up to more unknown risks/complications/costs by using this structure.

Kimberley

I am a shareholder for a company who has moved operations to Mauritius.

If our company is lucky enough to declare dividends, this will now be paid in USD.

How does this affect my tax?

Is there a way I can get it in ZAR without losing so much to tax or is it better I keep it offshore ?

I like the idea of keeping it offshore for emergencies or as a "life insurance" for me when I pass away to leave to my daughter. Is this possible with only holding a SA passport?

Perhaps I could open an offshore trust and list her as the beneficiary and the dividends get paid into that?

Could I open a USD trading account on EE and get the dividends paid directly to that?

Is what I'm wanting to do by not bringing it into SA even legal?

I feel there are not enough bubbles, chuckles, coffee and chai tea to get me through the questions I have and the changes I need to implement to get my financial ducks in a row. Right now these ducks have ADHD and when they seem to be in a row, they decide to go off on a fucking tangent.

Anton

I inherited a farm in 1994 and sold it in 2019. I have the value of it when I got it and when I sold it. I did not get a valuation in 2001 when CGT started. I would like to know how to work out the CGT on this transaction.

Download the calculator here.

Moore

I am 27 and have a pension/provident plan with my employer. I would like to have an RA for a top up.

I would also like to invest in shares. I don't know how to go about doing any of those.

I have an EasyEquities account but I don't really know which shares to target, and for which amount every month. I have a R1000 that I can divide for those two financial goals. With that amount of money and my age, I am not even sure if that will be enough to contribute. I've only been exposed recently to this saving and investing movement. I was so ignorant.

Thanks to the Fat wallet Community on Facebook I have managed to put some savings for Emergencies with Tyme bank.

Catherine

I've tried the Interactive Brokers demo account and find it a little intimidating. I don't know what options or margins are, and I don't want to enact them by mistake by clicking the wrong button. I also imagine their customer service is not catered for noobs like me. Having said that, the platform is becoming less intimidating the more I play with the demo account.

Another option is to buy the shares through a Standard Bank Webtrader account, which has broker fees of 0.345% and annual account fees of 0.26%, and then transfer the amount across to my EasyEquities USD account to avoid paying ongoing annual fees.

Do you have any thoughts on each of these options, considering that my goal is to pay the lowest fees possible over the next 20 years, but also have a relatively user-friendly experience.

I don't have a credit card. The only time this has ever been a problem is when a hotel or car rental company requires a credit card for a booking or deposit. It is pretty frustrating being at an airport and unable to rent a car. And are there any ways to get around this booking/deposit problem without having a credit card? And do you know of any reasons to have a credit card aside from this (assuming I don't need the credit)? Are credit cards generally better than debit cards for general spending while travelling?

Melisha

I have two kids in grade 4 and grade 0. I usually save up the school fee money to pay once off and get a 5% discount in December of the previous year.

I anticipate a 10% increase in school fees. So essentially I need to save R20k a month for both kids' school fees for the 2021 school year.

We usually put the money into a savings account but now the interest rates are so low. At the moment the money is in a Tyme bank account goal save but i was wondering if there was something better out there? Something with low risk, short term and potentially to beat money market type accounts.

Our friend Walter made a site called Rate Compare https://www.ratecompare.co.za/.

Tristan

Lately I have been seeing ads on YouTube for a financial service app called Franc.

It has 4 stars on the Google Play Store but I was wondering if you had heard of it, seen it or tried it? Lastly, can we trust Franc?

Ken

What is all the hype over Mexem Africa about? I have gone to their website but, quite frankly, it looks like a scamsters website (although I thought the same about Easy Equities' website too, before I started using it).

I don't see any info on tax free accounts, and they mention all sorts of foreign currencies but not much about how you convert your rands to Dollars/Euros/etc...

The little section on fees is as clear as mud. As an ETF investor (tax free and discretionary) should I be looking into it in a bit more detail? Would really appreciate a chat between you and Simon on this.

Brian

I've been with etfSA since 2012. I am busy updating my etf portfolio and want to know if I should shift some funds or all to Easy Equities. I've already bought MSCI China through my Easy Equities account that I registered a few weeks ago. What is your suggestion?