In this second instalment of my Holiday Show Load, we are not nearly so clever. We tried to push through as many questions as we could, but you know how chatty we get!
This is the Double Jenny episode, which delights me no end. We discussed some of the things Jenny the First can do to choose the right ETF for her. If you find yourself in a similar position, you can find some more tips on making this choice by reading the below articles:
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The bleeped version is below.
Maryanne
If I check on the ETFSA site the TER for my Sygnia ETF is .6 &.8 % pa.
When I look at my statement I pay TER & management which is more like 1% . When I asked why so much for a passive fund I was told DBX charged the same.
Margaret
SARS want to know your net gain/loss as well as your capital gain/loss. Could you explain the difference between these?
I have a TFSA with Sygnia and Allan Gray. The Syngia IT3 gives me interest, dividends and capital gain/loss. The Allan Gray. Gives me net return, interest, dividends and capital gain/loss.
Allan Gray had this explanatory note that they owned the underlying investments, so the tax implications accrue to Allan Gray. Given the whole point of TFSA is that you don’t have tax implications. Can you explain what’s going on here?
Jenny
I recently opened a brokerage account and bought a couple of ETFs. I’m a newbie and need a little advice on my portfolio.
I bought:
- Satrix MSCI world
- The Satrix S&P 500
- The Satrix Nasdaq 100
- Ahsburton Global 1200
- Sygnia msci US
- Sygnia 4th industrial rev
I am invested in property in South Africa and am looking for global exposure.
I was just wondering if it’s wise to put money into all these different ETFs of which some are very similar.
Would it be better to cut down and rather put more money into one?
What should I do going forward with the ones I have?
I invested in tax-free savings account. I’d like to open a normal investment account soon, but I’m not sure how many ETFs to choose?
Jenny
I will be receiving some inheritance in the near future – R3m.
I feel a responsibility to look after it and make it grow and not blow it on a bad investment.
I am 44 and I have a bond on my home of R1.5m.
I don’t necessarily have to pay my bond off with my inheritance as I rent it out, so I can deduct the interest from my rental income for tax savings.
I am invested in property in SA so would like international exposure. Do you think I can invest it all in two or three ETFs like the Satrix s+p 500 and msci world. Would this be a good idea or do you have any other ideas on what I could do?
Santosh
From my experience, this can be accomplished via direct dividend paying shares, or buying a Dividend ETF like the Satrix DIVI.
The other is to buy mutual funds that pay income on a bi-annual or quarterly basis. These will pay different amounts depending on what’s invested and hopefully will cover all expenses during the course of a year.
At a 5.5% typical bond fund yield, around R4.4M is needed in capital and if we assume 20% goes in tax, we’d need R5.45M to be comfortable.
I’m not accounting for inflation as I’m assuming the capital will never be touched, so it will move “up” hopefully with the underlying unit price. I’m further assuming that the “Cents per unit” paid will increase with time and thus account somewhat for inflation (I know this is a risky bet!)
Do you agree ?
What would be your suggestions for the best funds to use for this purpose, excluding property.
If RSA goes to junk, the yields will increase, which will mean a good regular return if bonds are used as an investment and as the prices will fall, one can buy more bonds for an even larger “income”.
IF this is true, why invest in anything else but bonds? Am I correct in the above thinking, or am I being too simplistic.
Mona
Since listening to your show my wife and I have seriously been looking at some financial options. My wife currently has R1.8m in a 32 day call account earning R10 000 interest per month.
We know this is not the best option, but our financial advisor from Standard Bank has told us to give notice and he will invest it offshore rather. Is there a better option? What would you say is a conservative fund to do this with for a period of 10 + years?
Katie from summertownpictures.com
I have heard your cries about fees, and decided to act. I have a TFSA with FNB. I decided to call them up and ask for my EAC for my Tax Free Shares Account.
The consultant was unaware of what the EAC was and sent me a tax certificate. Sensing some disgruntlement, she got hold of someone higher up in the food chain and he told me my account costs R20 a month and gave a vague brokerage fee.
This took roughly an hour over the phone.
And this is not the EAC expressed as a percentage as per ASISA standard requirements. Am I right? After explaining this to him, he told me he could manually work the EAC out for me.
My complaint was escalated, and this is the response: “I have gone back and requested some information from our Product manager regarding EAC on Tax Free Share accounts. He has advised me that this would apply to the Tax Free Unit trust accounts and not the Tax Free Share accounts as EAC is specific for providers that are ASISA members like unit trust providers. FNB Share Investing is not an ASISA member and therefore not required to provide clients with a EAC of their product.”
Does that sound right to you guys? Based on this I shall be moving my TFSA to Sygnia PRONTO. See ya later FNB.
Franko
I started working at the age of 21 and started investing into an RA through some crap that was sold to me.
After a few years I stopped contributing to it and left it. I have since changed jobs twice and have been working for a wonderful company for nine years now.
This company contributes to a provident fund on my behalf and has been doing ok. About two years ago I started to really think about my retirement.
I tracked down my old RA and moved to a new rip off scheme and started to contribute to it again. After reading some books I realised the fees are mad and moved it again to Sygnia and got rid of my “advisor”. I only contribute R600.00 to the RA as my main focus is my TFSA.
After the move and my new lower fees I started doing some more research. I had no idea how TFSAs worked.
I thought it was like a savings account at the bank that you can save money at a low interest rate and pay no tax on it. I dug deeper and found out I was so wrong.
I opened an account with Satrix and started investing into the S&P500 and trying really hard to contribute the max amount each year. Listening to your podcast I think I need to diversify even more.
I want to invest in either the Ashburton 1200 or the MSCI world index fund. But what do I do with my S&P500 investment? I know selling it will reduce my overall tax saving years from now and the amount already contributed cannot be contributed again in another fund. Do I leave it and stop the contributions to open the new TFSA or do I sell and move on?
My S&P500 investment has been doing really well and if I am correct, the S&P500 is at an all-time high or close to it. If I do continue investing in it, do I buy now at this high or do I wait a while to see what it does?
Jamie
- I have an emergency fund (6 months expenses) – In an account earning 7.2%
- I contribute to an RA through my Financial Advisor with Stanlib and am quite happy with the asset allocation. My contribution is currently only 5% of my gross salary.
- I currently have a very small equities portfolio which is currently doing terribly 🙁
- I have a Unit Trust with Investec (Equity Fund Class R) – I do not contribute to monthly.
- I have a TFSA which I have maxed out for the last 2 years in the following ETFs:
- Sygnia MSCI World – 35%
- CoreShares SciBeta M-FI – 35%
- CoreShares PropTrax Ten – 20%
- Ashburton Global 1200 – 10%
I am currently sitting on R1m cash (after CGT) due to the sale of shares in a company I was involved in. This money is sitting in my bank account earning 7.2% until I decide where to invest it.
- How do you feel about my weighting and choices for the TFSA? Should I be contributing more to the Global 1200 – I hear you speaking about this a lot?
- Should I be contributing more to my RA?
- Where should my R1m be invested considering all of the above? I would like to have some cash available for the odd splurge if needed ;).
- Would it be wise to keep some money in cash to then use to max out my TFSA at the beginning of each year without having to contribute from my salary?
The Fat Wallet Show is a no-nonsense personal finance and investment podcast hosted by Kristia van Heerden and Simon Brown. Every week we answer questions by a growing audience of finance enthusiasts. Submit your pressing money and investment questions to ask@justonelap.com.
