Money is inextricably linked to every aspect of our lives. Every milestone and setback is either helped or hindered by our financial situation. When we plan for life events like weddings, babies, retirement or death, we also think about their financial impact. Most of us fall short in planning for things we don’t like thinking ...

When you’re just starting out on your investment journey, dividends seem like much ado about nothing. That’s because dividends get paid per share. If you don’t have many of those, dividend amounts can be laughably small. It’s hard to get excited about R25. However, long-time rich-ass shareholders will tell you dividends become way more fun ...

The tax-free investment case is so appealing, it’s almost always a good idea to do your tax-free investing before anything else. Even fancy algorithms like this one finds that. Sadly, life happens to our money and a full tax-free allocation isn’t always possible. This week, we help a father of four figure out how to ...

This is not the first time I’ve heard people buying insurance products to leave money to loved ones who aren’t financially dependent. In cases of premature death, it’s genius (aside from the dying). However, insurance companies are money printing machines because they understand how to harness probability. When you take out a life insurance policy, ...

Survivors of a battle with the Debt Monster already got a nasty introduction to the world of fees. A combination of account fees and interest on debt will leave you poorer every time. This baptism of fire may have been unpleasant, but it’s not a lesson you’re soon to forget. Those most vulnerable to the ...

Tax rebates, bonuses and inheritances really throw us for a loop. Most of us have every cent of our salary allocated to some higher purpose, but the moment we find ourselves with a big hunk of cash, we get in our own heads. We all know what we should do with the money, except because ...

The longer we do this, the more evidence we find in favour of doing tax-free investments before any other kind of investing. To do that, you need to understand why paying no tax makes a huge difference to how much money you end up with. You also need to understand that there’s a difference between ...

This community is all about not leaving money on the table. Buying and selling shares at the right time can have a long-term impact on the performance of your portfolio. This week we discuss two questions relating to timing buying and selling shares and ETFs. Win of the week: Mukhtaar, for solving the tax on ...

I’m often curious about the finances of people who want to take on some alternative way of making money in financial markets - be it trading or Bitcoin. More often than not, people who are convinced that a single asset or event will solve all their problems don’t yet have solid a financial foundation. Similarly, ...

Since talking about money is my day job, it’s easy to assume that I have no financial anxieties. That’s not the case. Money speaks to such a primal part of our humanity. I think everyone is susceptible to a degree of fear around their ability to meet the basic needs of themselves and their families. ...