Podcasts about just one lap

This evening we dive into market movements with Just One Lap, we speak to energy analyst Chris Yelland about Eskom's new tariff plan and how it will impact solar users, Liberty gives us insight into a new partnership aimed at dealing with unclaimed benefits, we speak to SAB about its recent financials and celebrating 130 years, and this week's SME is Koa Academy, an online school launched during the pandemic. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

Simon Brown of Just One Lap runs us through the day's market developments, the rand, the gold price, US interest rates remaining unchanged, market uncertainty, and the US vs China. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

This evening, we dive into market movements with PSG Wealth, take a look at the state of the luxury sector especially amid tariff volatility with Just One Lap, speak to PPS about its recent results, Alexforbes gives us some information around its high school chess competition expanding to all provinces, and we get insight into some scams – from rentals to Vat notifications – with TymeBank and Fitzanne Estates. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

  The Atlanta Fed's GDP Forecast The Atlanta Fed GDPNow predicts a -2.4% GDP contraction for Q1 2025. Market uncertainty due to tariffs and economic policy concerns. Corporate travel and consumer bookings showing signs of weakness as Delta Airlines downgrades their expectations from mid January. Market Reactions and Sell-Offs Nasdaq and S&P had their worst single-day drops since 2022. Major stocks like Nvidia, ASML, and CrowdStrike seeing significant declines. Bitcoin at $81,000 amid broader market volatility. Europe as a Potential Investment Opportunity Europe's economic stimulus: Germany announces a €500B package. ETFs to consider: EURO STOXX 50 (SYGEU) vs. MSCI Europe Industrial Sector. Potential for growth in industrial and defense sectors. Euro Stoxx 50 | Weekly | 12 March 2025 Just One Lap Turns 14 Founded in 2011 to provide online financial education. Reflection on the platform's growth and community support. South African Budget Review Possible VAT increase; lack of innovative fiscal strategies. Previous reliance on gold reserves for financial stability. Discussion on potential economic impacts. HomeChoice International Results Revenue up 21%, HEPS up 27%, dividend up 17%. Expanding into fintech with PayJustNow and FinChoice. Liquidity concerns despite strong financial performance. Two-Pot Retirement Withdrawals - Where Did the Money Go? Initial claims suggested debt repayment, but data suggests spending. Increased vehicle sales, hospitality sector growth (e.g., Spur, Sun International). Implications for long-term financial planning. Simon Brown * I hold ungeared positions. All charts by KoyFin | Get 10% off your order 00:00 Economic Outlook: Recession Predictions and Market Reactions 09:07 Investing in Europe: Opportunities and ETFs 12:07 Celebrating 14 Years of Just One Lap 13:20 Budget Analysis: VAT Increase and Economic Innovation 15:09 Home Choice International: Business Performance and Liquidity Challenges 18:19 Consumer Spending Trends: Where Did the Money Go?  

This Is the 150th episode of The Property Pod on Moneyweb, and we are joined by Brown, the founder of Just One Lap and host of the MonewebNOW show. With three Sarb repo rate cuts, has he changed his mind about buying? Podcast series on Moneyweb

This evening we look at the markets with Just One Lap, we touch on the day's results releases from Nedbank, Shoprite, Harmony Gold and Discovery, and in our Property Insights segment, we speak to Sentinel Homes about instalment sale agreements as an alternative to a traditional mortgage. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

Simon Brown of Just One Lap runs us through the day's market performance, local GDP data, tariff troubles, SA having a decade of zero growth, geopolitical tensions, and can SA make real changes? SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

Simon Brown of Just One Lap discusses the day's market developments, commodities, Shoprite's update, Astoria's update, the Competition Tribunal shutting down Vodacom's deal with Maziv, and Coronation's trading statement. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

This evening we look at market moves with Just One Lap, we discuss expectations for the upcoming mid-term budget policy statement with PwC, Modern Corporate Solutions helps us understand the gold-silver ratio and how investors can use it to their advantage, Old Mutual joins in to discuss the importance for nurturing innovation in Africa, and in our Property Insights segment, we speak to TPN on the current state of the rental market. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

Simon Brown of Just One Lap discuss the day's market moves, US interest rate and inflation expectations, Asian markets following China's stimulus announcement, commodity prices, SA's economic growth possibilities, and Afrimat's trading update. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

This evening we look at market moves with Just One Lap, speak to independent economist Glen Robbins about recent legal developments around the Durban ports deal, and economist Mudiwa Gavaza gives us insight into the US's plan to break up Google. NIQ MD Zak Haeri discusses the current state of the South African consumer, and what he expects for 2025, and in our Executive Lounge segment we speak to Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage about his job, getting started at Avis, and what he does in his spare time. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

This evening we look at market developments with Just One Lap, Hyprop's CEO discusses the company's financials, we discuss the Prudential Authority highlighting flaws in Ithala's system with Denker Capital, MyBroadband discusses whether we are really being told the truth about the deal with Elon Musk's Starlink, and PayProp chat to us about the real (and sometimes hidden) costs associated with renting. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

Simon Brown of Just One Lap discusses the day's market movements as the JSE saw green all around, excitement for tomorrow's US rates decision and what the scenario might be after the decision, local consumer confidence, numbers out of OUTsurance, Metair deciding to exit Türkiye, platinum counters seeing another strong day, and where he's finding value. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

Just One Lap's Simon Brown discusses the day's market moves as August trading opens lower, local PMI, US market performance, the incoming interest rate decision from the Fed, the gold price, commodities, Quantum Foods qualms, and Vodacom. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

Pre-negotiated employment agreements known as "golden handshakes" offer a severance payment in the event that a person leaves their job prematurely without permission. Cash, stock options, or any other kind of payment allowed by the contract may be used as payment. To provide additional clarification, host Ray White speaks to Simon Brown, a financial educator from Just One Lap, for our Money show explanatory feature.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

  Election Results Impact on Markets Slow ballot counting with three ballots, 18.7% counted. CSIR prediction at 5%: ANC 42%, DA 22%, EFF 9%, MK 14%, Patrick Alliance 2%. Market concerns about ANC forming a coalition. Rand fluctuations: From 18.34 on Tuesday to 18.61 currently. [caption id="attachment_42259" align="aligncenter" width="849"] Rand | 1pm 30 May 2024[/caption] Pepkor Results: 9.5% revenue growth. 24.5% growth in fintech, now 12% of the business. Pepkor sells 7 out of 10 smartphones in South Africa. Woolies (Woolworths) Update: Earnings down 20% for the year ending June. Challenges in the clothing segment, further deterioration in footfall and discretionary spend. Food segment performing better, but overall market reaction negative. Zeda Results: Revenue growth of 19%, HEPs up 12.5%, return on equity at 28.5%. Surprise 50 cents dividend despite previous year-end dividend expectations. BHP Billiton and Anglo American Merger BHP walked away from the Anglo-American takeover proposal. Speculation about potential offers from Rio Tinto or Glencore. Anglo-American's disinvestment plans for De Beers and Anglo Platinum. Market Insights Discussion on Metrofile's challenges with dividend yield falling and pressure on share price. SAB Cap Investments' exit from Metrofile. South African Reserve Bank MPC rate announcement: No rate changes expected. Upcoming central bank meetings: ECB, FOMC, Bank of England, Swiss National Bank. Potential for future rate cuts in South Africa if inflation targets are met. Commodity webcast with Johann Erasmus available on Just One Lap. Insights into gold, PGMs, and copper. Mention of the cheaper gold ETF from 1nvest compared to Absa GLD. Changes in 10X ETFs: Local Dividend Aristocrat and Smart Beta merging into a Top 50 ETF. * I hold ungeared positions.

Simon Brown of Just One Lap takes us through the day's market moves, this week's inflation print, market sentiment, interest rates staying higher for longer, and where investors are putting their money. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

Noluthando Mthonti-Mlambo speaks to Investment Analyst and Founder at Just One Lap, Simon Brown about the liquidation of Ellies. After trading for 45 years, Ellies Holdings is shutting down after a failed campaign to win over the local renewable energy market, a move that would have helped to address its heavy debt burden. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Simon Brown of Just One Lap discusses the day's market news, US inflation dampening hopes of a rate cut, the rand, and where we can find value in the market currently. SAfm Market Update - Podcasts and live stream

  Bertina Engelbrecht, CEO at Clicks Group on their annual financial results and trading conditions in SA.      Simon Brown, financial educator at Just One Lap on the fiasco at BHI trust, as fund manager is arrested for fraud.      Warren Ingram, co-founder of Galileo Capital and  personal financial advisor on whether it is better to invest in fixed deposits or the stock market in order to build wealth.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Simon Brown from Just One Lap joins Business Day TV for a broader look at the day's market movers

We focus on some industry-leaders in the insurance sector, unpacking Old Mutual, Santam, Sanlam and Liberty with Simon Brown from Just One Lap. Stock Watch

Simon Brown — Founder, Just One Lap

Simon Brown - Founder, Just One Lap

Simon Brown is the host of the popular week-day podcast, MoneyWebNOW. He also runs the website Just One Lap and appears weekly on BusinessDay TV's The Week That Was and writes a weekly column for the Financial Mail. This man has a passion for money and educating people on how to work well with their finances! In this episode, Simon shares how downscaling was one of the best financial decisions he's ever made. He also talks about learning the hard way to ride out stock crashes and take the emotion out of making financial decisions. From discussions on books and the fact that our bodies age to the people Simon has most enjoyed interviewing over the years, this episode covers a lot of bases. So, you're bound to learn something interesting from the man who owns exactly two pairs of shoes. KEY POINTS To avoid wasting money, be sure you really need and really love the things you choose to buy Sometimes it's good to try new things just for their silliness, not because you need to be the best at everything We don't remember important life events by holding onto tangible objects, we simply remember them. So, it's possible to let go of a lot of clutter RESOURCES Catch-22 – Joseph Heller The Complete Maus: A Survivor's Tale – Art Spiegelman The Five Stages of Grief – Elisabeth Kübler Ross ABOUT YOUR HOST, CHARLES HSUAN I know the pressure you are under. I understand your problems, what's causing them, and exactly what you need to do to solve them... Born with ADHD and not fitting the mould, I understand if you are an entrepreneur not looking to fit in with the rest of the market. Since 2004, I've exceeded sales targets and generated millions of rands in sales for companies. 90% of my clients have experienced sales growth from my training and coaching. If you are Smart, Hungry and Humble. Let's work together!

Simon Brown – Founder, Just One Lap

Simon Brown Founder of Just One Lap

Simon Shares Just One Lap is 11 years old :) FOMC, as expected. Local MPC tomorrow. Nasdaq, time to buy? Also FTSE100. Both a technical buy, not taking a view on the fundamentals.   Brent almost back at US$120. China opened up already, well Foxcon at least. Tencent results, flat-lining. The end of an era! So says Tencent as revenue grows in single digits, the lowest quarterly number since listing back in 2004. Tencent's declaration is resignation that any expansion will be cautious and controlled. Prosus down 8.2%, Naspers down 8.4%. Prices still look vulnerable — David Shapiro (@davidshapiro61) March 23, 2022   Thungela Resources (JSE code: TGA) results and 1800c dividend. "developments in terms of new thermal coal projects which have been hampered by financing opportunities, given ESG pressures on carbon fuels" * I hold ungeared positions.

Finance for Hippies is invited to present a podcast the Turbine Art Fair, and our guest in this episode is Kristia van Heerden who is the former host of the The Fat Wallet Podcast and CEO of Just One Lap. Most people find the path to financial freedom to be very difficult to navigate and adjusting your financial vision after a global pandemic can be just another barrier. To make this easier, we explore a few financial concepts and principles that will help the artists and everyday people to make better financial decisions and adaptions post pandemic. Kristia speaks on how adhering to these principles increases the probability of accumulation of wealth and better financial positions in the future. We look at the detrimental effects of interest, how to improve savings and how people waste money. We also look at what are the common financial mistakes that people usually make and pitfalls that repeatedly victimise the artist and many small businesses in this time. We also look at things from the glass half full perspective and consider some of the advantages that are offered by the economic system and how one can take advantage to improve one's financial position. Lastly, Kristia helps us offer some tips and tricks people can employ to navigate their finances in the economic system right now and beyond. Disclaimer: Please note that since the date of the recording, Kristia has left JustOneLap & The FatWallet Podcast and she now works as Education Lead at IG Group. Please also note that the contents of this episode do not constitute financial advice. Follow us on Twitter @Finance4Hippies Follow us on Instagram @FinanceforHippies Follow us on Facebook @FinanceforHippies

Just One Lap founder, Simon Brown. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Simon Brown – Founder, Just One Lap

Experts discuss employee rights outside the workplace, Prof David Block, astronomer, and former director at the Cosmic Dust Laboratory At Wits University analyses the significance of Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson's trips into space.   Investment School - Simon Brown, financial educator Just One Lap share tips on how to grow and hold on to dividends from investments. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Spar's turnover increases by 7.5% to R64.2 billion. The growth was mainly driven by its operations in  Switzerland and Ireland, instead of its significantly larger operations in Southern Africa. The supermarket's group CEO Brett Botten, joined Bruce Whitfield to discuss. The South African Reserve Bank has embarked on a study to investigate the feasibility, desirability and appropriateness of a central bank digital currency. We look at the future of money with fintech entrepreneur, Simon Dingle.  Then Simon Brown, financial educator at Just One Lap talks about when to buy and when to sell.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you're new to this money business, access bonds will confuse you. Not only do we use the word “bond” to mean “lending money to the government” and “borrowing money from the bank to buy a house”. The access we're talking about has changed over the years. As Simon Brown explains in this week's episode, in the bad old days before the 2008 crash, banks used to give you a little additional spending money when you took out a home loan. Those days are long gone, but the idea prevails.  These days you can't access the interest or principal repayments you've already made. You can only access additional repayments you've made to reduce your interest payments over time. For this reason, many people store their emergency fund in their access bond. It simultaneously reduces the interest you pay by reducing your principal amount outstanding and protects your cash from tax on interest.  In this episode we discuss the possibility of using your access bond to become your own credit provider. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Gwen  I am in the process of searching for a house and I often hear people saying that they use an "access bond" as an emergency fund. A friend of mine once told me in the past that I should never take up an access Bond because you never finish paying it.  Listening to a lot of podcasts I often hear people saying they use it to put their emergency fund and then they get the benefits to reduce interest. Am finding it difficult to understand how this works, can you kindly explain this to me and how it works practically.  I need to understand how I put money in the access facility, do I deposit it and will the interest reduce automatically?  Win of the week: Katrien Just a short note to say thank you for the work you've done at Just One Lap. I'm one of the many thousands of people who drive to work on a Monday morning with a big smile to start our week. In addition to learning about personal finances, you guys lift our spirits and give us hope. Greg Moving towards pulling the trigger on the investment side so getting there...  TFSA for kids... (trustworthiness aside)  If I want to play catch up with their contributions (or mine) as we are all starting late (12 & 14 for them and 49 for me) I am aware of the 40% tax on over contributions, but surely in the long term their returns will work this off and they will be ahead of the slower sticking to the limit curve?  No.. I have not tried to spreadsheet this yet... My assumption is that the tax is on the input only? 

Simon Brown – founder, Just One Lap

Bruce Whitfield speaks to Kevin Lings, Chief Economist at Stanlib about South Africa's economy shrinking by 7% in 2020, the worst contraction since 1946.   Simon Brown, Financial Educator and founder of Just One Lap takes listeners and Bruce through Invesment lessons from Warren Buffet   See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

After five rewarding years as host of The Fat Wallet Show, my time with the show is coming to an end. This episode is a short retrospective of our time together, followed, as usual, by your questions.  On 30 May 2016 we published the first episode of The Fat Wallet Show. We knew from our personal experience and from our work at Just One Lap that money was such an emotional topic. All so-called financial education came with an assumption that you would already know the jargon and have some basic understanding of how the system worked. Based on the questions we got at Just One Lap, we knew that wasn't true.  I had started at Just One Lap a year before that and I was like a toddler, asking a hundred questions a day. These questions weren't orderly. I'd latch on to one topic, ask every question I could think of, mull it over and come back a few days or weeks later with either the same questions or more questions. I was learning a lot, but I wasn't learning it all in a straight line, because learning isn't linear.  Luckily for me I had a mentor with superhuman patience, who would keep explaining it to me until I got it. I figured if this is how I'm learning about money, this could probably help other people learn too.  The Fat Wallet Show was an experiment. It was just going to be questions and answers. It was always just going to be two people on the show. We decided to swear in the show, because we swear when we talk to each other normally. We didn't want any barriers to making the show sound just like our ordinary conversations. We didn't want experts, we didn't want to interview CEOs. We just wanted to get together once a week and talk about money. Since our first episode, the show has been downloaded 717,000 times. We've received 2,600 emails. Our Facebook community is 9,000 members strong. We've been supported by companies we truly believe in, companies where we have our own money. OUTvest especially has been a true friend to this show. We've made friends that I hope we'll have for life. I've been so inspired by the members of this community. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Ernst, in response to Louise's question: Louise is referring to her provisional tax estimates. So there is a timing difference as she will only get her certificate around June but she needs to estimate it now. She needs to run her own calculation and try to get as close as possible taking into account rate adjustments etc. Again tax works on accrual or paid, whichever comes first. It would seem that she has a considerable amount of interest as she probably uses up her annual exclusion amount. So if she ‘underestimates' her taxable income she may be liable for penalties if it's too far off.  She needs to do an excel calc to try calculate her interest so she can estimate accurately before 28 Feb 2021. She cannot wait until she gets paid or gets the certificate. Suzanne I did a little happy dance this week, on reviewing my OUTVEST RA statement. My transferred RA landed @ OUTVEST in May 2020 and the growth YTD has been SUPER! My set R4 500 fee, which is about 0,75% of my investment, has really made a huge difference. I will be saving my butt off over the next 10 years, to reach that minimum 0,2% fee balance.  This led me down an investment spiral, and after listening to episode 183 again I ended up asking the following question….where are the OUTVEST fixed fee living annuity products?……. If I am happy with the asset class breakdown, would there be any reason not to be able to continue with my pre-retirement investment strategy, after my retirement date, at the same 0,2% fee? I have no idea what the general going EAC is for a living annuity, apart from what I have seen on my Dad's statement – which stated a 1,5% fee. Chris I listened to your Money and Travel episode. Simon mentioned that the SYG4IR is bespoke and doesn't have a US equivalent - that is partly true. I fill up my TFSA with SA listed ETFs with risk that I like (STXCHN, STXEMG, SYG4IR, SYG500), build up some cash to make the EasyFX worthwhile and then buy similar exposure in the USD account. Long story short, SYG4IR tracks the Kensho New Economies Composite Index (KNEX). There is a US-listed ETF, SPDR S&P Kensho New Economies Composite ETF (KOMP US), that tracks the same index. The current hurdle is that KOMP isn't available on EasyEquities currently, but I have reached out to them to add it to the platform. Perhaps if enough of us chase them it will get listed sooner. Doris I've been a loyal listener since near-inception of the Fat Wallet show (via my spouse, though we tend to listen separately.)  You kick-started my TFSA journey. Eventually I figured I need to get this RA business sorted (I've been lax due to GEPF; OutVest it was when I eventually got my

On the latest business news, we talk about the lifting of the lockdown restrictions, fuel price increases and we look into the upcoming national budget. Ken Swettenham, our residential business expert, gives us more insights on the Business Wrap. The Buffalo Index looks at what your R100 can get you in online stock investing courses. The COVID business watch looks into how different industries and sectors have been affected by Covid-19, and this week features Ntwanano Godi, Director of Ntwanano Group, which produces gin and wine. He speaks about running a distillery business and some of the challenges that the restrictions have imposed. On the main topic, we talk about investing in the stock market. We speak to Warren Ingram, Co-founder of Galileo Capital, about how to get started with investing in the stock market. Later on, we speak to Simon Brown, founder of Just One Lap, about what to invest in. wits.journalism.co.za

On the latest business news, we talk about the lifting of the lockdown restrictions, fuel price increases and we look into the upcoming national budget. Ken Swettenham, our residential business expert, gives us more insights on the Business Wrap. The Buffalo Index looks at what your R100 can get you in online stock investing courses. The COVID business watch looks into how different industries and sectors have been affected by Covid-19, and this week features Ntwanano Godi, Director of Ntwanano Group, which produces gin and wine. He speaks about running a distillery business and some of the challenges that the restrictions have imposed. On the main topic, we talk about investing in the stock market. We speak to Warren Ingram, Co-founder of Galileo Capital, about how to get started with investing in the stock market. Later on, we speak to Simon Brown, founder of Just One Lap, about what to invest in.

Graeme Körner from Körner Perspective and Simon Brown from Just One Lap talk to Business Day TV​

Simon Brown, founder at Just One Lap, joins us in this insightful episode, focused on how to get started with buying shares. We start with the basics, such as what a share is and get into more complicated topics such as share valuation. The important takeaway from this episode is that unless you are spending a lot of time on research, buying a basket of shares, called an exchange traded fund (ETF), is the best kind of share to buy. If you buy an ETF you mitigate the risk of buying shares in a company that goes bankrupt, or an industry that is in decline. When you “buy the market” by buying an ETF, you will get average market returns over the long run. Average returns on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange are inflation beating and, when compounded over many years can lead to substantial capital growth. There are many different ETFs you can buy, both locally and overseas. Before buying a stock it is important to do your research to understand what you are buying, and to choose a stock with the lowest possible fees. The worst thing to do is to buy a stock based on advice from a friend at a braai, or even the financial media. You need to do thorough research. An excellent resource on buying shares can be found at Simon's website: justonelap.com.  Disclaimer: Old Mutual Life Assurance Company (South Africa) Limited is a Licensed Financial Service Provider. This material is not intended as and does not constitute financial advice  or any other advice and is neither exhaustive nor prescriptive. It does not take into account your personal financial circumstances. Your financial adviser will assess your financial situation and needs and assist you to draw up a plan to help you achieve your financial goals. The views expressed by the contributor are his or her own (as an independently registered financial services provider, financial adviser or other independent capacity), and not necessarily endorsed by Old Mutual (as a separate financial services provider).Join us on twitter for real conversations about family finances:@FamFinanceShow@DianaGranouxWebsite: www.familyfinanceshow.com

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. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. 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? 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? 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? 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? 

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. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. 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…

Charl Bester, wealth & portfolio manager at Kruger International & Simon Brown, founder of Just One Lap

The financial services industry has done nobody any favours. Not only were many of our parents sold retirement products with exorbitant fees, they are also offered the same awful choices now they've reached retirement age. They have learned the hard way you can spend your life doing everything right and still lose because of bad products with high fees. This week we received five different questions from listeners who are trying to help their parents navigate the terrifying world of retirement money. For many of us, this is the biggest financial decision we would ever have to make. If you've been told you aren't qualified or equipped to make these decisions your whole life, odds are you're not going to start trying at 65.  Our parents need our help navigating this terrain. Hopefully this episode also helps us help each other. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Win of the week: Emma I am a proudly SA opera singer with a penchant to be a financially stable artist. I started my finance journey properly from last year, and was educated about Just One Lap by my mother, who was your winner of the week a while back. I wrote a blog post this month, hoping to encourage a culture of saving and financial savviness amongst my followers, and thought perhaps you might want to feature it in your podcast. Kenya My mom has recently left her job to take a few months off. Her pension fund (currently held with Old Mutual) needs to be transferred to a preservation fund until she retires in two years. A financial advisor offered her a once-off fee of 1.7% to give advice on which preservation fund to choose (and to help her complete the forms- which according to her are actually very simple). Initially it didn't sound like much, but I was shocked when I calculated the rand value of this fee. The fund he's recommending still falls within the Old Mutual stable and has these costs:   Total investment charge: 0.63% p.a  Fund access: 0.18% p.a  Admin fee: 0.31% p.a  Totalling: 1.12% p.a  Alternatively, he has suggested a fund with Coronation with fees not dissimilar to the above.  Is this a fair offer? Are either of you aware of a better lower- cost preservation fund that she can choose? Bearing in mind she has two years before she will be required to access it and it is required to go to a preservation fund.  Jenna I started listening to your show this year and have become completely addicted. I went back to your old podcasts and have listened to about 50 hours already. My mother has never been great with money. However, she has somehow managed to pull through. She will run out of money soon and may need to go into debt. I'd like to help in any way I can, so I've helped her reduce her costs and get a better overview of her finances. She is 63 years old. She has no retirement fund or any savings aside from R100k in cash in a money market account. She has a brand new car, so her expenses shouldn't be too high for a few years.  She has a home loan that she can access at any time. She has a house valued at about R2.5 - R3m, paid off.  The house has a back section that, if she renovated it, she could possibly rent out, however this would be expensive.  Asset-wise she seems to be in a ok position, but her expenses are more than her income and she'd like to retire soon. I don't think that she would be able to manage a large amount of money (if she were to sell her house.)  How can she continue generating income for the rest of her life while losing money each month? What's the best strategy for this situation? Brendt I recently had a look at my parents' financial situation. They already have a RA that has been converted to a living annuity.  When I inquired as to the fees that are charged on the living annuity, I almost fell off my chair. This got me thinking: we are so focussed on getting a low fee RA going that we totally forget that the RA forces you into a living annuity. When choosing to invest in a RA one must also consider the fees that will eventually be charged on the living annuity. The current high fees on living annuities (the cheapest I could find was Sygnia at 0.86%) makes RAs less palatable. Nicole My mom's money is currently with old mutual but she's retiring at the end of July. The living annuity they suggest will cost 2.2% per year and encompasses funds like Allan gray, coronation, ninety one etc.  I'm tempted to recommend that she rather go with 10x/etfsa or sygnia /the new retirement solution platform by Nedgroup (brand new so not a lot of info there but more choice than the other 2). With one of the first pair she just needs to choose a path and thereafter it's very little input from her side which makes her more at ease but I'm not sure there's enough diversification and control. With the others there might be too many options and the wrong funds chosen. Is it sufficient to take the same approach as I would in my regular investments but lean slightly towards the conservative side? Like a world etf and then one that has more cash and bonds? Ross  I am 35. My dad has a farm and a will that is so out of date it's frightening. He's unfortunately really bad with his own finances and paperwork. I'm trying to find out what the best options are to safeguard against all the legal fees, estate duty etc etc in the event of his death and not to have to sell off pieces of the farm in order to cover all the fees and taxes involved.  I am looking at life insurance policies but at my dad's age (70) they are not cheap. I suppose it's better than trying to find that liquidity out of your own pocket or selling off assets to pay all the legal fees and bullshit when the time comes. There's a company called Capital Legacy that my insurer put me in touch with that deal with all the above mentioned woes. They draft the will, have a legal team, executors etc and cover all the legal fees and taxes in your monthly premium. It sounds all well and good I just wanted to find out if you guys know the company at all, and how legit they are? And if you have any better suggestions? I have listened to the "what happens when I die" podcast, but living in the Corona era maybe things have changed since then?    Richard Now that we've entered unprecedented times, including the exponential use of the word 'unprecedented' how much of the old rules are still completely relevant. Is renting still better than buying, considering interest rate cuts?  Is a broad ETF still the best option? Or should we focus on post-COVID winners in tech? How big should our emergency fund be, when the entire country is in a state of emergency? Marco I am looking to move my R.A to Outvest.  According to my latest investment summary: My value on 1st of January 2019 was R228 797.72 and 16 months later on 1st of May 2020 is R297 692.17. In that period my administration and advice fees were R6510.21. With my current R.A invested in the Coronation Balanced Plus A fund from June 2005 , are the fees of the fund (which is 1.25% excl VAT) included in that admin and advice fees? Or am I paying that 1.25% excl VAT on top of the R6510.21? Are there any other fees I am paying that I am missing? The Coronation Balanced Fund appears to have done well, I think? Not really sure how to read the performance well, taking everything into account. Ie fees etc Would you recommend I pull my chute with the above mentioned R.A? Also , Outvest have four funds that are available for their R.A They are: Coreshares OUTcautious Index Fund Coreshares OUTstable Index Fund Coreshares OUTmoderate Index Fund Granate Money Market Fund Can you shed any light on these? Which would you recommend? 

With the markets in a flat spin, even the bond market is looking a bit peaky. How can it be when bonds are supposed to give us stability and predictable income? It turns out not all bonds are created equal. In this week's episode we revisit how bonds work and what they're supposed to do in your portfolio.  If you are as intrigued by retail bonds as I am, you can buy some here. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Win of the week: Tee I am happy to report that the only debt I currently have is my monthly car payment. I still have 2 years to pay off my car, but would like to try and push in more every month to bring the time period down (as well as the interest). Because of this approach I have taken, I now have no RA funds yet and no other savings to my name. I would like to build up an emergency fund, start an RA and open a TFSA account within the next year or two. Would you still recommend 10x for an RA? Or someplace else? 10X and Sygnia to start off, OUTvest once you have upwards of R500k. How do I go about knowing which TFSA is best for me and where is the best to open up a TFSA account in your opinion? Should I start doing all three these steps at once so they overlap, or take it one by one? Matthew I was listening to the latest video from Just One Lap on "Creating Wealth in a Low Growth World"  and was once again reminded by a finance expert that I require bonds in my portfolio. I identify as a DIY investor and Simon did cover this topic in an article of Fin24 where he recommends that DIY investors stay away from bonds due to the tax implications. My understanding is that bonds can complicate your tax return as the interest (or coupons) are added to your income for the year and taxed at your marginal tax rate. This occurs even if the ETF reinvest the funds.[6] Then when you sell the ETF, you realize a capital gain and pay tax on that [6]. This means you can pay tax twice. So as a DIY investor who is no where near retirement, what should I do with regards to bonds? Possible ideas are: Substitute bonds requirement with cash in a bank savings account. Find bonds that do not incur this tax problem. (I do not believe there are ETFs in SA that can do that.) Take bonds and manage the tax implications. (any advice?) Leonora Momentum replied to say that Nedgroup are reviewing fees and I should get an answer (I asked for lower fees) in the next 2-6 weeks.  My LA is with Momentum. They were the only provider we could find four years ago that would allow our own choice of funds.  If I transfer to Sygnia admin is 0.4% if I leave it in Coreshares, 0.2% if I have it moved to Sygnia's own S&P 500 ETF.   I am planning for the next 30 years (if I die sooner, so be it). From all accounts it seems the route to take. Anything I have missed in this 2-step process?  (I have contacted Momentum to ask for reduction in fees, waiting for an answer. Their person did not sound hopeful. For interest: I take minimal withdrawal of 2.5%. Admin monthly is equivalent to 12% of what I receive after PAYE!  And this for the next 30 years!!!!) Wesley I was under the impression that if there was a written agreement in place, it can be structured so that the interest on the loan when not paid, is deemed interest. That deemed interest can be attributed to your annual donation allowance, and the balance of the allowance can be written off against the capital amount of the loan.

It's a nutty time to be alive, isn't it? A market crash is bad enough. Adding a national lockdown to the mix is bound to provoke some anxiety. Our strategy in this time is not dissimilar from our usual strategy: focus on what you can control.  To that end, our podcast this week is the first of three money challenges. We are starting with wills and estates and then moving on to short-term and long-term insurance. We all know what a drag it is to wade through the fine print of these documents when there are more exciting things to do. Unluckily for the insurance industry, we are all now confined to our homes with nothing but time on our hands. We might as well save some money in the process.  We also think this is a fine time to speak to your family members about your will and segue to money in general. If you've been wondering how to broach the topic, the madness in the world has solved this problem for you.  We'll be doing some live video interviews with members of the Just One Lap community over the next three weeks to get you through the lockdown. These will be broadcast live on our Fat Wallet Community Group. If you're not a member yet, now's the time. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Win of the week: Cyril Ramaphosa for being epic at his job. Today we're only going to deal with your estate and your insurance.  Will and Estate Review your will and make sure it's still relevant to your life. Make a spreadsheet of documents and passwords your family need to have if something happens to you.  When you die, normally everything goes to your spouse. There's no taxes payable if that happens.  If you don't have a spouse, estate duty is 20%, and you have to pay and executor's fee. Sometimes, to pay this, they have to liquidate some of your assets. If you don't want this to happen, you can look at a baby life insurance policy that pays out to your estate to cover these fees and the cost of your funeral. Think about whether you want to do that. Insurance: Short-term Start a spreadsheet of all the insurance policies you have, including what is covered, your excesses, as well as when the policy was taken out. You can use this as a starting point every year when you renegotiate your insurance. Check what is covered and ensure that you have proof of ownership for specified items. Make a list of things you no longer have or can self-insure.  Create a spreadsheet of previous claims, including dates and settlement amounts. When you lodge a claim or take out new cover, you have to disclose this as it affects your premiums. If you claim and they find out there's something you haven't declared, they can reject your claim on that basis. This is going to save you a lot of time in the future.  Long-term Look at the terms of your dread disease and disability cover. You can decide if you want to reduce cover because your asset base can take care of you if something should happen, or increase cover if your family situation has changed. Make a spreadsheet of the terms of your cover in terms that you can understand. You don't want to be wading through an insurance document if you should need this. See if you're covered if you can't work because you contracted corona. Make sure that you are covered for your own occupation, not own or similar. If you have life insurance, make sure you still need it. Be careful of hanging on to these policies just because you contributed a lot to them over the years. Similarly, if you don't have life insurance but you have dependents, make sure they are covered if you pass away. Life insurance pays out directly to the beneficiaries in cash. These policies don't form part of the estate and aren't taxed. To know how much you need, look at what your dependents would need to survive for about a year until your estate wraps up and cover any shortfall you might have in your current circumstances. Mike has decided to go for five regional ETFs instead of one world-wide ETF in his portfolio. He buys Sygnia S&P 500, Sygnia FTSE100, Sygnia Eurostoxx 50, Sygnia Japan, Satrix Emerging Markets.  He's comparing his 5 ETF strategy to the single, global ETF strategy across seven areas: Currency spread, dividends, emerging market access, regional exposure, sector exposure, rebalancing and TER. Currency spread:  Regional Amounts other than USD are first converted to USD for the underlying index and then converted again to ZAR for the Tracking index.Do we lose twice on currency spread every time we buy, sell or receive distributions? Dividends Sygnia MSCI World Gross Dividend Yield = 1.11% Ashburton 12 Gross Dividend yield = 1.51% JP + US + UK + EU Average Gross Dividend Yield = 1.81% (I didn't include Emerging Markets  (Satrix automatically re-invest) Emerging market access Since he's buying the EM ETF, he can control how much exposure he has. Regional exposure +-60% of the global index is exposed to US (which also has the highest foreign dividend witholding tax of 30% compared to Japan/Britain 20%, Europe 26%).  Sector exposure World: Heavily exposed to IT  Japan's no.1 exposure is to Industrials. FTSE, EUROSTOXX and Emerging Markets no 1 Exposure is Financials. Energy is also no.2 on the FTSE but is only no.7 on the MSCI World. Rebalancing World: Done every +-3 months. When you top up account you are topping up both the winners and the losers of all regions Done every +-3 months though you have the opportunity to top up only the regions doing the worst TER Low TER of 0.35% (Satrix MSCI) Low TER of 0.45% (Ashburton 1200)   Average TER is high at 0.63%. It's looking rather scary considering EU & Uk's big drop! Portfolio is 16.83% down.   I can still contribute R27k for this year (R36k limit) so was thinking of doing +-R6k per month until limit is used up and sticking to strategy as I don't know if it has already or when it will bottom out. I do like the idea of Dividend paying ETFs within a TFSA. Once I have reached my lifetime limit I can still use the dividends to purchase new shares without having to sell my current shares. I'm sure better/cheaper ETFs will come out in the future. I also then won't be forced to sell shares (and pay more fees) should I wish to take a small drawdown in retirement. I can just withdraw the dividends.

Simon Shares Sasol (JSE code: SOL) is now talking a rights issue of some US$2billion, more than the current market cap. They hope to be able to avoid this by selling assets, finding a partner for Lake Charles and cutting costs. But the first two will be near impossible in the current climate, so expect the rights issue with a +50% dilution. In other words, a horror rights issue. Price will be weaker until those details and issuing of the rights. I am NOT buying, that may change when the rights issue hits. But not before. Brent oil is under US$27.00 a barrel. Big ouch for Sasol. Good news for petrol prices. I am seeing a flood of people wanting to get into the market, because it has fallen. On the one side, this is commendable. Yes cheap is best tine to get in. But this volatility is the worst time to try and start trading. If you want to start trading we have two series for traders, Boot Camp and Master Class. But frankly as always, ETFs the best place to start, especially in troubled times. Everybody asking about gold, yes it is going down. When crisis hits everything goes down. Gold is great when one is worried about the future, but when that worrisome future arrives people want cash so gold gets sold like everything else. MPC rate cut announcement this afternoon. No more 0.25%, surely? I think 2% - 2.5% is possible and the best response. Certainly nothing less than 1%. Upcoming events; 09 April ~ JSE Power Hour: Trader’s game plan Subscriber to our feed here Subscribe or review us in iTunes COVID-19, my presentation of just two weeks ago warning on the virus and resulting market melt down, is already totally over taken by the reality on the ground. Read this take from the Imperial College COVID-19 Response Team. It has flaws, but also has golden nuggets. If we manage this crisis well I still think the worst will be behind us by Q1 2021. But the worst is going to be worse than I had thought, and if we do this well, well then it is a horror show of epic scale. It has solidly landed in South Arica and while still early days the confirmed case numbers are growing at the expected 33%, every day. So far government is doing a decent job lead by the NICD, President Ramaphosa the cabinet and especially the health department. But what matters more than anything is to #flattenthecurve. No large events, social distancing, washing hands, working from home if possible and limiting trips outside. All of this will eventually slow the growth, but we'll still end up with hundreds of thousands sick and many thousands dead ~ as a best case scenario. Yip it sounds wild, but that is the only way to slow the spread and stop it completely overwhelming our health services. This of course means a massive hit to our economy and individual peoples financial well being, find our series on managing debt here. If you have debt and are worried about repaying, or if you're in default already - this is a must read. Our market, and in fact all global markets, remain under severe pressure and extreme volatility not seen since 1929. I's not getting better any time soon. The global economy is grinding to a halt and there is no quick fix. Best estimates suggest twelve months of COBID-19 before as a planet we're truly on top of it. So Q1 2021, at best. For investors, we continue to tread cautiously and I continue to buy my monthly ETF allocation and will double the monthly purchase amount. But I am not whole sale buying stocks, because cheaper is very likely. Traders, as I have said before. Reduce position size, widen stops and be disciplined. And of course, obey your stops 100%. From a personal perspective, start planing for the long haul, I don't expect this to all be resolved in a month when schools are due to go back. As example, I've downloaded online monopoly to play with my niece and nephew in Durban and have proposed every few days or so one of us will present (via zoom.us) on a topic that interests us. It's going to be a very long school break house bound. Lastly, let me know if we can help. I have no idea what or how, not money or food or handshakes. But if you got ideas how Just One Lap or I can help you or the broader community, let me know. Maybe it just something as simple as helping to set up Zoom.us or a weekly bookclub session on Zoom. Send ideas. And very lastly, stay safe. Social distance and wash your hands. JSE – The JSE is a registered trademark of the JSE Limited. JSE Direct is an independent broadcast and is not endorsed or affiliated with, nor has it been authorised, or otherwise approved by JSE Limited. The views expressed in this programme are solely those of the presenter, and do not necessarily reflect the views of JSE Limited.  

While the rest of the world is getting in supermarket fights over toilet paper, life at Just One Lap carries on. Lesego, who is only 24, is ready to start their investment journey. This week we hold their hand through their first tax-free purchase. We explain what tax-free accounts are, what ETFs are and why we like to go for a diverse, global investment.  If the investment world is new to you, you don't want to miss this episode. The video below is a deep-dive into tax-free investments, presented by Chuckles himself.  If you're buying ETFs at the moment, enjoy the sale. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Win of the week: Lesego I am completely clueless regarding tax free savings accounts. I went onto the easy equities app but I have no idea which ETF so even select or how everything actually works because I would like to invest before the end of the financial year. I listened to the podcast and they mentioned it won't be enough having just a tax free account so I would like to open a retirement annuity fund as well but have no cooking clue how to even delete a company for that. Jaco  Let's assume you are 35, earning R240,000 and have R33,000 pa to contribute to a TFSA or RA. Assuming fees and growth are the same, there's no difference between the two, since both funds grow tax-free until withdrawal.  If you reinvest the tax saving from the RA back into the RA, the RA value will naturally be higher at the end of the term due to the additional contributions. The higher amount will give you a bigger savings pot to draw an income from.  Is the higher savings amount available at retirement offset by the income tax payable in retirement on income? You need to look at the tax saving on the contributions and the tax payable on the income. Tax saving on contributions: A 35-year-old earning R240 000 pa will have a marginal tax rate of 26%. The tax saving/deduction on the R33 000 contribution is R8 580 (tax saving = contribution*marginal tax rate). The tax saving is 26%, which is equal to the marginal tax rate of 26%. So on contributions, your return on the saving of R33 000 is R8 580 (26%)  Income tax payable: At retirement age 60, if you keep your income at R240 000, your marginal tax rate will still be 26%. But the tax you pay on your retirement income will be taxed at your effective tax rate. A marginal tax rate of 26% is equal to an effective tax rate of 13.55% (the rate at which you pay tax). The effective tax rate is lower than the marginal tax rate due to the rebates and sliding tax scales. So the "cost" on your retirement income of R240 000 is R32 512 or 13.55% (R32 512/R240000). Based on the above, the tax saving on RA contributions is 26% or R41 580 (R33000+R8 580), and the tax payable on retirement income is 13.55% or R32 512. Because the tax saving is > the tax payable, contributing to an RA is net-net positive. I recommend if your marginal tax rate is above the tax-free threshold, and you are happy with Regulation 28 to first contribute to an RA.  The higher your marginal tax rate, the bigger the tax-saving, the bigger the benefit of contributing to an RA. If you have liquidity problems, earning an income below the tax-free threshold or want to increase your offshore/equity exposure, the TFSA is the better option. Joshua  What is the practical difference in taking money offshore using Interactive Brokers vs using EasyEquities USD Platform?  Do you suggest opening an offshore bank account and is this possible? The issue with the local banks offerings, for example FNB's linked Global account, is that interest is only earned at around 0.5%. Ollie In episode #178 you considered the options for a listener who was planning to move to the Netherlands. One of the options canvassed was the potential of leaving money in a TFSA in the event of a market decline prior to emigration.  One element of this approach not considered, is that the overseas jurisdiction may consider the account taxable, meaning that the tax-free benefit of saving through a TFSA will be negated from the moment that the person migrates to the new jurisdiction. This varies on a country by country basis but should probably be considered by anyone before planning on leaving money in a South African investment vehicle whilst living abroad.  Innes  Since I am a little risk averse given how high developed markets are - I decided to buy some of this NFGovi ETF in my TFSA (about 25%) to give it some more diversification and less risk (and to hopefully receive a better return than cash/interest due to it being linked to bonds). However, looking at the price graph over the last 6 months - the return has been the flattest thing I've ever seen. And the 5 year historical return looked so promising and consistent when I was deciding to invest! I thought that bonds (and bond ETFs) were supposed to be “more certain/safer” than equities and have a better return than cash. Why do you think the return for the govi has been so flat of late? Do you think this would continue to be flat if SA is downgraded to junk status? I know you referred to the Ashburton 1200 as one of your favourite ETFs - would there be a certain bond or bond etf you would recommend and why? Are bonds or bond ETFs maybe a waste of time given their low (and not so certain) returns? Maybe I should be buying bonds and not bond ETFs? What platform would you recommend using to buy bonds? (If you would recommend them at all). Hugo  I love the innovation behind the product, one which will hopefully create a revolution in the investment domain. I am a bit underwhelmed though with the fee structure of the product during the initial build-up phase of the portfolio. There are current providers who can offer RAs with fees less than 1.5%, (10X and Sygnia come to mind) from the first rand invested. Sygnia does there Skeleton 70 product for example at 0.55% all in. Why not invest with a cheaper provider until you reach an amount where Outvest become cheaper, then make the switch? For example: R1 – R 818 000 at Sygnia = 0.55% / annum R818 000 @ 0.55% = R4500 (Outvest cap) R 818 000 to infinity at Outvest = 0.55% (decreasing to 0.2%) We have to assume that the funds invested in are of course all the same – and I think we can argue that Reg28 investments, whether aggressive or moderate or low risk, will all more or less perform the same. Am I missing something? Eleanore  I would like to transfer my RA from Allan Gray to Sygnia. Both Ag & Sygnia's forms ask about a unit transfer. I'm not sure what to select. Assuming a unit transfer is possible in this case (for a transfer from AG Balanced Fund to Sygnia Skeleton Balanced 70 Fund), should I select this? Which is best, a cash or unit transfer? I don't want to make a mistake and diminish my Retirement savings at this point due to a transfer mishap. Robin I received an Insurance payout which I have placed in an Investec Fixed deposit, drawing a compound interest of around 7.5%.  We've bought two apartments off-plan in Cape Town, which will only be ready for handover towards the end of 2022. I've made upfront payments of 25% and 50% respectively on the apartments. These funds are sitting in the Conveyancers Trust Account drawing a 7.8% compounded interest per year. I am unable to touch this.  Would it be better to move the money that is sitting in my Investec account into one ETF or a group of ETFs for three years. Or should I hold these funds where they are at the moment?  My feeling was to keep it in a secure environment so I will be in a position to pay off the properties completely, and then draw rental income.  However, the income derived from the Investec investment will be taxable, which will be lumped together with my other SA rental based income. Together the total income will be around R320K for the year.  Should I put the R320K into my RA? When the time comes to settle the payment on the apartments at the end of 2022 I'll draw from my Unit Trust Investment to settle the difference, or repatriate funds from my overseas investment. If I keep it in the Investec fixed deposit I will end up paying around R63,853.00 in tax. One of your listeners from China (Podcast #169) was inquiring about where he can invest using Euros or USD. As an expat I use Internaxx - based in Luxembourg - https://en.internaxx.com  where I buy my international ETFs and stocks. I trust this will help your listener (sorry I don't recall his name I was listening while walking). Steven noticed we prefer ETFs to unit trusts and wants to know why.  Eugene is keen on opening a TFSA for his spouse. He's not keen on using EE, so he wants to know who else we can recommend. 

Business Day TV — Nesan Nair from Sasfin Securities chose Sanlam as his stock pick of the day and Simon Brown from Just One Lap chose Metrofile Nair said: "I'm going with Sanlam, it's one of those companies that have been sold down, just on negative sentiment. This is a quality business, have a look at their operational update from a few weeks ago, they are growing quite strongly, double the rate of inflation on volumes. I think we'll see this one in a few years’ time at much higher levels than it is right now. Brown said: "Metrofile, I own it and there is a very simple play, they announced a potential take-over in October and yesterday it came out at R330 and we'll still potentially get a dividend for December. If they're going to be generous it is a ten cent dividend which means a R340 payout and currently you're buying at R285. So, you're paying R285 and you're making around 19%. If that deal takes six months it an annualised almost 40% return. You have a risk that perhaps the deal isn't in the bag there's some t's and c's, they have a BEE partner, they have to solve some issues and none of those to me looks onerous and I'm pretty sure the two significant shareholders have okay'd the R330, so this is the easy money in a market that is offering value but not a lot of return."

Business Day TV — Gary Booysen from Rand Swiss chose IShares Trust U.S Medical Devices ETF as his stock pick of the day and Simon Brown from Just One Lap chose Shoprite Holdings Ltd. Booysen said: "My pick is an ETF in medical devices and it is run by IShares. It is very reasonably priced at $250.50 a share. Medical devices is a field in the medical industry that is not as regulated as the pharmaceutical side. Part of when we build a portfolio is to see what the major blue chip companies are doing and what they are buying and selling and really across the board, medical devices is something that has been accumulated by the big asset managers globally." Brown said: "The cons for this pick is that Shoprite lost the plot and that Africa is hurting them immensely and they are getting cost squeezed although they managed to hold onto their margins. The pros is that people would continue to eat, the lower LSM is always going to be in this space, the Africa issues will come and go with currencies and fade in time. Their self inflicted wounds ie. the strikes, IT issues etc are behind them, they managed to hang onto margins and it has always been my preferred food retailer for the last decade and a half."​

Bonds are wonderful, magical things, but they can be tricky. Pool them all together into an ETF, and it gets even more complex. First of all, the tax on a bond ETF is tough to figure out. Coupons are taxed at your marginal rate, after an exemption.  When your coupons are reinvested, as in the case with our total return bond ETFs, do you also pay capital gains? The answer is surely no, but when SARS comes knocking for an audit, would you be able to strip out the coupons reinvested for the period?  What about inflation-linked bonds, where your capital amount increases by inflation with a coupon on top? You'd pay capital gains on the inflation-adjustment and income tax on the coupon. Will you be able to show which is which for the period? I love thinking about bonds and bond ETFs. On the one hand, they're incredibly simple, but once you start thinking about the tax implications, the simplicity leaves the building.  This week, we approach bond ETFs from two angles. As a short-term investment vehicle, bonds make a lot of sense. However, once you start delving into the tax aspect, a bond ETF seems less appealing than an ordinary government retail bond. The role of bonds in a retirement portfolio automatically limits you to bond ETFs, but why are the inflation-linked bond ETFs underperforming the all-bond index? Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Victor I am required to travel to Mozambique and Zambia for work.  I require a car that would be able to get me there and back reliably. I currently drive a 1992 Nissan Sentra which breaks down about once every few months.  Luckily my father lives nearby and he can frequently provide me with assistance (this would not be the case when travelling for work). I was looking at a second-hand Honda Jazz as they seem to be reliable and provide a good fuel efficiency. The current cost of this car is about R150k. Ideally I would like to buy this car cash in about three years. I have received an offer of 13k for my car. I think it would be best to sell this car and invest the money, then use my partner's slightly more reliable 2004 Ford Fiesta in the interim (she lives close to work and does not use her car very often - also she is aware of this arrangement, i.e. I won't be stealing her car).  Considering my budget and still contributing to my TFSA, I estimate that I would be able to contribute about 3.5k per month to savings for the car (increased annually by 15-20%). Taking into account inflation of an assumed 5% p.a., and low average market return of 1% above inflation, I should be able to achieve my goal within the specified time frame. My question however pertains to the best investment vehicle for short-term investments. I have looked at cash/cash-equivalent, income investments, money-market, and bonds.  Firstly, understanding the difference between the first three is fucking difficult. Bonds I kind of get and I agree with you, they are cool to think about. Should I invest all of my money (13k lump sum + monthly contributions in the same investment vehicle? Or should the lumpsum be in a different place, say fixed deposit or a notice account or one of these weird products which banks offer? While the monthly contributions go elsewhere like a bond ETF or into the NewFunds TRACI or perhaps even a combination of the two?) Furthermore, I consulted your guide to bond ETFs. I prefer the bond ETFs which reinvest your money, so I would have to choose between NFILBI and STXILB. Satrix have a lower TER and most of their bonds are long term thus providing better rates. Therefore, I believe STXILB is the better product? In terms of cash investments I like products which I can access through my broker (such as TRACI) rather than my bank. Please assist me as I am very confused about which investment strategy would provide me with the best returns. Does my investment horizon allow me to look into bonds? Or should I only be looking at cash/income/money-market things? Win of the week: Cindy What have you done to me? I have turned into that obnoxious person telling people to keep their cost of living low and to invest in ETFs. And I blame the Fat Wallet. :) I wrote to you a little while ago with plans of tackling my debt like a rugby player after some much needed Fat-Wallet-encouragement. Since then, I have paid off my debt but got back into debt thanks to a shitty emergency fund. Now, I am hella close to paying it off again with the backing of a pretty sexy emergency fund. Fat Wallet and Just One Lap have been educational, motivational and just damn inspiring. I am so ridiculously into personal finance that I am on a serious mission to change my work environment to the financial sector. As a graphic designer I want my job to fit my values - to design in order to educate people about their finances and not to design to make people buy more crap. Chris I'm currently doing an ETF based retirement annuity on the Sygnia platform using the following split: Local Equity - Coreshares Top50 - 45% International Equity - Satrix MSCI World - 25% Local Property - Satrix Property - 15% Bonds - Satrix ILBI - 15% Cash - 0% I'm unsure if I have chosen the correct bond ETF to complete my Reg 28 compliance. Initially I thought an inflation linked bond would return inflation + 2%, however looking at the historical performance, inflation linked bonds seem to have underperformed inflation over the last 5 years (ILBI index returned 4.37% from 2014-2019). In contrast, the GOVI index has  returned 8.18% over the same period. How can there be such a huge discrepancy between the two indices, particularly as one of them is linked to inflation and should therefore be returning greater than inflation?  I still have 20 years to retirement so my goal is to set my RA up as aggressively as possible - I.E. I don't mind short term fluctuations. Do you think the GOVI or the ILBI is the more aggressive fund (hopefully returning better long term returns)? Willem My basic fee sits at 1%, but then they add a performance fee clause which is pretty unclear. I've looked at the other options. The only passive investment which I can select is the Satrix Enhanced Balanced tracker with a flat fee of 0.36%, which sounds much better. Do you have any comments on this ETF?  I'd like to make this change, but I just feel that I don't really have much of a choice with regards to passive funds. Ashley I am looking for the lowest cost provider to put together a bespoke share portfolio (chosen by me) in a retirement wrapper, for part of my retirement investments. PSG offer the service but it requires that you appoint a PSG advisor at an additional cost of 1,15% per annum. You've made me allergic to fees that don't add the required value. I'm quite happy to pay handsomely for the professional services rendered but am battling to rationalise a fee based on a % of assets under management – especially given the size of the underlying portfolio. I don't drive a particularly fancy car, but the fee I will end up paying to the advisor would allow me to pay off two more similar cars. I'm looking to invest – without having to buy the investment manager two cars that could be mine.  I understand that you may be reticent to recommend a particular provider – but could you guide me in my search by suggesting a couple of places where to start. Brenda I have just turned 60 and have unfortunately made many disastrous money decisions in the past.    I have only been permanently employed, and contributing to a pension fund, for the past five years.   Needless to say, the thought of retirement (age 65) fills me dread and until now I have just stuck my head in the sand and tried not to think about it.    I have two properties (both currently with big bonds) but on retirement the proceeds from selling one will pay off the bond on the other, so I will have a paid up house and a roof over my head.  With only a few years to go, what is the best way of investing if one doesn't have the benefit of time in the market?   RA? or TFSA? I am contributing a total of 20.5% of my current salary into my pension fund (company contribution and mine together). Matthew  My parents have asked me if it is a good idea to put a some portion of their investment portfolio in the DCX10 index. They are not computer literate so I recommended they just stick to ETFs as crypto currency is more complicated to trade, hold, and a great way to lose your investment if you do not know what you are doing.  Having access to crypto though this index takes out the complications above. So is it an option or is it too good to be true? Can I view this index as an ETF? By that I imply, Self healing and removing bad performing currencies. Gives diversification and a weighting based on some predetermined method[1]. Tokens are generated or issued like ETFs. Are you protected in some way? (e.g. Trade insurance, compliance as an a financial service provider, etc.) Can DCX10 be trusted to some degree? Taking past experience into account, will the token still be around even if the crypto market retraces? Remember that the previous BTC retrace in 2018 was over 80%from all time high and subsequently majority of altcoins retraced over 90% from all time high. Can DCX10 cancel the token due to bad performance? Chris I have a share portfolio of R1m . I also have a Unit trust portfolio of R1.5m from which I live. I am considering investing in a foreign ETF.   Will probably start off with R1,000. Any suggestions?

Compiling a financial plan before you earn an income or when you have very little is ideal. You can't afford any bad financial habits yet and your cost of living is probably as low as you can get it. As it happens, those are the two most important ingredients to rocking your finances. Generally, our umbrella financial plan, the one-size-fits-all beginning to financial life, goes as follows: Pay off your debts Set up an emergency fund of between three and six months' living expenses Protect your assets with dread and disability cover and insurance Invest in ETFs using tax-free savings accounts Have a retirement annuity In this episode we use this framework in the context of unemployment or low income. This one's for you if you've never worked, if you worked and then lost your employment and if you have less than R500 per month to invest. P.S. Remember to mail us if you want to help us sell Just One Lap. Win of the week: Margharita Since discovering Just One Lap three months ago, my finances have undergone a HUGE spring cleaning. I'm saving 50% of my earnings; am maxing out my RA; have opened a TFSA; started investing in the stock market through EasyEquities; changed banks (to Capitec); reviewed all my policies and got rid of those that overlapped; started using 22Seven to track my spending and last but not least, did the homework on (and then eliminated) costly financial advisor fees. Thanks for providing a great resource, as well as the encouragement to manage my finances "like a grown up!" My questions: 1. You both love the Ashburton 1200 ETF. Why do you prefer this to the Satrix MSCI World ETF, when the TER on the latter is slightly lower? 2. If I invest in the Ashburton 1200 ETF, is it best to do this within my TFSA, or in my general investment account? Or both? Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes.   Santosh Capital Legacy stated that if someone dies in a hospital, the hospital reports it using the person's ID and an online system and immediately the bank accounts freeze. No time to "go to the ATM" as the death will be reported even before the family knows Desmond My mum has been waiting five months to receive her pension. We've been to the GEPF and have only been shunted from pillar to post and promises. There has been no assistance from them whatsoever. Aman I've just completed a cash out of my EE USD account to my FNB Global account. I'm assuming this would work the same to the similar global-type accounts offered by the other SA banks. There was no charge on the EE side for the withdrawal. The only fee was the cost of the receiving bank (mine being R55 for the amount of $33/R465). This gives me peace of mind as EE isn't clear on the cash out process in their FAQ section. Anton In the offshore investing with Candice Paine, investors are cautioned to have a will(s) in place that properly deals with any offshore assets. If memory serves me correctly, in another podcast Kristia mentioned a company well versed in preparing offshore wills. However, for the life of me I cannot find this podcast and it would be quite a challenge to trawl through all the likely podcasts (I have attempted some but without success!). Do you perhaps recall the relevant podcast and the name of the company? ZAQfin Kieran I have grown to be an advocate for low-cost, index-tracking long-term investing. I have begun to advise my younger sister financially in this regard, as she has recently started earning. Personally, my investments are simply split between: - S&P500 (Sygnia), MSCI World and Emerging Markets (both Satrix) ETFs in TFSA (27% of total); - 10X High Equity RA (41% - aiming for lower but contributed a big lump-sum a few years ago); - Cash balance in Capitec account (32%). I've advised my sister to first and foremost use her full TFSA allocation and buy S&P and MSCI World. Thereafter, to purchase the same ETFs in her standard non-TFSA brokerage account. In addition, an emergency fund of somewhere between 5 and 10 months of expenses, obviously in a savings account with high interest (Capitec/Tyme). Assuming she still has additional funds to invest, is an RA the right way to go? I like 10X because it maximises Reg28 allocations and mirrors the low-cost, index-fund strategy of just buying ETFs, the major benefit of course being the tax-deductible contributions. But the money is 'locked away' for much longer, and potentially shielded from the full returns of its underlying indices (S&P, MSCI World, etc), because of the Reg28 limitations. Would love to hear your thoughts on when and why one might or might not begin contributing to an RA

Before we begin, please take a moment to complete our survey. It would really help us out. Investing is daunting because there are no clear answers to basic questions like, “How much money do I need?” or “Am I on track?” To make matters worse, financial institutions like to exploit our limited knowledge on the subject by making promises that aren't exactly false, but not exactly true. If you've been investing or listening for a while, you know the market has been struggling for years. As a result, we are getting a growing number of emails from investors who are concerned that their lacklustre portfolio growth is the result of either the products in which they are invested or the institutions managing their money. Two weeks ago we talked about when poor performance is the result of bad management. Find that episode here. This week we help you think about what your performance actually means. My tax-free account is up by 17%. However, I started investing in my tax-free account in 2015. Inflation for the period is 21%. I am 4% poorer, even though I have more money. My discretionary investment account paints an even bleaker picture. That account is 5.6% in the red. Since I started that investment in 2013, inflation has been 32.8%. My investments need to gain 38% for me to be back where I started. If I didn't understand the impact of inflation, a 38% growth in my portfolio would seem like payday. As it happens, our friend Stealthy wrote a blog about the effect of compounding, not only on your investments, but also on your costs. He made a compounding calculator that will bring a tear to your eye, which you can download here. You might enjoy running your own numbers. The discussion was inspired by a discussion on The Fat Wallet Community group. Join here. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Win of the week: Carl Perhaps you're just Starting Out on your Journey, a 21 Year Old with Too Much Bad Debt & a Small Investment Portfolio, receiving a Few Hundred Rand in Dividends every other Month, Thinking, 'this is gonna Take Forever & I'm Never gonna make REAL Money so why bother'. Perhaps you're a Financial Genius and the rest of us are just a 'Cautionary Tale' to you. Perhaps you're a Lowly BlueCollar just like I am... and the Only Time you get to See the Inside of the Boardroom is when you're Cleaning it... and Nobody Ever Asks about your Ideas or Opinions, in Fact, Most don't even know your Name even though it's Printed on your Uniform. LIFT your Vision for your Salvation is at Hand - and who's Coming to Save you from yourself? YOU! Which is GREAT because that Means Complete Control is in YOUR Hands! I Feel I have Absolutely NO Reason to Boast, because I only Managed to Start Investing at Age 38... after Making Sure I Squandered every single Opportunity Life threw at me.. For Most of my Life I Thought the Best Plan was to Spend my Last Cash on the Day I Receive my Next PayCheck… As you Grow Older you'll Realise that Time isn't Important, it's EVERYTHING - because of the Compounding Effect. So, are you Going Laduuuuma! - or are you Constantly Scoring Own Goals? How about Setting Small, Incremental, Reasonable, Realistic, Attainable Investment Goals - BabySteps, because your Personal Investment Journey is Probably a Daunting Sight... When I Started Investing ALL I Dreamed about was Receiving my First Dividend... and the Golden Egg was R130 Laid by Country Bird on 21/11/2011- Because everyone Likes Chicken, Right? It was the ONLY Dividend I Received in 2011... but I was Ecstatic with Joy because I Reached my Initial Investment Goal - I Felt like a Millionaire, like I wanted to Buy Drinks for Everyone! Then I Started to Dream about Receiving a Dividend EVERY Month... and 2015 was that Year. Yet Again I Felt Immortal, because I had Reached my Goal. Then I Started to Dream about how Cool it would be to Receive R10K in Dividends in a Single Month...Well, End July 2019 WILL be that Month - and yet another of my 'impossible' Dreams WILL be Realised! - and this Time I WILL be Buying Drinks for Everyone - because Everyone Loves Bubbles, Right? Now I'm Starting to Dream about what I Need to DO in Order to Receive R10K in Dividends EVERY Month, of EVERY Year... I'm Thinking about WHY it Took 9 Years to Reach this Goal. I'm Thinking about HOW to make it Happen Again. I'm Thinking about How to SHORTEN the Period - Perhaps Halve it to 4.5 Years... If you're NOT Dreaming - START! If you ARE Dreaming, NEVER Stop! If you Give Up, the Outcome is Predictable & Guaranteed, so Start Climbing that Mountain Standing between You & F-I-R-E. Don't Start Tomorrow, don't Start Today, START Right NOW - and ADD another Zero to the BottomLine! Khwezi I just turned 35 and came to the realisation that I don't have money to retire on, let alone to leave for my wife and child, in 15 years (as I plan/ planned). Would it be possible to structure my portfolio as follows: 3 Defenders (those that provide cushion/ prevent loses, giving +/- 15-20 year returns) 4 Midfielders (a champions league great mix of conservatives, and aggressors giving returns in about +/- 10-15 years) 3 Strikers giving returns in 5 - 10 years. I recently joined the Just One Lap community and before your shows have been tip-toeing around in the dark with no clue whether I am going forward or sideways to a cliff. S'fundo wants to know what homework he should do before investing. He's 22. I recently started my investing journey, and I am looking forward to investing for long term returns (15 - 20 years) so I can take full advantage of compound interest. Which are the most effective due diligence processes to undergo when valuing a company or ETFs to determine if they are worth buying for the longer term? How can someone with no prior knowledge of the markets or finance world learn going through those processes effectively?

Simon Shares Rough month. We're ending May (well Wednesday mid morning, so 2.5 trading days still to go) up 3.5% for the year, but we started May up 11.8%. No don't quote me rhymes. Astral Foods (JSE code: ARL) issued a SENS detailing issues with municipal water and the cost to the group. They've also spoken about issues with electricity supply. The question is, are they the only ones being impacted? The answer must be no, but they are the only ones being very vocal about the issues. I wonder who else is experiencing same? Famous Bands* (JSE code: FBR) results are decent if you remove the UK indigestion. The second half was tougher than the first but really that UK deal is busy undoing a lot of otherwise great effort by the company, that said the second half was better (and still better post yearend) for GBK but it still losses money. Signature brands are struggling and this isn't a huge surprise as they're more expensive sit down experiences. They're also exiting the Coega Concentrate tomato paste plant, I remember all the excitement when they bought the business, saving jobs etc. Except maybe not. But we did get a dividend, only 100c, but the first since mid 2017 when they went offshore. Naspers (JSE code: NPN) has confirmed their intention to list their non SA assets in Amsterdam and are now seeking shareholder approval. The theory is this will unlock value opening the group to more shareholders in Europe who will only get exposure to their global tech brands. Aspen (JSE code: APN) has confirmed the sale of the Nutritionals Business is happening this Friday and they'll get the Eur740million ASAP and be able to pay down debt. The Rand has been getting killed, out at 14.88 as I speak. Many are saying it's because DD is going to be deputy president. But that's lazy, real lazy, thinking. Nobody actually expected otherwise, he is ANC deputy president and except for a short period when Mbeki fired Zuma the AND DP is always the government DP. Sure there was a Twitter storm of hope when he postponed his swearing in as an MP, but current ZAR weakness is in line with most emerging market currency weakness. Latest maize crop forecast from the Crop Estimate Committee was again revised upwards. Good news for food producers and more supply should equal lower prices, but it could still go wrong; early frost, storm damage etc. Understanding the DCCUSD Upcoming events; 30 May ~ JSE Power hour: Hard question. Better Answers 20 June ~ JSE Power Hour: Trade the trade wars 18 July ~ JSE Power Hour: How to invest offshore with the JSE * I hold ungeared positions. Boiler room scams I'm getting the calls again, two different scams but same as they're trying to rob you of your hard earned money. The first is local offering you super smart trading software for a crazy high price that'll generate amazing returns (usually 30%-50% every six months). The software also comes with great training, but if it's so great why isn't the call center agent trading up a storm instead of cold calling me? Importantly, software is often free or very cheap from your online stock broker. Or buy AmiBroker.com and get your data from InvestorData.co.za Education is no longer something we should be paying for, there is a ton of high quality for free on the Internet, starting with Just One Lap, your stock broker, YouTube and so the list goes on. The second is a call from offshore - you can tell immediately because of the lag when they speak. Here they have a great stock for you to buy, an opportunity to get in early and reap huge returns. Sometimes the scam here is to get you to open an account with some fly-by-night bucket shop that will disappear over night, taking your cash with them. Mostly this scam is that have excess stock they need to off load. Maybe they under wrote a rights issue and ended up having to take a bunch. Or the stock is so illiquid they can't sell it in the market so they need to boiler room sell it. Either way the question to ask is simple. If this is such a great deal why do they need to cold call half way across the world to sell it? Surely such a great opportunity should have people queuing up outside their boiler room keen to buy? In both cases, just put the phone down and move on. There is no money to be made here. Subscriber to our feed here Subscribe or review us in iTunes JSE – The JSE is a registered trademark of the JSE Limited. JSEDirect is an independent broadcast and is not endorsed or affiliated with, nor has it been authorised, or otherwise approved by JSE Limited. The views expressed in this programme are solely those of the presenter, and do not necessarily reflect the views of JSE Limited.

I learned a lot of important financial concepts from the FIRE (financially independent, retire early) movement. The most useful is the difference between retirement and financial independence. The days of companies supporting retired employees in retirement are a distant memory. If you are plugged in to your finances, this is great news. It means there's no correlation between your age and how long you have to work. We focus instead on financial independence. All of us have a magic money number. The great news is that our number is entirely in our control, because it's based on our spending. Simply put, your monthly spending times 300 gets you in the ballpark of your FIRE number. That formula works because of the 4% rule, which our friend Stealthy Wealth lays out in this post. Basically, 4% is how much of your portfolio you should be able to cash in every year to allow your capital to grow by inflation. That means your portfolio never shrinks, so you never run out of money. If you accept the 4% rule, you have to reject some age-old ideas about asset allocation as you approach retirement. In retirement planning, we are often advised to deduct our current age from 100 or 120, depending on what you suspect about your longevity. The number remaining is the percentage of your portfolio that should be in equity. Unfortunately that means a person who is 50 years old will have half their portfolio in low risk, low growth assets. The 4% rule is unlikely to apply to such a conservative portfolio, since it's unlikely to yield high enough above-inflation returns. Remember, you can only use whatever you earn above inflation to keep your capital in tact. If inflation is 6% and your portfolio only grows at 7%, you can only use 1% of your capital. Unless you have a huge amount of money, that won't be enough to sustain you for a year. In this podcast, we brainstorm new ways to think about how to set up a portfolio as you approach financial independence. We work on the premise that you need between five and 10 years' worth of living expenses in low-risk assets on day one, so you have the option of not drawing down your portfolio during a market crash. We offer more questions than solutions in this one. We are excited to hear what you have contribute. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Colin I signed up for a Just One Lap's ETF portfolio subscription account over two years ago and have been using the recommendation for my TFSA. There are supposed to be subscription fees payable after the first free year, but I have never been approached to pay any fees to keep my subscription account active and my login still works! I am concerned however that the portfolios I see when logged in are perhaps not the most current, because I have not paid subscription fees! This concern is brought about by comments I have heard on the Fat Wallet podcasts, that make me wonder whether the current  > 10 year portfolio (that has holdings: CSEW40 40%, SYGWD 40%, PTXTEN 20%) is the current recommended portfolio. For example Simon often mentions on the podcast that the Signia MCSI World ETF have much higher costs that the Satrix equivalent, and given Just One Lap's emphasis on watching and reducing costs where possible, that makes me wonder why the SYGWD is still in the >10 year portfolio and whether I am seeing updated portfolios. Margaret The recent discussions about CoreShares changing their index made me want understand more of the underlying methodology of the underlying index. Indices for one country seem relatively simple (e.g. S&P 500, our Top 40 index), but if you want to go for the one ETF to rule them all strategy you have to have more complexity. I see there's the Ashburton 1200 and the MSCI world that track the global markets. Could you explain how these indices are created? Are there any indexes that track emerging markets over the world? BRICS? Latin America and Africa? Kristia's ETF analysis checklist:   Asset classes: are you buying shares, bonds, property or a combination? Regional exposure: where the companies in the index operate The investment universe: is it the whole market or only a sub-sector of the market, like technology Methodology: how the index is weighted. Sector exposure: what types of companies are in the idex Cost: at the moment TER is the most universal indicator   Philip A financial adviser suggested we take out life insurance on our parents as a future investment. My parents agreed and I have a little under R5m cover for about R2750 p/m. The policy is now eight years old and the payment amount only adjusts for inflation. So does the payout. a) It's my understanding that I will not pay tax on this payout. b) I hope I don't lose my dear mother for the next 30 years! And even if she lives until 90, my calculation is that the contribution will never exceed the payout. To me this seems like a good investment as part of a bigger portfolio (RA in addition to my Work pension, Standard Securities -started trading on the lazy system {yay me! I'm a trader!} etc). Are there any pitfalls I am missing, or can I tell my sister to consider the same type of policy? I guess I just want a sanity check here. NC van Heerden Over the past year I've listened to all of your podcasts since inception-sometimes obsessively. Luckily I started listening only a year after I started working before I had the time to make poor financial decisions. Following the great advice you have been giving, I have: -          Started a maxing my TFSA which I spilt 70/30 between STXWDM and STXEMG -          I have created a sizeable emergency fund, which already saved me on one occasion -          Started some discretionary investments in the ETF space -          Moved my RA from a advisor-fee stacked unit trust to 10X. I've stopped contributing to this fund to keep the opportunity to move overseas without Mr SARS having his cut – these funds are currently going into my discretionary investment (thank you to everyone who did all those calculations about if the RA vs discretionary) I currently have a contract until the end of 2019. Thereafter there is a high possibility of hopefully only a few months of (f)unemployment. At that time I am hoping to cover my expenses by working as a locum while waiting for a post to open up. Luckily I have no debts – thank you just one lap. In preparation I want to try saving a bit more money into my emergency fund this year. I'm currently using FNB's money maximizer account (decent-ish) interest rates but 100k minimum and monthly fees, but it has easy access via the FNB app (which I use anyway) and I can move money immediately). Since I will be adding some more money into my emergency fund I was looking at  at saving it somewhere with a better interest rate. According to tigersonagoldenleash.co.za at the moment the best interest rate seems to come from Tyme Bank (10% after invested for more than three months and taking a 10 day notice on withdrawal – downside is a maximum investment of 100K). Does that seem sustainable on business grounds? I always have the uncomfortable feeling that something seems too good to be true (looking at you Absa with 13.5 percent interest and then fine printing it as simple interest). I'm also considering African bank as it seems a bit more established. Please also advise if you think there would be a better place to park some extra emergency fund money for the next few months. Rudolph Do dividend yields rise or fall in a boom or a recession? Hannes You've mentioned a few times already that buying your house was a mistake and you'd never do it again. I would love for you to elaborate exactly the reasons why you believe it was a mistake, in as much detail as you can. I find it difficult to believe its a financial mistake when you are planning on paying it off in five-ish years, paying very little interest because of that, and having the benefit of not having a rent / bond payment after said five years. To me the pros of this far outweigh the cons.

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 wealth-destroying effect of fees are those new to the financial world. When you don't have much money and a brush with debt hasn't yet alerted you to the grimy side of the financial system, a 1% fee on a small transaction is unlikely to set off alarm bells. On a R300 investment, a 1% is only R3. What could you possibly buy with that? Beware, dear lambs, this is how they get you. In this week's episode of The Fat Wallet Show, we try to show you why you should care about fees very much. We run the gamut - from expensive, ego-stroking bank accounts to total investment costs in ETF products. You might be disappointed to find that we can't offer cut and dry solutions to fees. A lack of consistency in reporting among financial institutions makes it almost impossible to do a side-by-side comparison of fees. Instead, we try to steer you in the general direction of clarity. We reference this document. Kelly I've just received my first salary and am extremely eager to make my first investments into TFSA ETFs, however the more I started thinking about life expenses the more I realised that there are a couple of other financial planning decisions that I still need to make. I would like your advice relating to the following matters: Which bank account for day to day activities? Investec approached us first year trainees with the young professionals' private banking account. It has a monthly fee of R295 with no additional charges. It gives you reward points and access to airport lounges and all sorts of shiny bells and whistles. In what ratio would you advise me to invest my savings into an emergency fund and TSFA ETFs? Also, in which bank account would you advise me to keep this emergency fund? I am aware of the extreme importance of saving for retirement, and am unsure of whether I should be contributing to a pension fund as well as TFSA ETFs or if focusing only on TFSA ETFs for now will be sufficient.  What is your opinion on this? As I am young, I would like to focus on high risk, high return (hopefully), equity ETFS. I have considered the Satrix Top 40, as it is a known favourite and I can “catch up” on the time I have lost due to the sideways market with the hope of a more favourable market in the near future. I have also considered the Ashburton Global 1200 and Satrix MSCI World ETFs. The new ABSA low volatility ETFs also caught my attention but I am concerned that the risk on these ETFs are too low? Will you please advise? Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Flipi Any change in your opinions about 10x as a good RA choice? Would Stanlib's new TFSA be as good as any other? I have some investments with them and it would be convenient to simply move the money across in the next few days. Other Gerhard I opened a TFSA account for each of my daughters and did my first transfer. I did the instruction on their website and the trade was done 09:15 in the morning. I bought the Satrix MSCI World ETF and the trade price was R39.16 per share. From another trading system I use on a personal level I couldn't see this price trade anytime during the day. The highest price traded was R38.65 for the day, which means that over and above the normal small trading fee I paid to EasyEquities I also paid R0.51 or 1.32% of the share price. I invested R10,000 and the total transaction cost according to their break down was R37.40. But I got charged R39.16 per share instead of R38.65 (assuming the highest price for the day) and therefore I paid another R130.24 in "transaction charges". The total transaction charges therefore R167.64. If I did the same size transaction on Investec's trading platform I would have paid R151.72 in charges. Did I do something wrong here? Always Abundant In 2002 we bought into an Executive Redemption bond offered by a UK-based Life Assurance Co via the International arm of a large South African financial institution. This was sold to us by our financial advisor (at the time) as a way to maintain our offshore diversification. In 2012 we applied for a full withdrawal in order to close the policy. We were able to redeem everything other than 1 of the funds (a UK-based Property fund) which had gone bust. We accepted our losses, which were considerable, and forgot all about it. Recently we received a letter from the International Arm of the local company informing us that the annual fees on the policy had gone up. I obtained online access to the account and noticed that the Property fund in question had eventually liquidated in 2018. The small amount that was generated from the liquidation had gone towards paying these fixed annual fees. But since the fees were charged continually, there is now in a significant amount owing (1.5K USD). The policy is worth nothing but the fees continue to accumulate even though we had submitted the withdrawal form years ago. No one has informed us about the fees owing. What are our rights in this case? Surely there must be some kind of Consumer Protection laws to protect us from being liable for these fees? What should be our course of action, if any? Win of the week: Phasane 2018/2019 Tax Year has been, surprisingly, a good year for me. I finished paying off my car, not planning to buy any car until 2023. The only debt remaining is the bond. I discovered the Fat Wallet Podcast and the Just One Lap community in general. I listened to all Fat Wallet episodes (the weekly wait is now killing me). I moved my RA from Liberty to 10X, a process that started late in October 2018 and about to be wrapped up as I write this mail (waiting for some Trustees what what signature but 10X have kept me informed every step of the way). By the way, I started with my RA contributions to 10X in November and contributed to both Liberty and 10X that month. Although I wanted to do more, I contributed 16 600 ZAR to my TFSA (up from the R4 620 that I contributed the previous Tax Year). I am comforted by the fact that I have built my emergency fund to levels I am comfortable, from 0 - 4 months worth of living expenses (in Simon's own words, "that makes me sleep well at night"). 2019/2020 goals Contribute the max amount to the TFSA, this is important considering TIME in the market. Add one more month of living expenses to the emergency fund. My normal RA contributions will continue, this is a top up to the work pension fund. Everything else remaining, including change from the F##k it monthly budget, goes to the Bond. I am planning to settle the Bond in 2022 (9 years from the registration date)

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, people who do have a strong handle on their finances tend to favour simplicity, as this interview with Patrick McKay illustrates. Just One Lap had its origins as a trading education platform. Even so, trading is not something we encourage most people to do. For one, the amount of money required to start a robust trading account can easily fund a real world small business. Secondly, all the psychological factors that make investing hard are present in trading, but on a daily basis under huge time constraints. Unless you have the time and money to devote your life to it, trading is probably not for you. A question about a Forex training platform from Nadia inspired a discussion about the realities of trading that most people don't think about. We mention our Trading Boot Camp series, as well as this series of CFD Conversations. Clean swearing bleeped out show is below. https://justonelap.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/TheFatWalletShow_134_20190211_bleeped.mp3 Win of the week is Christiaan I am 17 years old and in Matric now. After listening to so many of your podcasts I have this vision of being financially independent before I am 35. I am in the process of opening a Tax free saving account at EasyEquities and the plan is to invest my money from the get go. I will have a good head start when I get to varsity next year as I will receive free tuition at UP and my parents own a house close to the Uni where I will be able to stay. I do odd jobs here and there and save all my money and receive a small amount of money from my parents as pocket money that I have to sustain myself, buy my own food at school and pay for extra murals. This amount is just under the amount I need to pay tax so I am good there. I worked out that it will take me just a little bit more than 15 years to max out my tax-free savings account if I pay the full R33,000 a year (will be maxed out when I am 33). My problem is, if I do this there will by no more money left for a RA. Is it necessary to open a RA now as I am not even 20 yet and don't earn a huge amount of money? Or wait until I maxed out my TFSA and then move the budgeted money I used to put there to my RA? Nadia I want to please get your opinion on a company called XXX. I've been trying to get proper feedback on them for weeks now but I can't seem to get an answer. It's a company that trains people to trade Forex. You pay to access a number of training videos, live sessions, tools they use to trade etc. So it really sounds awesome and apparently the education side of it is really great. But then I find the google reviews that say that it is all a scam and that they just take your money... which is why I am confused. There are some people who say that it is a great product because they really go in depth to show you how trading is done etc. As far as I know, you pay a monthly subscription fee to be able to use the education platform and then also the tools and programs they use to trade. You can cancel at any time and they money you make from your trades belongs to you. The only way this company makes money is from the monthly subscription you pay. It's pretty expensive so i'm not sure if I should just go for it and see what happens or if I should forget about it. So yes... i'm pretty confused. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Our Tax Elf De Wet has decided to give up a cushy corporate to take his Tax Elving more seriously. I need a strong emergency fund (something which was not as important with my current job). I'm looking at having 6 to 12 months expenses saved up over time. Where do I invest this money? I'm looking to save half myself and keep half in my wife's, as this makes issues on death easier (joint accounts get frozen and the like). This also potentially spreads the interest exemption. The plan is to save a percentage of all income on a monthly basis till I reach the threshold / top up as extra income comes in. Emergency Fund is the main goal in the first year working for myself. I will use some of Sam's knowledge and save for various items in this fund – car related expenses, emergencies, and other non-fun stuff. We will have a separate fun fund (this will be managed by my wife as she is in charge of fun and I look after life). Like me, Seilatsatsi is trying to find the perfect balance between RA and bond contributions. They say: Finding your podcast has so far been the best find of 2019 following the best find of 2018 which was Stealthy's site when I started my FIRE movement. I don't have a company pension fund. I currently manage my own with an RA, a TFSA and an EE account. I pay more than double on my bond. One of your listeners noted that one can submit their RA contribution to HR and have the rebate on a monthly basis compared to once annually. With this option, I am wondering if I should work it out as below: Stop the extra bond contribution and redirect that to the RA. If the monthly rebate works through my employer, I can put the extra monthly tax break back into the bond. I am very disciplined and this would actually be done. Another Engineer has some questions regarding tax on property and RA emigration. You mentioned that one can transfer an RA offshore, to another type of pension, and I understood that you meant that you wouldn't have to pay the tax. I've looked it up, and one cannot 'transfer' an RA offshore before retirement; you can have it paid out in cash, take the tax knock, and then take it offshore, IF you have financially emigrated. However, if you have a work pension fund, it seems you can take the cash (minus tax) when you resign, without having to have financially emigrated. I assume after 55, if you wanted to cash it out, you also have to turn it to cash, take the tax knock (which will be less than before 55), and then take it out. You mentioned that listed property distributions are taxed as interest. I think it's actually taxed straight as income, not interest? Unless I'm not understanding what you meant. The property distributions are not part of your interest exemption etc, I think it gets added straight to your "gross income", with your salary etc. Tax Emigration - Part One Edward is currently living in Australia but planning to move back home soon. I currently live in Australia but will likely have to return to South Africa a few years from now to look after my parents. I want to start contributing to a tax free savings account but I don't have a South African address which is required for FICA. Is there any way to open a tax free savings account while living in another country? Could I maybe use my parents' address? Would EasyEquities be an option for my TFSA? Phemelo could relate to last week's episode on starting over. The podcast "starting over" summarises what I have been trying to do from end of July to now. I thought I had a formula, the grand idea that was going to save me, namely to Increase my income by a huge margin. A prospective employer entertained my suggested offer of a huge increase in my annually CTC. In Dec 2018 I was flown to Cape Town for final interview. The interview went well, but then the phone call came on 18:38 Friday evening, telling me they “will not be advancing the offer". I was distraught and shattered. All my plans went out the window. This one job was supposed to take me to the promised land and now "I am starting over", but I remain positive. Darryn wants to know what account he should use to save for fun stuff. I struggle reading financial products at the best of times due to time and also pure laziness, my questions are: Is there a specific a account or company you use yourself for this? Can I just use a savings account on the 22/7 app? Are they good? Is there a specific type of account to use? If saving for a new car and a holiday to Cuba would you put those in separate accounts? Steve is planning to do some tax harvesting. I heard about the EasyEquities inter-account transfers function between normal accounts and TFSA, so I sold enough ETFs from my other account to transfer to TFSA. I know ETFs are not sold and converted instantly -  I figured T+2 or T+3. When the money didn't appear, I logged a ticket. I got a reply that the money would only be cleared on 13 Feb, which would be 8 business days later. Is this normal and if so, why so long? I am building my kids' education funds in ETFs,  but am mindful of the CGT I will need to pay when cashing in.   Considering there is a 40k per year allowance, I was planning on selling and rebasing the funds at times when the CGT liability would be close to the 40k. I am buying 6 ETFs per month for next 15 to 20 years. How would you suggest managing the CGT liability? I could keep a spreadsheet of each account and each ETF purchase ( x 3 per child per month etc – for 15 years ) -  or is there an easier way? For instance are the providers required to keep the CGT calculation updated for me? Always Abundant isn't so sure about the investment potential of property. I've compared the listed property index (J253  - since STXPRO does not go as far back) against the Satrix 40 over a 10 year period and found that property has performed half as well as equities. If this is generally the case in the long term, are there any merits to investing in a listed property ETF other than for diversification? The reason i am considering this is the added tax advantage for listed property in a TFSA. Hannes wants to know why your friend who sold everything in 2008 missed out. In episode 124 Simon talks about an acquaintance who sold everything in 2008, and asked to re-buy a few months ago. In that episode he states that "she missed everything", but I'm confused about this. I understand there was a massive market swing over the past 11 years, but long term investing dictates that you should hold, so why would she have missed everything if she would have just held through the swing to end up where the market was X years ago due to recent poor performance? Am I missing something here? Join our Fat Wallet Community.

There's nothing intuitive about the stock market. Most of what we discuss on this show relies on a basic grasp of the stock market, which is possibly asking too much. Every year I learn something new about the market. When I do, I get this horrible sense that everyone else already knew that and thinks me dumb for not knowing it. Sound familiar? An email from Antoine made me realise we've never really devoted an episode to how the stock market works. This is one for your bookmarks folder. Here's what we chat about: What is the stock market? What is it for? How does it work? Who are the players? How do you make money? Antoine is worried that the stock market is a Ponzi scheme.  A bank can lend 10 time more money than is physically available. So out of ten dollars virtual value available, nine dollars are a bet on future growth, not on actual value. The same holds true for bonds and capital investments. I'm really concerned that my children will become irrelevant, despite doing very well in maths and science. Investing in the almighty stock exchange might not save their souls. I'm hoping Simon might have something better than: "Because it worked for a hundred years." I heard that gospel before. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Win of the week is Sebushi for sending such a happy email. I have been listening to Fat Wallet for more than a year and encouraged my wife to listen as well. Last week she received an email from her employer Vodacom about their YeboYethu share and given three options to choose from. With the knowledge we received from Just One Lap, it was easy to make not only a choice, but an informed choice. Thank you guys for the your education it means a lot to me and my family. And thanks to Stealthy Wealth as I found about Kristia from his blog. From your Number One Fan whose Tax Free, RA and Investments are in order. Christiaan's friends are worried about what a crash would mean for those close to retirement. My friends' parents are in their 70s. They've managed their finances well, are still able to work and live off what they earn. They still save. They're worried what a next crash might mean for their savings. What're your thoughts on the Warren Buffett approach in his will to his wife of 90% in the S&P 500 and 10% in bonds? Rob is about to receive an inheritance. I am married and on the verge of starting a family. We currently live in a townhouse which we are paying off. We both have RAs to to which we contribute monthly, and also invest the max each month into our TFSAs. We are about 3/4s of the way towards having a fully topped up emergency fund. I have also received a nice bump in my monthly pay and plan to invest as much of this as possible into EFTs. We do potentially want to look a buying a house as we will need the space with kids and it's nice to own somewhere with a garden. So basically my question is, what would be the best way to use this lump sum to insure financial security for a growing family? Would it be a good idea to try and pay off the bond on the townhouse and then rent it out and use the money to fund a bond on the house? Or buy a house cash and the rent out the townhouse as a passive income? If we go this route, would it better to keep it all under one bond? Or should we just sell the townhouse and buy the house and not worry about having a rental property? Or is the property idea just a bad one all around? Is the best use of the money to clear all our debt before we start worrying about investments? Should we just invest the money and use the interest to pay off debt? Where would be the best place to invest to avoid income tax? I have only recently started listening to your podcast so if there are other episodes that answer my questions then could you point me in the right direction? Jonathan sent such a great email.  Hi legends Give me a 3 minute for and a 3 minute against endowments, assuming fees aren't bad. Hooray! Tim wants to claim back a loss from SARS. I invested into a scheme that now appears to be a fake scheme (money does not get paid out) am I able to claim the loss against my tax return? If I had made a profit SARS would have asked their share, so surely the inverse must work and if so what proof would i need to substantiate this? I fortunately on put a bit of FU money in that I could lose (any loss sucks), unfortunately it seems others may have put a lot more in..., so once the dust has settled and I know the outcome ill send a mail as a lesson for all. Alexander has questions about investing for minors. He wants to know what would happen if family members contributed to a TFSA for a minor and accidentally went above the R33,000 limit. Would the platform block the transaction (I use EE) or would someone be liable to pay a fine (presumably the legal guardians of said child). It seems better to have a bank account people deposit into and distribute from there. We want to open an investment account for our godchild, not a TFSA. How would tax around this work? If anything is withdrawn before the child can be a registered tax payer (medical emergency or something), would the parents be responsible for the tax liability, or us? Shaunton wants to know how the 27.5% tax rebate works for people who work for themselves. Does this limit also apply if you have your own business, independent contractor? Or how does it work? Bongani is concerned about capital appreciation due to rand depreciation. Rand depreciation means capital gain for me as a south African investor on dollar-based ETFs. If I were to invest in a JSE-listed ETF, the rand depreciation would be considered capital gain and I would be liable for tax. If I buy the MSCI World etf from Vanguard as an offshore investment, would the rand depreciation also be considered capital gain and I be liable for capital gain tax? Kobus wants to know if higher tiers are worth the rewards. I'm trying to compare rewards programs of different credit cards. Is it worthwhile to go for a higher tier status so that you can get a bigger rebate on petrol? It seems that there is not one reward program that is the best. Is it best to ignore these reward programmes altogether?  

Moneyweb Radio — Mike Brown - CEO, Nedbank & SImon Brown - Founder, Just One Lap

Your first investment will scare you half to death. Don't let anyone tell you different. We've all felt that terror (some of us more than once). We all came out the other end secure in the knowledge that we are now among the select few who Invest in the Market. Hannes, a Just One Lap user, has been following Simon since before Just One Lap existed. He's paid for a share trading account every month for the better part of a decade, and yet never managed to pull the trigger on that first investment. In this episode we discuss the things we're afraid of when we start investing and how to overcome those fears. Like Lesigisha pointed out last week, effective compounding depends more on time than money. This excellent Stealthy Wealth article illustrates that point very effectively. Links Frank was perplexed by this quote from a Moneyweb article, “Taxpayers may even include any capital gains that they are liable for in a particular year of assessment as part of the 27.5% tax deduction." In this episode we explain how that works. Chris is concerned about spreads in ETF products. As we explain in this episode, spread is the difference between the price people are willing to pay for a share and the price at which people are willing to sell. ETF prices are determined by market makers, not buyers and sellers like ordinary shares. Why then are the spreads so large? His email is below. I was intrigued by the discussions around the Lars Kroijer videos and your post "ETF: The whole world in your portfolio".  This got me thinking about implementation of such a strategy and I started looking at TERs and spreads of local top 40 ETFs and the global ETFs as I will most likely opt for the cheapest products. TERs are easily available and published by the product providers and some third party sites such as etfSA.co.za.  But nobody ever talks about the spreads.  I wrote a script to poll bid/ask prices every 5 minutes throughout the trading day and computed some statistics on them: The count column is the number of samples taken, median is the median of unfiltered data, avg is the arithmetic mean after filtering for outliers and stddev is the standard deviation from the mean. Because ETFs trade fairly infrequently compared to normal stocks, I think it is safe to assume the market makers participate in the majority of orders. Thus, the figures above should be a fairly accurate view of the spreads the market makers maintain. Now I understand the spread is a once off "cost" that I pay, but look at those numbers. 1.6% on the Ashburton global and 1% on the Satrix world! Kristia   Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Sign up here to receive an email every time a new show goes live.

Business Day TV — Facebook shares fell on Friday after CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced changes to the website's News Feed, that said it would hit user engagement in the near term. Simon Brown from Just One Lap joins Stephen Gunnion at the desk to dissect all the latest global markets news and guides you through what's going to be driving equities this year. Later in the show, we're be joined on the line by Ken Ode-luga from City Index in London to get his perspective.

Every year the first JSE Direct of the year is our annual predictions show. Marc Ashton, Keith McLachlan, Small/Midcap fund manager at Alpha Wealth and Just One Lap founder Simon Brown review their predictions from the previous year and make their top three predictions for 2018. They then also make a call on the Top40 and ZAR/US$ for the year. You can find the 2017 edition here. Subscriber to our feed here Sign up for email alerts as a new show goes live Subscribe or review us in iTunes. JSE – The JSE is a registered trademark of the JSE Limited. JSEDirect is an independent broadcast and is not endorsed or affiliated with, nor has it been authorised, or otherwise approved by JSE Limited. The views expressed in this programme are solely those of the presenter, and do not necessarily reflect the views of JSE Limited.

Moneyweb Radio — Simon Brown - Founder, Just One Lap

Our signature yearend JSE Power Hour presented by Just One Lap founder, Simon Brown. Simon looks at what he predicted last year before embarking on his 2018 predictions that include; Steinhoff (JSE code: SNH) Naspers (JSE code: NPN) Bitcoin (BTC) The December ANC elective conference, who'll win and how will this impact our market Junk status The R50billion tax hole looming in the February budget Interest rates The Rand International markets Commodities His preferred stocks and ETFs for 2018. The PDF of the presentation is here and video here.

Business Day TV — Bumper Cyber Monday sales are expected as shoppers go online. Simon Brown from Just One Lap discusses which of the major e-tailers are benefitting as the holiday shopping season starts. Suhail Suleman discusses the investment case for Coronation's Global Emerging Markets Fund.

“Is it really possible to live off my investments?” This is a question we field often. We recently did a podcast about early retirement that deals with a variation on this theme. The question concerns me, because the answer lies at the heart of all financial planning. Firstly, if living off your investments isn't the end goal of investing, what is? How else do you differentiate between long-term investments and short-term savings? Intentionality is a theme that keeps cropping up on the Just One Lap platform. Good financial decisions aren't possible without understanding the purpose of investing. Secondly, the answer affects your judgement around whether your retirement annuity or pension fund is any good. How do you decide how much to contribute to these funds? All too often companies set the retirement savings rate on behalf of employees. If you can't answer this question, how will you know whether the company-mandated savings rate or the oft-cited 15% is enough to see you through retirement? When I started dreaming of an early retirement, I calculated I would need around R7m to be financially free. At a 4% draw-down rate, this would earn me a monthly income of just over R23 000. At 4%, so says the theory, my capital would keep on growing if my returns beat inflation. Imagine I never ran this calculation and decided instead to contribute 15% of my monthly salary to an RA. If I started this month and continued my 15% contributions for the next 20 years, providing I earned an annual yield of 12%, I'm still almost R700 000 shy of my early retirement goal. In this podcast, we talk about the numbers you have to run and the assumptions you have to make to know whether you have enough money invested. I highly recommend you visit the Stealthy Wealth website for a lot more information about this. While his goal is early retirement, the principles are the same. Kris

I can't think of anything better than learning about something that piques my curiosity. It's an incredibly powerful antidote to boredom. Learning is easiest in environments where beginner's mind is encouraged, which is why I've always been a fan of learning in secret. When you start expecting answers instead of questions, you create an expectation of mastery. With that, humility and curiosity are lost. An expectation of mastery leads to fear and inevitable failure. Perfect, complete knowledge is a myth. Learning is a life's work. True understanding isn't always a by-product of learning. When learning doesn't stem from genuine curiosity, when asking questions isn't encouraged, when the teacher is impatient, understanding gets lost, curiosity wanes, passion for the subject matter gets snuffed out. More than sharing information, it's my hope that this one-year-old show will provide a framework for asking questions. I hope, by listening to this show, you will be less afraid to speak up next time something isn't completely clear. I hope you will never be afraid to ask the same question twice. I hope we are creating a hunger for true understanding, whatever the field. For the last year, this show and its listeners have been a source of great pride and joy for the Just One Lap team. Thank you for listening to The Fat Wallet Show. Kris

Long-time listeners of The Fat Wallet Show might not be surprised that I find questions around credit records distressing. My dubious credit history makes me wary of debt billed as anything but an expensive and stressful parting from my money.   We look very mischievous in this picture, but we actually talk about how to build up a credit score in this #podcast. #money #fatwallet A post shared by Kristia Van Heerden (@k_r_isis) on Mar 30, 2017 at 4:15am PDT That said, some larger purchases are only within most of our reach through credit. A bad credit record could be the only thing standing between you and the house you shouldn't buy. A question from a 24-year-old listener trying to prop up his credit record had me do some digging. I was happy to find there are ways to get a good credit record without exposing yourself to the trappings of the bad stuff. I also received one of my favourite emails of all time from Shaun McQueen this week. Thanks for writing, Shaun. You did my soul good. I'd like to give you some feedback on Just One Lap and your Fat Wallet Show. End of last year I've came to the  conclusion that I hate my job. I've been pondering on this for quite a while ..what the hell, it might also just be a midlife crisis. Anyway, so I decided to focus on the one thing that doctors know nothing about - finances. Become a trader or something...After all, finance 101 in med school is easy. If you need more money - work more hours! Worst business model ever. This is how I stumbled across your show  via the JSE podcast. After 3 months of reading books, listening podcasts etc. I'm obviously not my own trader or investor - yet. But, I've noticed a big difference in my thinking. I suddenly realize that I don't need the expensive car, or all the gadgets etc. It's easy to think  " I deserve this and that, because I work so hard". What bullsh*t.  I now know that I do not hate my job, I actually love it. It is the fact that I need to work all the hours to pay for all the stuff that I do not really need, that makes me unhappy in my work. So, today I've made a massive poster and stuck it onto my home office wall for me to see every day. I've noted down the stuff to get rid off, my step by step financial plan and my road to less working hours!( happiness). It won't happen overnight, but it is a start. Thanks for waking me up. I'll continue down this journey of financial education. And maybe in 3 - 5 years from now I'll work because I want to, and trade because I can. Regards Shaun PS Not only engineers listening to your show... Kris

The 2017 predictions show Every year the first JSE Direct of the year is our annual predictions show. Marc Ashton, GM at Moneyweb, Keith McLachlan, Small/Midcap fund manager at Alpha Wealth and Just One Lap founder Simon Brown review their predictions from the previous year and make their top three predictions for 2017. They then also make a call on the Top40 and ZAR/US$ for the year. You can find the 2016 edition here.   JSE – The JSE is a registered trademark of the JSE Limited. JSEDirect is an independent broadcast and is not endorsed or affiliated with, nor has it been authorised, or otherwise approved by JSE Limited. The views expressed in this programme are solely those of the presenter, and do not necessarily reflect the views of JSE Limited.

Position your portfolio for 2017 with Simon Brown Every year we conclude the JSE Power Hour series with a presentation by Just One Lap founder, Simon Brown. He gives his insights for the year ahead and how to position your portfolio accordingly. Last year the presentation was just days before then Minister Nene was fired and this year's event will be just days after the Standard and Poor's announcement regarding South Africa's credit status. Simon will review his predictions from last year and look at what the year ahead holds and how we can best position our investment portfolio. Issues that to be covered will include; Junk status The Rand Interest rates Offshore investments Impact of the looming Brexit Our local economy and its growth potential A selection of preferred stocks for the year ahead including for your ETF portfolio   The PDF of the presentation is here.

Simon Shares US mattresses with Steinhoff (JSE code: SNH)? Paying more than double the last traded price? MTN looks all ugly. Forget the fine, forget over a billion Rands in associated costs. Nigerian and South African markets look weak and I still say they need to transition into being a data utility. That said there's a nice trade from around R122 - R140. SABMiller (JSE code: SAB) leaving the JSE on 11 October (most likely) after listing on the JSE in 1897 (just two years after being founded and a decade after the JSE was founded). SAB has been one of the key drivers of the Indi25 index over the last decade (SAB +472%, All Share +154%). They're going to leave a gapping hole. If you had R300, which ETF would you buy? We ask the Just One Lap team for their picks. The Fat Wallet Show goes where few are brave enough to trend. Renting vs. buying, what does the maths say? Keith McLachlan from Alpha Wealth Finding a local Berkshire Hathaway? Simon answered a listener questions suggesting that maybe Conduit Capital (JSE code: CND) was an option. The trick however is the regulatory environment and Keith McLachlan helps us understand what those Solvency Assessment and Management (SAM) regulations are and how difficult it makes for a company to model themselves on Berkshire Hathaway. We Get Mail Caroline Richemont (JSE code: CFR) has been falling steadily for nearly a year and is down 26.59%. Is it now regarded as a “Dog”???? Or because it is in your Death Do Us Part portfolio has it become a “Puppy”? Question – have you sold or not? My problem is Astoria (JSE code: ARA). I bought for long, long, term and that has fallen about the same. Do I bale and lose a large dollop of my portfolio which I am no longer in a position to recoup, or let it turn around with the Rand exchange rate. Problem is that might not happen in my lifetime!!! Decisions …. decisions Tax feedback Just a point on not being able to offset trading losses against other income, believe you can as long as SARS didn't ring fence the loss and your chances are better if you are not at marginal tax rate,activity not deemed to be a hobby and not more than 3 losses out of last 5 tax years. I can feel for Johan. I used the "Other income" to declare 'trading income' from various sources. I keep these income's to the bare minimum. HOWEVER.... No easy place to claim expenses as a separate entry. Unless You open the can of worms called "Business" income. Jacques Any ideas on how to benefit from current strong rand i.e. which ETFs are good options to take some cash offshore? JSE – The JSE is a registered trademark of the JSE Limited. JSEDirect is an independent broadcast and is not endorsed or affiliated with, nor has it been authorised, or otherwise approved by JSE Limited. The views expressed in this programme are solely those of the presenter, and do not necessarily reflect the views of JSE Limited.

The Fat Wallet Show is a weekly humble pie eating contest (on iTunes, for all the world to witness, as of this week). For about the first six months after joining Just One Lap, I left every meeting with a list of things to Google. Half a year in, I finally knew enough to start asking questions. However, nobody around me ever asked a question. I realised that either the expert-to-novice ratio was skewed and I was literally the only person who didn't know what was going on, or someone was bullshitting. The Fat Wallet Show is a direct result of the process of owning my ignorance. Since I've already claimed the Village Idiot title, I'm no longer shy to ask smart people to explain things to me. They already know how little I know. Once I started unabashedly owning my stupidity, the rate at which I learned things increased dramatically. Yes, sometimes I ask stupid questions, but once in a while I ask a really good question, and I'm proud of that. This week, something really cool happened. I was reading through a report we got at the CoreShares ETF Exchange and noticed something I didn't understand. This did not shock me. I went through my usual process, which means I asked Simon. He didn't know. So I asked the three ETF geniuses, Helena, Candice and Nerina (*whistle*). They didn't know. Then I asked my smartest friend, who drove over to my house so she could draw pictures. Only, she couldn't figure it out either. It turns out an important piece of data was missing and nobody knew what was going on. This excites me, because the financial services industry as we know it today came about in a time before fintech and, you know, cars that weren't attached to horses. Like all new things, it didn't start out effective and efficient. It remains a work in progress, a living thing that exists for our benefit. A simple question like, “Why is it like this?” naturally leads to, “Is there a better way to do this?” That question, hopefully, leads to improvements that can benefit the human race, not just some dude in a suit.* Information is such a powerful tool. To get it, though, you have to plant your feet firmly in what you don't know. This week, I tell this story, which you now have to go through twice. I apologise. Then I talk about bonds. If that's what you're here for, skip to the end. By the way, ETF geniuses, where my retail bond ETF at? Gimme it. I mention our friend Daniele in the podcast. You can follow him here. Kris *I'm actually a big fan of dudes in suits. Especially well-made suits that fit just right. Please don't stop wearing them. You look fantastic.

Simon Shares New logo for JSE Direct to bring it inline with the new Just One Lap branding. S&P is negative but not junk, Fitch says we stable, GDP says we half way to a recession. GIVISA, the cheapest ETF on the JSE. But is it any good? Kristia goes on a nerdy bender digging into the details. Keith McLachlan on building a small cap portfolio. The Just One Lap team is starting to do more Periscope videos; follow us all at; DeeOnMoneyZA TraderPetri KristiaVH SimonPB Zack Bezuidenhout S&P Dow Jones Indices We chat indices, costs, new developments and smart beta. Zack also has a great analogy about the financial services fee structure and the medical industry that really highlights the wrongs in the financial services industry. We Get Mail Lauren What about the Swix index for investing? Rudolph A question, are you still happy with your decision to sell all your BATS shares, after a 40% return the past year? Philip Regarding the debate of investing in the US or worldwide, why not invest in these 2 ETFs – namely, IXUS and ITO? I do not think you are going to find ETFs with lower fees, 0.03 and 0.14. The IXUS seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of large-, mid- and small- cap non-U.S. equities. The ITOT seeks to track the investment results of a broad-based index composed of U.S. equities.

Every year we end the JSE Power Hour series with a presentation from Simon Brown of Just One Lap in which he looks at his predictions for 2016 and how to position your portfolio accordingly. The video is below but we have included the audio only into this weeks JSEDirect. Included in the presentation is; Reviewing the 2015 predictions Top stock picks for 2016 The South African economy (GDP growth, drought, recession?) State of commodities, mining and when to buy them Elections, unions and Eskom US, EU and China Bloodhound and more The PDF of the presentation is here and if you'd rather watch the video is here. ====== Subscriber to our feed here or sign up for email alerts as a new show goes live or subscribe in iTunes. JSE – The JSE is a registered trademark of the JSE Limited. JSEDirect is an independent broadcast and is not endorsed or affiliated with, nor has it been authorised, or otherwise approved by JSE Limited. The views expressed in this programme are solely those of the presenter, and do not necessarily reflect the views of JSE Limited.