September celebrates National Wills Week, a reminder to us all about the importance and necessity to create a Last Will and Testament. According to recent statistics, only 30% of South Africans have a will – which means that we have to be talking about this a lot more! We have seen countless movies and TV […]
Take the dread out of disease cover
A lot of people misunderstand the term ‘dread disease cover’… and with that name, it’s enough to take the smile out of anyone’s day. But dread disease or CI (critical illness) insurance is a powerful tool to ensure that health emergencies don’t trip up your financial dreams or weigh heavily on your family.
Five awesome things about women investors
It’s Women’s Month, and we’ve been thinking lately about all the ways in which women are wonderful in matters of money.
Women as investors don’t get praised often enough – there’s been an unfortunate stereotype in the past that keeps finances in ‘man territory’. Today, we’d like to honour the ladies in our stock markets and on our shareholders’ boards and count the ways in which they rock and the things male investors can learn from them.
Mind the gap within
What you think you can do and what you can do are not the same thing. What would you try with your finances if you couldn’t fail?
When it comes to the things we want in life, most of them are inextricably linked with our finances.
The seven habits of cyber secure people
It’s not for nothing that cyber crime and hacking was considered 2019’s number one “major risk” by the world’s largest insurer, Allianz, in their latest Risk Barometer Survey. These days, it’s not if the security of your electronic identity and assets will be tried by a criminal, it’s when.
Is your portfolio overly concentrated?
A well-balanced, diversified portfolio is a joy for all seasons, giving something no matter what various markets or asset classes are doing. An overly concentrated portfolio is the opposite, a ticking time bomb volatile to fluctuations in macroeconomics and other influencers of the share price.
Running on empty – is it time to fill up your tank?
Are you the type of person who puts in a little petrol here, a little petrol there, or enough to last you the week based on calculations you’ve done of what you need, or are you someone who fills your tank up every time you visit the garage?
Three reasons why you need an emergency fund
There are always bills to pay and money needed for something or another, and few things seem as boring and unnecessary than an emergency fund. While you can enjoy the rewards of spending on, say, a good winter coat, or can see the benefits of saving for something like university for the kids, emergency funds are, by nature, never seen.
Tips for a less taxing tax season
‘Tax season’ elicits in most people the kind of shudder you’d imagine ‘open season’ to elicit in hunted animals. We all hate doing our taxes and, because of this, we often postpone the inevitable, sometimes with horrible consequences like penalties and waiting hours at SARS.
Soil is not enough – what does it mean to be truly rich?
Last month we talked about interest rate risk – the risk of your investment devaluing and you losing money due to changes in interest rate. In a sense, this is about an investment’s possibility of flailing due to macroeconomic conditions. This month, we’re going to look at credit risk.