The petrol price is now over R8, inflation is higher than anyone expected and looks ready to test 9%, and our mortgage repayments have gone through the roof. When trying to squeeze that little extra from your monthly budget, review your current insurance payments and look at ways to self-insure.
Last week, the Presidential Working Group for Women and Old Mutual launched the Women’s Activism Balanced Fund, a women’s empowerment investment fund that follows last year’s launch of a domestic workers’ retirement plan. An injection of R70-million in seed capital will be made by Old Mutual into the fund.
Ironically, the cost of running a broker force to encourage saving makes saving in a growth asset a poor investment. Investing money in a monthly unit trust could cost you as much at 7% a year after commission and management fees have been deducted, writes Maya Fisher-French.
So there’s no need for a further rate hike? The latest economic data show that consumers are suffering and a further rate hike would just be flogging a dead horse while having a negative impact on a corporate sector already dealing with power shocks, reports Maya Fisher-French.
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/ 22 February 2008
The reduction of corporate tax from 29% to 28% is a welcome relief for companies entering a far more difficult economic environment. The tax burden on corporates has been increasing since 2000, despite the nominal tax rate dropping from 30% to 29% over the same period.
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/ 22 February 2008
This year’s tax relief of R7,2-billion on personal income tax was lower than those of the past two years and provides only for inflation relief rather than any real tax benefit after inflation. Changes to other taxes affecting individuals were all inflation related and offer very little real change. So what do the tax cuts mean for you?
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/ 22 February 2008
Undoubtedly one of the budget’s highlights was the removal of exchange controls for institutional investors, all but dealing a death blow to exchange control. Under the new provisions, foreign investment will be guided by prudential investment guidelines rather than the laager mentality that has driven exchange-control legislation.
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/ 21 February 2008
A main feature of Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s newly unveiled budget has been to slash the red tape, and small businesses will be elated over some major changes in the tax legislation. According to the Treasury’s tax team, the focus of this budget was to take the administrative burden of tax compliance off small companies.
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/ 25 January 2008
Tuesday was one of the most volatile days the JSE has ever experienced and it followed a bloody Monday that saw the market plunge more than 4%, wiping R130-billion off the stock market. If it were not for the unexpected and very welcome news from the United States Federal Reserve that it was cutting interest rates by 75 basis points, Tuesday could have been a lot worse with the market down a further 4% at one point.
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/ 22 January 2008
As someone who works from home, I’ve lost two days of productivity over the past week. Like many small businesses, that means a serious drop in income. My stress levels are soaring because when the cuts come I do not know if they will be for a couple of hours or the whole day, writes Maya Fisher-French.