On Monday Sanlam will be the first life insurance company to challenge the ruling of the pension fund adjudicator in the case of Mr de Beer in the Cape High Court. De Beer wanted to reduce the premium on his policy. Sanlam sought to penalise him R43Â 000 — the value of the policy was R46Â 000.
Last year R20,5-billion worth of individual life investment products were surrendered before maturity. This represents a staggering 26% of the R74-billion the life companies received from total individual premium income last year. When one compares this figure with individual premium income from new business last year, for every R2 of new business written, R1 was lost to surrender.
When buying a car, few people are fortunate enough to pay cash. After your house, it is probably your biggest financial commitment and a big-ticket item on your budget. Before you start pounding the showrooms or flipping through the AutoTrader, you need to know exactly how much you can afford.
No image available
/ 25 February 2005
![]()
It will come as no surprise that Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel has targeted car allowances in this Budget. After numerous hints last year from the minister and South African Revenue Service Commissioner Pravin Gordhan, Manuel has taken action to reduce the abuse of car travel allowance.
No image available
/ 25 February 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>The CEO of Stanlib Asset Management, Allan Miller, is looking gleefully at the increases for police officers and teachers to guide his investment decisions. The move will put more money in their pockets and they will be able to increase spending as well as take on more credit.
No image available
/ 25 February 2005
<img src="http://www.mg.co.za/ContentImages/197779/special_rep_icon_template.gif" align=left>Thanks to an unexpected increase in revenue of more than R11-billion this year, Minister of Finance Trevor Manuel again played Mr Nice Guy and cut individual taxes by a further R6,8-billion. This bonanza is aimed at the lower-income earner, with 62,8% of the benefit going to people who earn less than R200Â 000 a year.
The economy is the strongest it has been in a decade — but the best is yet to come. Economists believe economic growth could sail above 3% this year, well ahead of the 2,8% originally projected, buoyed by surging consumer confidence and higher manufacturing output. The impressive growth owes itself to the low inflation and surging consumer confidence.
South African house prices increased by 24,3% year-on-year in May 2004 from a revised record 24,5% y/y in April 2004. This was the sixth consecutive month that house prices have risen by more than 20% y/y, according to South African commercial bank Absa’s monthly house price index released on Thursday.
No image available
/ 28 November 2003
Those who can, do. Those who can’t, teach. If Woody Allen is to be believed, those who can’t teach, teach gym. And those who can’t teach gym, write advertisements for radio. So when the reassuring drawl of Gary Player rose clear above the aural sludge, I sat up and listened. Gary was urging me to open an account with Nedbank.
Mary Metcalfe, Gauteng MEC of agriculture, conservation, environment and land affairs, tells the story of a golden butterfly that solved an inherently irreconcilable tension between the environment and development.