r/PersonalFinanceZA

Hi. I have a Fnb private clients fusion account and am looking to downgrade. I’ve been calling them but it’s hard to get answers on the downgrade.

Has anyone downgraded successfully to the Aspire fusion account? I would like to keep my credit card and OD as a bundled fee. I tried to downgrade a few years ago but my non-existent banker called me out to blue to say that I’ll be charged a separate credit card fee which when combined with the cheque account fee, is more than the private clients account fee, so I stayed.

I'm due for my first ever tax return, but I have a registered business that's not trading nor making any money.

SARS is in the process of verifying my bank details for my personal tax return and sent me correspondence to file my IRP6 for my business.

Will the business tax process delay the personal tax process, or does SARS treat them as separate?

Hey guys.

My daughter was born a few weeks ago and I am looking to start a putting money away each month for her schooling and education.

I have already opened her a bank account and maxed out her TFSA.

I am assuming that I won’t need the money until at least 5 - 10 years time.

What are the benefits of each? And any recommendations of which company I should use? I don’t really want to leave the money in a MoneyMarket if I can get better returns somewhere else.

I already have my own investments on EasyEquities, but I want to keep these savings separate.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated here.

Cheers!

Is anyone else familiar with this situation and can advice on what the best way to proceed is?

In 2024, I attended a major University in the Western Cape, on the understanding that my NSFAS application would be approved during the course of the year. Many students found themselves in this position given NSFAS processing delays. I attended lectures and wrote tests on this basis. Only halfway through the year was I informed that my application had been declined on grounds of household income, which in my opinion was an inaccurate assessment seeing as how the household was reliant on pension and both my parents had been unemployed for a while. After numerous appeals, when it became clear that I was not going to win this, I formally withdrew from the University.

Now, two years later, the University is coming after me for money owed to them. I know for a fact that I am not the only person who went through this, and I am keen to hear how others have gone about navigating such a situation.

The expectation was for us to wait for our NSFAS to be approved. there was no direction or indication of what would follow if that did not happen.

Push come to shove I will obviously have to set up a payment arrangement but I am looking on advice or guidance on getting the fees reduced or waived, given the circumstances outlined above.

I know there are other posts on the sub about best business accounts. But I need advice for a farm specifically. I already bank at FNB with my personal account and am happy with them. But I am not married to them so will consider other banks.

Currently all business expenses and income are run through my personal account. I am operating as a Sole Proprietorship. I use my credit card/account for business transactions and my normal debit account for personal transactions. As far as I can see this seperation of finances is the only reason to get a business account, but I am already achieving this as stated above.

I am not sure if I need to get a business account as the above mentioned method is working for me. Therefore I firstly need advice on why I need a seperate business account with seperate banking fees.

The account will basically have two to three large deposits per year as livestock are sold after weaning. Turnover per year is between R1mil and R1.5mil, however a really good year the turnover can push to R2 mil. I have monthly expenses for consumables like fuel, feed, wire etc and other things like wages.

From what I have seen FNB Gold Business seems like it might work. But since I will not have monthly income and only a few large deposits per year I am worried about hidden fees that penalise that.

I do not need the account to apply for financing. This is a debt free farm and will stay that way. So ease of getting a business loan or interest rates are irrelevant for me.

So should I get a business acount and with which bank?

28F in SA, 5 years HR experience, relevant HR qualifications and currently doing a postgraduate HR qualification.

I currently earn R20k gross and support HR/admin across 5 companies. My responsibilities include HR operations, payroll, ER/disciplinary matters, policies, compliance, HR systems, SDF/WSP/ATR, recruitment/onboarding etc.

There are only 2 HR officials supporting the group. We also have an HR Generalist contractor on a project earning R40k/month, with similar age/experience to me but no degree. His HR Manager earns around R80k.

I was previously told R30k wasn't possible because project salaries were temporary. However, the business has since been doing better and my responsibilities remain ongoing across the group.

I'm expecting a 7% increase (R21.4k), which honestly is fokol.

I'm considering asking for R35k gross, with R33k being the figure I'd really like to land around.

Am I being unrealistic, or should I shake the table and negotiate?

I'm not asking because of personal expenses. I'm trying to benchmark my actual market value and stop underpricing myself. 😭

Hi I live overseas and need to sort out my tax suitation in south africa. I have never registered with sars before. ( i know, I know) Have been quoted around 25000 rand to get all sorted is this a normal amount to get this sorted? Any recommendations for companies that can help me?

I am starting to see a trend of people adding Government Bonds to their TFSA’s.

I don’t really see the point in playing a portfolio manager in an areas where most people have little to no knowledge on adequate portfolio asset mixes.

Why not just get a balanced EFT if you want both equity and bond exposure? Is this not more beneficial as you will get a distribution of interest and dividends with the added benefit of equity appreciation.
Furthermore actual professionals at Satrix or Sygnia with actual portfolio mix competence have diligently found the optimum mix of bonds and equities

So really my question is:

1. if you are getting bonds for the interest why not just get a Balanced EFT?

2. if it for diversification why do you not just get a World Index EFT (and just track the entire market) or once again why don’t you get a Balanced EFT (this is diversification)?

I could just ask ChatGPT but I want to hear from the community rather.

I am a contract worker and pay provisional tax. Someone who works with me and earns the same claims to pay much less tax than I do due to using a tax practitioner. We earn the same and I deduct office expenses and RA.

Am I missing out on deductions by not using a tax practitioner? What other things do they deduct that could result in my colleague paying less tax?

I’m a final-year BCom Accounting student, and this year has honestly been really difficult. I went from being an A student with distinctions(golden key literally )to failing three modules in my first semester, and unfortunately, I’ve now lost my bursary.
I’ve worked way too hard to get this far to deregister, and I only need funding for one semester next year to finish my degree. I also don’t really have work experience, so I’m not sure where to start when it comes to finding a job or other ways to fund myself.
I’m not looking to dwell on what happened or feel sorry for myself. I’m taking accountability and just want to find a way forward.
If you were in my position, what would you do? Where would you look for funding for one semester, part-time work, graduate opportunities, or any other options that could help me finish my degree?
(,I’d really appreciate any response honestly

I (18) am looking to save a small bit of money in a Capitec savings account, it's either between Fix-term or Access Anytime or TFSA + with monthly deposits.

I tried getting more information on Capitec's Savings accounts but found nothing new besides what Capitec was already offering.

I am a little skeptical of their 'no monthly admin fees' and 'Capitec rates may change from time to time ', I won't like waking up to a R12 admin fees one morning so I want to hear other people's experiences with saving with Capitec.

Advice is great appreciated ☺️.

I want to buy a house - it will be my primary dwelling, but the house in question also has a nice 2 bedroom separate cottage that I could rent to students for a decent amount. Would I be able to use htat rental toward the bond cost or will I have to pay tax on the rental and only claim back a portion of the costs? I get that it would be the case if it was a purely investment property but this is my primary residence - is there a difference?

Good morning

I support myself, another adult and 2 pets After paying everything I have only about R2000 for food and that's ignoring my Woolworths credit card who has handed me over to Blake and associates.

I am wondering if my best option is debt review or if the bank would possibly add R160 000 to my bond and extend the bond period so that I can pay the credit card and personal loan in full.

I am extremely stressed and can't get another job because of being on disability after 2 back surgeries.

Any advice would be appreciated.

Here are my exact debts

Home loan: R628320 over 245 months 9,65% interest

Personal loan R87521 over 62 months

27. 25% interest

Woolworths Credit Card R55100 (unsure)

Woolworths store card R8170

I earn R18136.94

+ R700 (garage rental)

Bond R5947

Personal loan R3500

Levy R1306

Rates R900 (I am behind by R2000)

Fiber R400

Electricity R600

Meds R1400

Pets R1645

Woolworths store card R500

Transport R1000

Food and toiletries R6000

Woolworths Credit card approx R4000

Hi everyone, I suspect this is going to be a controversial one but here we go.

Context:

In this hypothetical scenario the TFSA is not for yourself but rather, and most likely, a child - ideally as young as possible (basically, open the TFSA the moment the child obtains his/ her ID number).

Also, we are going to assume that said child will not abuse/ ruin the TFSA account once they reach the age of 18 and owenership is transfered.

Question:

With the context in mind, I want to know if it could be considered "worth it" to make the entire lifetime contribution in one single contribution, as opposed to the usual, within-the-limits, annual contributions over time, in order to:

1. Maximize the potential growth of the TFSA from day one.

2. Minimize administration (practically set-and-forget).

3. Provide some degree of security (in the sense that, should the guardian/ parent pass away unexpectedly, again, administration of the TFSA is a none-issue).

All this for the low, low (tax) price of about R181k.

I’m sure we can all agree that we hate the long lines at the airport, especially through customs.

I currently bank with FNB (premier) and Nedbank and I’m unaware of any benefit that side with this. It’s made me tempted to look into discovery bank.

Anyone have any input on this?
I’m an SA citizen but travel about 1-2 every 6 with on contract work, and personal travel outside of that.

Hi Guys

So I need advice whether I need to take out a personal loan or a credit card

I am currently looking into renting a new place (safer area) but right now I cannot pay the deposit and the first months rent at the same time (I will be able to cover the deposit,1st month and 2nd month at end September)

But I need to move next week

I do have a good credit score with a long running car and home loan on it but I have never taken out a credit card or personal loan.

If anyone will please be able to help with some advice

Hi everyone. I’m looking for some advice on how to structure my savings/investments more efficiently, particularly from a tax perspective.

I feel like I’ve done reasonably well at saving, but most of my money is sitting in interest-bearing accounts and I’m starting to realise this probably isn’t the most tax-efficient way of doing things.

Current situation:

33 years old.

Paid off vehicle, currently renting with no prospects of buying a house within the next 5 years.

I earn quite a bit of variable overtime.

Average gross income: R58,300/month

Average net income: R40,300/month

Current savings/investments:

Current/day-to-day account: R80,000

Fixed deposit @ 6.75%: R183,000

Savings account @ +-5%: R737,000

TFSA: R302,000 (annual contribution already maxed for this year)

So excluding my pension, I have roughly R1.3m between cash/savings and my TFSA.

For retirement, my employer contributes R2,850/month to a pension fund and I match this with another R2,850/month (R5,700 total). I currently do not have a retirement annuity.

My main concern is that I have almost R1m sitting in cash/fixed deposits, and the interest is resulting in an increasingly large taxable amount above the annual interest exemption. The R737k earning only 5% also doesn't seem like a particularly good long-term use of the money.

I'm considering:

1. Keeping around R200k–R300k accessible as an emergency/cash reserve.

2. Continuing to max my TFSA every year.

3. Starting an RA of around R5,000/month to make better use of the retirement contribution tax deduction.

4.Moving perhaps R400k–R600k of the current savings into longer-term discretionary investments, rather than continuing to earn taxable interest on it.

5. Using overtime income for additional investments/RA contributions rather than increasing monthly expenses.

I currently manage my own TFSA using Easy Equities, can I use the same platform to manage my discretionary investments?

I'd appreciate opinions from people who understand SA tax/investments better than I do. How would you structure this if you were in my position?

Lots of people are investing the funds in their TFSA in for instance EFT's and other financial products.Let's say you do and eventually you sell the EFT's or there is a payout after a investment period does this money get taxed as it is not inside the TFSA?I am looking at buying Satrix 40 with the money so far in my TFSA and I will do this through EE,thereafter I want to buy R3830 worth of Satrix 40 monthly.Can I set up a debit order from my TFSA to my EE platform and a automatic buy instruction for Satrix 40?Lastly I would like to know if any other low risk investment oppurtunities available to me with a decent to good return.

Throwaway for anonymity.

Hi hivemind - please advise on the best course of action for a 50k lump sum.

Caveat is we probably need it before year end as my husband’s a freelancer and his biggest contract comes to an end now in September with not much lined up.

I’m an entrepreneur who just did 250k turnover last month and on track for close to that this month. About 180k of that to wages, op ex, tax, etc. I pay myself 25k for now and keep the rest in the business but can formalize a loan agreement with myself and business if necessary or start to pay myself more (actually unclear what’s best tax wise).

Total monthly expenditure is about 55k - incl bond, med aid school, insurance etc. One car paid off. I’ve also been putting extra in a savings earmarked for the bond payments (fluctuating husband income made me cautious).

My thoughts:

1. Keep in savings for use in case
2. throw to the credit card (180k in debt) to get the minimum payment down (about 9k) with interest of 15% to use in case.

Im embarrassed it got this far, I had a lot of medical expenses over the last 4 years - discovery is finally covering my 120k annual medication to stop lesions growing in my brain & spine, I had to ‘fail’ two other treatments first that were out of pocket.

Very little other savings like under 5k, no retirement as yet (have just finished long phds and finally starting life).

Any advice please. I appreciate you! Happy to answer any follow-ups.

Has anyone here ever done the numbers on bond origination vs "do it yourself" getting bond quotes from banks?

I'm talking about a bond origination company like betterbond or ooba... I believe there is others.

I feel it's worth the effort doing your own due diligance. I also feel involving a third party would place some sort of overhead but these companies selling point is that they source cheaper interest rates.

Is it a no brainer for you? Have you had any experience with it? What is your opinion?