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As more skilled South Africans look to move abroad, a growing number of people are grappling with what happens to their life savings, retirement, and insurance policies upon emigrating. This is especially the case in light of the incoming expat tax and ‘financial emigration’, said Renier Hugo, a certified financial planner at Alexander Forbes. “One needs to understand the consequences of emigrating to another country on one’s financial products, such as long-term…  Read more

Each morning, you emphatically write at the top of your to-do list, “Work on the presentation!” Perhaps you even underline it a time or two for emphasis. But at the end of the day, your resolve has turned to dismay: yet again, you spent most of your time in meetings. And when you had a bit of time between them, you didn’t make any progress on your presentation. So you…  Read more

If you’re running your own business or you’re career-driven, it’s easy to burn the candle at both ends and find yourself in a constant state of exhaustion. I used to find it difficult to get out of bed in the mornings, hitting “snooze” repeatedly before rushing out the door to start a 12-hour day. But now that I’ve made some tweaks to my routine, I jump out of bed at…  Read more

When the honourable minister of finance delivered his Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) on Wednesday, he ‘opened the debate’. But where are the arguments? Surely this was nothing more than a long-winded slam-dunk statement, forewarning the ill-fated taxpayer of bad tidings? Tito Mboweni must have struggled to find an allegory to portray the last ten years, so he chose a harmless little aloe when presenting his annual budget speech in…  Read more

What does the doctor prescribe for stress? A ‘nature pill’ consisting of 20 minutes of contact with nature, enough time for significant decreases in cortisol, the stress hormone. You likely know from experience that spending time outdoors and especially connected with nature lowers your stress. Scientifically, there have been dozens of studies that link spending time in nature with lowered stress levels. The breakthrough with this specific study is they…  Read more

The level of corruption in South Africa, the complete lack of accountability and the ostensible lack of urgency in bringing offenders to book continues to irk honest law-abiding South Africans. However, an important weapon available to the state to recover some of the ill-gotten gains is tax, says Aneria Bouwer, tax partner at law firm Bowmans. She says income from “illegal activities” is still income and subject to income tax,…  Read more

In its 2019 financial report, the South African Revenue Service (Sars) announces itself as many things. It is the collector of all taxes, administrator of laws, facilitator of legitimate trade, the protector of our economy and society (not much protection is evident). It’s also the encourager of “fiscal citizenship” (I guess this refers to those who willingly rush to pay their taxes plus more), enlister of “new tax contributors” (presumably…  Read more

The rand powered to a 3-week best on Friday as emerging market currencies were boosted by thawing trade tensions between United States and China. At 1545 GMT the rand was 1.91% firmer at R14.75, its best level since September 20, leading a rally of emerging market currencies sparked by US President Donald Trump’s comments that trade talks with Beijing were going well. China and the US are in the second…  Read more

As someone who is self employed, I frequently face periods of doubt. I know that a positive mindset in business is of the utmost importance, but when my phone falls silent and my inbox remains empty, I sometimes think that all of my clients have moved onto someone else to fill their needs. Of course, this is never the case, as a day or two later I’m often inundated with…  Read more

Getting married will change your life in many ways. Putting the cap on the toothpaste. Trading in the convertible for a minibus. Making your relationship Facebook official. Your credit scores don’t suddenly merge. Even if your spouse has a negative credit history, it won’t initially affect your credit score in any way. So when does your spouse’s credit rating affect yours? The changes only come after you’re married, and you…  Read more

Anyone who contributes to a pension fund or retirement annuity (RA) is entitled to claim a deduction for tax purposes based on their contribution, subject to the limitations applicable at the time of the contribution. However, the fund or annuity must be in their name. So while you can contribute to an RA in the name of your child, you would be unable to claim a tax deduction on the…  Read more

Do you ever wonder what your manager really expects from you? Are you worried that you’re not living up to your expectations? How do your colleagues perceive you? Do you come across as a team player or a liability? Managers often have a bad reputation for being petty tyrants, demanding and possessing unrealistic expectations. Some are the embodiment of all of the horrible clichés, while other bosses are just more…  Read more

The power of consumers is becoming the last best hope for emerging market investors as global recession risks rise. But even that’s starting to crack. Consumption makes up about 60% of gross domestic product across many developing economies, with Brazil and Mexico among those leaning hardest on households, data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development show. “If the global economy really starts to slow down even further, domestic demand…  Read more

Deadlines are powerful forces in our work, signaling what’s most important, forcing focus, and driving tasks to completion. That’s why projects that don’t have a deadline can languish on your task list for weeks, months, or even years. Sometimes this happens because a project is ambiguous, boring, or messy. You naturally deprioritize it whenever possible, because working on it feels uncomfortable. But other times you don’t mean to avoid the…  Read more

From Sars: The issuing of the printed Tax Clearance Certificate (TCC) will be terminated after 25 October 2019, as we are fully implementing a more secure and electronic Tax Compliance Status (TCS) system. Since the implementation of the TCS system in 2015, we advised taxpayers that our goal was to terminate the use of the printed TCC, and would stop issuing TCCs at a future date. We have now reached…  Read more

Some researchers trace the origin of spring cleaning to the Persian New Year, which falls on the first day of spring. Now known as the Iranian Nowruz (Iranian New Year,), the practice of Khāne-takānī – or spring cleaning – can literally be translated as ‘shaking the house’. Wherever the roots of spring cleaning lie, it starts with opening the doors and cleaning out the rubbish. Here’s how to shake up…  Read more

hether it’s fleeting, in-the-moment stress or elevated, long-term stress, it’s important to find healthy techniques that allow your mind and body to unwind, relax and regroup. Having spent a decade in wealth management and now running my own business as an entrepreneur, I am no stranger to the fast-paced nature of the work world. Long hours, mounting demands and deadlines, high-pressure — you name it, I’ve felt it. And it wasn’t just taking a…  Read more

There are so many things that can kill the careers of good, hard-working people. Honest mistakes often carry hard-hitting consequences. We usually only hear about the more egregious examples, such as when Yelp employee Talia Jane became an Internet sensation for writing a blistering post criticizing the company’s low pay and its CEO. To no one’s surprise, she quickly found herself out of a job. Most people don’t go down…  Read more

he department of small business development wants the budgets of various national and provincial departments that owe small and medium enterprises (SMEs) huge sums of money to be slashed to allow the Treasury to pay the affected businesses directly. Small business development minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said her department will be engaging with the Treasury “to top-slice” from the budgets of departments that fail to pay small businesses. While the national…  Read more

South Africa’s rand was firmer early on Friday, adding to the previous session’s gains in a recovery driven mainly by investors covering their short positions in anticipation of sharper falls as local and global growth fears loom. At 0650 GMT the rand was 0.57% firmer at 15.19 per dollar compared with a close of 15.28 overnight in New York, bringing gains to more than 1.5% since Wednesday when the currency…  Read more