When we invest in different asset classes, each is taxed differently. Depending on where your money is invested when you retire, your effective tax rate will differ. This got me wondering, how badly can you fuck this up? Will you, by investing in the wrong asset classes, keep yourself from living the good life? About …
I listened to a podcast which stated that 55% of lotto winners are worse off than they started, within 3 years of winning the lotto. This got me thinking about how I would blow spend the lotto money. Let’s ignore the fact that I have never played the lotto and assume that I found the …
The key to Financial Independence Retire Early (FI RE) is adopting good habits and applying them consistently. I don’t want to sound like a Prudential advertisement, so bear with me. The problem is we don’t always know which habits we should keep and which to kick to the curb. Here are some of the financial …
When most people think of a bank and bank charges, they start swearing, thinking of all the times they have been fucked over. Especially if you have ever been swallowed in debt (or still am). The problem with banks is that we need them in our lives. All we can do is to use the …
I recently found an article that categorises you based on your income. According to this, I form part of the middle-class. I decided to investigate what the middle class South African’s household budget looks like. Then to compare my budget over the last 3 months to each item. This will help me identify areas where …
When you don’t need to submit your tax return With the deadline for income tax submissions approaching fast, everyone is scrambling to submit their tax returns. Not everyone is required to file their tax return, but today I want to convince you to do it anyway. According to the South African Revenue Service (SARS), you …
My savings rate We all make money from different sources. Most of us are simply earning a salary. A few of us have our own companies from which we also draw a salary. The lucky few, even have their own companies that earn money without their presence. That’s the dream. Irrespective of where your money …
The cellphone cost cycle Every second year, like clockwork, we renew our phone contracts. We go in with a preconceived idea of which phone we want and just renew the contract. Never do we compare phones, we simply buy the latest phone from the brand we love. Two minutes later, we have our brand-new cell …
The future cost impact I want to retire early to travel the world. Yes, I know, you can’t go anywhere without someone telling you they plan to retire early. I’m not giving myself an age that I want to retire. I’m still enjoying my job and will continue working as long as I do. Eventually …