Earning a first paycheck is a big step in anyone’s life. The value of that money in your bank account goes well beyond just the financial. It’s a significant psychological shift. It is a moment of great opportunity, but also one fraught with challenges. In this article we look at how to navigate your first salary and to optimise it for your future like a seasoned financial architect.
For generations, financial planning followed a familiar script: build a career, buy a home, raise a family and, eventually, pass wealth on to the next generation. While that path still resonates with many, modern lives are far more diverse. The reasons for not having kids may differ, but the financial question is often the same: if your wealth is not destined for children, how can it best enrich your life, reflect your values and leave a meaningful legacy long after you are gone?
We all know investing is about building wealth over time. By saving consistently and investing prudently, we aim to lay the groundwork for long-term financial wellbeing. But the most fulfilled people are not always those who have accumulated the greatest amount of wealth. More often, they are those who feel that their skills, resources and experiences have become part of something larger than themselves.
What could a childhood board game possibly have to do with investment advice? Quite a lot, it turns out.
Uncertainty has always been a feature of human history. But in recent years, the volatility has ramped up several notches. Change is everywhere, it seems, and there’s always a fresh crisis around the corner. But amid all the turmoil there is also opportunity. You just have to be prepared to land on a few snakes…
The 2026 Budget was greeted with wide acclaim, but not much was made of the seemingly insignificant increase of the annual CGT exclusion from R40,000 to R50,000.
It might not seem like much, but the extra R10,000 will make rebalancing your portfolio every year more important than ever. As any yachtsman will tell you, the only way to reach your final destination is to make continual small adjustments along the way.
Good news at last. Budget 2026 wasn’t just delivered on time, it also contained plenty to make South African investors smile.
It provides relief for taxpayers, assists small businesses and – very importantly – encourages savings by adjusting various tax brackets, caps and limits.
There is also real optimism about the country’s economic growth prospects. So much so that Budget 2026 has been called a fiscal turning point for SA, as important milestones are achieved. Read more good news from the Budget here…
The long-awaited Conduct of Financial Institutions (COFI) Bill is set to be tabled in parliament in the next couple of months.
While FSPs will be scrambling to update their policies and processes during the three-year transition period, consumers can look forward to getting fairer results at every step of the financial journey.
Read on for the lowdown.
“The power of compounding reflects the principle that small, consistent improvements yield disproportionately large results over time.” (Morgan Housel) In his book The Psychology of Money, Morgan Housel makes a great observation about Warren Buffett: more than 97% of Buffett’s wealth was accumulated after his 65th birthday. This isn’t a point about Buffett’s ability to…
“We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give.” (Winston Churchill) We often look at numbers when planning our finances: how much do we earn from investments, how much have we saved, and when will we be able to retire? These are very important for making the…
“Social media is merely an extension of real life, not a substitution.” (Abhijit Naskar) On social media, anything can go viral. And that includes financial advice. Platforms like TikTok have encouraged the spread of some interesting ideas, including three notable trends: “loud budgeting”, “cash stuffing”, and “no-spend challenges”. At their heart, these all focus on…