fire2029

It's February. The last month of this tax year. It is also the last chance to contribute to my RA. Should I contribute to my RA? And if so, how much should I contribute? Should I try and maximise contributions to my RA and take advantage of the great tax breaks RAs have to offer? Or, should I invest it in a normal investment account, where I have more freedom? I have made a free, interactive RA guide to answer this question. I will tell you what I like about them and what I do not like about RAs. Then, the age old question of "How much should I contribute to an RA?" will be answered by running interactive simulations. This will help me determine my ideal RA contribution. It is available for free for anyone to read and tweak to your variables with. Find it here at https://mymoneytree.co.za/ra/

Hello. It is time for my monthly update on fixed deposit rates. Repo rate dropped by 0.25% in January. This is bad news for savers. And most banks have accordingly dropped their rates. A big exception is AfricanBank. See PDF report attached for January 2020 rates. Or visit my website ratecompare.co.za Free SA Fixed Deposit Rates Guide - (from ratecompare.co.za) - Jan 2020.pdf

That is a great comment. Will look to add this possibly in future editions. Is there a good source for credit ratings?

Hi John, For a fee comparison. It depends on the size of of your RA. For lesser amounts, Sygnia, 10X come out tops. Once you hit the R500k mark, Outvest becomes very attractive. However, their TICs are still somewhat unproven. I am sitting back for a while to Does it make more sense to stay with the same provider? Eg, if one has a TFSA with Easy equities, does it make sense to go with Easy Equities. Not for the purpose of fees. However, it does make it somewhat easier from an adminstrative point of view. Less pain in opening multiple accounts with various providers.

So I recently found myself doing a fee comparison between 10x (I am currently with 10x), Outvest, EasyEquities and Sygnia. Results: The cheapest platform depends on your RA value. Outvest is cheapest once you hit +/- R450k Below that Sygnia is typically cheapest. I made my research results freely available in the form of an interactive calculator. Here it is. https://mymoneytree.co.za/calculator/ra/

Here is a helpful interactive calculator which shows the cheapest RAs in SA for different RA values. Calculate here.

Consider that Outvest's Fixed Endowment invests in a 5-year Absa Fixed deposit. From a tax perspective, - income from the Outvest Fixed Endowment will be in the form of interest - R 23 800 interest per annum is exempt from income tax. (R34.5k if older than 65) Endowments are taxed at a flat rate of 30% Their offer thus is interesting if (a) your marginal income tax rate is greater than 30% & (b) you have used all of or a considerable amount of your annual interest exemption at SARS !!! Note: Outvest quotes a simple rate of interest. This really is somewhat misleading. The FSCA should really enfore FSPs to quote nominal or effective rates only.

Nice suggestion. Thanks for feedback.

Hello community members, I would like some feedback please. I have created a Home Loan calculator infused by FIRE . You can check it out here https://www.mymoneytree.co.za/calculator/home-loan/ What is it about? - Debt free living! How much do additional payments help me to become debt free? Thanks

I want to invest in a Satrix product. Satrix 40 to be exact. It has a super low TIC of 0.14% & gives me instant diversified exposure. What is the cheapest way to do this, if I am looking to contribute to this investment on a monthly basis via debit order. I believe my options are: 1. Buy the Unit trust - direct (?) or via a platform 2. Buy the ETF - via stock broking platform like SatrixNow or EasyEquities Has anyone done the numbers on this?

Does anyone know of a good Excel plug-in which can get me closing market prices for my stocks? Thank you

Yes agree if you believe the rate which have you on your bond or car loan will be higher than rate of return you will achieve on your investment; then agree.

Hmmm - I also thought so, but there are section 12j investments which start as "low as R100k".

Great reply, Bandit... Unfortunately it is the road taken by many due to massive confidence issues reg our country's future! It feels like we are shooting ourselves in the foot, because the government will likely rip out our limbs anyway. Reg: do you really want your money locked away in an RA A big portion of investments is meant for the very long-term. ie retirement. I will not be touching it until then. So taking advantage of the tax breaks and re-investing those tax savings does make sense... on the one hand. On the other - I too am massively concerned about the future of this country. I might instead do some Section 12J investments to reduce my tax bills instead.

TymeBank does not offer fixed deposits. That is why they do not feature on the site. That being said, their rates on offer are top-notch!