Vault Asset Protection

Sellers beware! Make sure that when selling a property in a suspensive sale agreement that it is just that - suspensive! You could be looking at a full capital gains tax liability if your sale agreement is not worded correctly.

In Good Faith: Let the taxpayer beware When you sell property, the agreement should include clearly stated conditions relating to payment, writes Carmel Rickard

The nation is eagerly awaiting the budget speech! Tax hikes are highly likely... the question is which taxes will increase? Increasing taxes for high income earners seems likely while VAT increases could bring in the most revenue.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/economy/2016/02/22/economic-week-ahead-all-eyes-on-gordhans-crucial-budget-speech

ECONOMIC WEEK AHEAD: All eyes on Gordhan’s crucial budget speech Ratings agencies Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s and Fitch will have notebooks out when SA Inc presents its state of financial affairs, writes Ntsakisi Maswanganyi

in this new age, businesses must evolve but so must people. Here are the top skills required based on Linkedin research:

http://blog.linkedin.com/2016/01/12/the-25-skills-that-can-get-you-hired-in-2016/

The 25 Skills That Can Get You Hired in 2016 Now that the holidays have come and gone, chances are you’re searching for a new job. That’s because January is when the largest percentage of our members look for a new gig. So you’re probably asking yourself, “What skills are employers looking for?” Great question! To find the answer, we

SATRIX now, a lower cost option has been launched!
http://www.moneyweb.co.za/investing/easy-equities-and-satrix-launch-new-low-cost-etf-platform/

Easy Equities and Satrix launch low-cost ETF platform SatrixNOW significantly reduces cost of investing.

With the replacement of Nene causing the Rand to hit all time lows against the Dollar, the outlook for improvement of our Debt to GDP % looks rather bleak (this was already raised in Feb 2015 article by Alec Hogg ). The recent downgrade of SA to one level above junk, means SA could face significant outflows of foreign capital and increased financing costs. All of this makes it much harder for the government to pay off their debt, which means they are likely to require more cash (most likely from taxpayers) to fund the gap.
Investing in assets with less exposure to the ZAR fluctuations may assist you in reducing your exposure to the Rand fluctuations. This has caused SA investors to take money out of the country at the fastest pace ever (http://www.iol.co.za/business/news/the-race-to-move-assets-out-of-sa-1.1957326 #.Vmk7ANJPqM8).

Budget 2015: Scariest graphic in Nene's entire package In the Budget Press Conference I asked Nene how "hard" the 44% projection is - because in 2012 his predecessor Pravin Gordhan put the peak, in 2015, at 38%.

A well written and easy to understand article. Do you know what the tax you pay goes towards? What is SA'S budget looking like and who is finding it?

Given that 87% of the total population are not in a position to contribute income tax, this leaves an unsustainable burden on the remaining 13% of the population without them receiving much of the benefit.

But who pays South Africa’s tax? Yesterday, while Minister Nene was doing his thing in parliament with all those EFF-student-stun-bombing backing vocals, I got a bit prickly when he started talking about “tax evasion” …

Where there is a will there is a way.

Stokvels were created out of a need for South Africans to come together in order to buy together what one person could not afford on their own.

A stokvel operating like an investment club could benefit people trying get started in saving and investing their money. Pooling funds gives you greater bargaining and buying power and may also help a novice to get into the good habit of seeing cash aside for investments while still being involved in the investing decision.

As with all investments make sure you know who you are investing with and the contractual rights and obligations of the members.

http://www.bdlive.co.za/business/financial/2015/05/11/a-stokvel-by-any-other-name-is-still-empowering

A stokvel by any other name is still empowering Blossoming savings societies worth R25bn give millions of black people credit access, writes Gillian Jones

Saving for retirement is difficult enough given the high rise in fuel and energy costs - causing inflation and reducing your purchasing power.

On top of that many of us do not truly understand whether the performance savings are good or bad relative to the rest of the market.

Tax considerations also play a large role in our choice of vehicle, in this article it is quite interesting to see that the tax benefit from using an RA and qualifying for the deductions did not result in the expected 33% benefit he expected.

Do less-than-great things: take another look at your old RAs Nic Oldert underlines why to be wary of the allure of income tax deductions, and why it may be a very good idea to take another look at your old RAs

Millions of people fall for these schemes, make sure you know how to grow your own wealth rather than falling for unreasonable promises

How not to fall for Ponzi scams Scam artists know how greed works and exploit human weakness, says an expert who unpacks the tell-tale signs to watch out for.

The increases begin.

Eskom seeks major tariff hike Eskom is looking for a 9.58% price adjustment for electricity in addition to the already announced 12.69% imposed in the 2015-16 financial year, says the City of Cape Town.