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Showing posts with the label financial health

5 Steps to ensure your financial goals are on track

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Priya Naicker Good intentions can be like rainbows. Clear and bright one minute, faded and forgotten the next. In fact, some surveys suggest that only 20% of people stick to their New Year’s resolutions past February each year. While it’s possible to quick-fix fitness or social commitments, allowing your money goals to slip can have a significant negative impact on your current and future financial wellbeing. To be fair, you may not have anticipated the impact of a 1% increase in VAT, or an 82 cents increase in the petrol price. Rising prices can make it harder to stay on track. Yet according to Priya Naicker, Advice Manager at Old Mutual Personal Finance, making financial planning a part of your lifestyle can help overcome the challenges associated with fluctuating prices and uncertainty. In much the same way that an academic report card can identify strengths as well as areas in need of improvement, having a financial plan that you regularly review can help do the same for your...

Winter is coming - don't get caught in the financial cold

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Tristan Naidoo How to keep your winter costs down low Winter is coming. While we prepare to dig out the additional blankets and heaters, South Africans should remember to factor in the accompanying increase in monthly expenses that comes with the chilly period. Whether these are for medicines, gas or electricity, it’s easy for these costs to add up. “Unlike putting on a little extra winter weight – which can be swiftly dealt with in spring – additional expenses during the colder season demand immediate monitoring to prevent long-term impacts on your finances,” says Tristan Naidoo, Legal Adviser at Old Mutual Personal Finance. “We all increase electricity consumption through the use of electric blankets, heaters, and the increased use of kettles, stoves and ovens to cook winter-warmer foods.  It is essential to factor this increased usage into our monthly budgets. The importance of this exercise is compounded considering the 5.2% electricity hike which kicked in on 1 April...

Seven steps to bring you closer to financial freedom

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Lizl Budhram This year on 27 April South Africa celebrated its 24th year of democracy. There’s no doubt that democracy opened a world of opportunities for many South Africans, but it’s also true that political freedom means little to those without economic freedom, says Lizl Budhram, Head of Advice at Old Mutual Personal Finance. “The World Bank recently reported that South Africa is the most unequal country in the world out of 149 countries surveyed. This shows that there’s much work still to be done,” she says. The most recent Old Mutual Savings & Investment Monitor found that an alarming 40% of respondents said they have no form of formal retirement savings at all, including pension/provident funds or retirement annuities. Although the majority of South Africans surveyed continue to lack confidence in the economy (with only 34% feeling confident), the latest research findings show that a third (33%) nevertheless believe that the government will take care of them when the...

8 ways small businesses can maintain financial health in an unhealthy economic environment

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Jeremy Lang As South Africa’s newly appointed Finance Minister Malusi Gigaba continues to engage with international investors in an attempt to salvage the country from a third credit rating downgrade, local businesses brace themselves for the inevitable ripple effects caused by a low growth economic environment and the increased burden placed on domestic banks. Jeremy Lang, regional general manager at Business Partners Limited (BUSINESS/PARTNERS), says that in order to maintain their financial health in this challenging economic environment, South African businesses – particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – need to stay on top of their financial information and proactively manage their relationships with debtors, creditors and funders. “As local businesses will now likely face greater challenges in obtaining and servicing loans, the ability to keep up to date with financial obligations and payments will, for many, become strained. This will further hinder the pro...