Personal Wealth

Preferred Compensation Agreements for Key Personnel

Article by Yoren Chetty

We are now familiar with the fact that since 1 March 2016, The South African Revenue Services allowed the following annual tax concession for persons making use of a retirement fund/s to save for their retirement:

27.5% of total remuneration or taxable income subject to a cap of R 350 000 per annum.

Whilst the majority of South Africans will not exceed this threshold, there are the exceptional few (those earning in excess of R 1 272 727.27 per annum) who will not benefit immediately by contributing more than R 350 000 per annum

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The Difference between Endowments and Unit Trusts

Article by Ashley Horwitz

Endowments and unit trusts are both popular after-tax investment vehicles. Both allow you to invest with an investment manager guided by an investment mandate. This means that you understand and agree to the level of risk you are willing to undertake to achieve a set goal within a specific time-frame.

A common misconception about both is that people think that they are a ‘type’ of investment. This is why we use the term “vehicles”.

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Retrenchment! 10 Tips to Deal with this Harsh Reality

Article by Yoren Chetty

Describing the past year as being tough is an understatement in almost all business sectors, locally and globally. South Africa’s unemployment rate was at 26.6% as at the end of June 2016 (Quarterly Labour Force Survey, Stats SA) and it has no doubt increased due to the high levels of retrenchments that are taking place across various industries.

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Investments: Getting into the Nitty Gritty

Article by Ashley Horwitz

We at NMG Personal Wealth believe that education and awareness is one of the most important services we can offer our clients. It will enhances the level of advice we give to you enabling to ensure that the conversations between our clients and advisors is of the highest quality. Therefore, we want to make sure you are armed with the knowledge to deconstruct any jargon that is too prevalent in our industry.

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Decoding the Investment Universe

Article by Ashley Horwitz

To some the word “investment” can be intimidating and something that is only accessible to the wealthy. And as such it can leave those apathetic, resulting in a reluctance to understand the importance of investing and the critical role it plays in one’s future prosperity. Other jargon and seemingly technical areas such as taxation, legislation and of course risk scare people even further away from engaging with their investment needs.

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Guaranteeing your Retirement Income

Article by Jeanne Nel

Every person that is due to retire in South Africa is concerned about the amount of regular income they will receive and whether that income is sustainable. At present only 6% of South Africans retiring at age 65 are financially independent. The balance are reliant on family, the state or have to try and find a job or start a business as indicated in this chart.

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How much life cover do I need and for how long do I need it?

Article by Colin Horwitz,  Managing Director of the NMG Personal Wealth Division

I was having dinner with a family member the other evening when he asked me how much life cover should the average person have and when should this person reduce the cover. Now, as a rule I do not like dispensing advice to family or friends and tell them as much. My reasoning for this is that all social engagements thereafter become meetings and sometimes arguments. So I refer them to a colleague and will not even give second opinions. However, this discussion led me to thinking and it is these thoughts that I would like to share with you. Please note that I am trying to keep it as simple as possible.

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