10 months ago I finally changed my bank account…after almost 19 years at Standard Bank, I finally had enough of their fees and their complete lack of interest in me as a client and I moved to Nedbank – for no other reason than that they offered a very attractive fee structure. For far too long I had been a “prestige” client of Std Bank – which I finally worked out, meant that I had the “privilege”...

2010, it’s finally here… In just over 1 months time it is the end of the 2010 tax year and there are 2 important deadlines that go with this. They are: Retirement annuities: RA contributions need to be made before the end of Feb. This year the 28th is on a Sunday so all contributions will have to be done by the close of business on the 26th Feb in order to qualify for the 2010 tax year. But dont leave it to the last minute...

2009, what a year! Markets have done what they always do – surprised us in the short term. We have seen the JSE ALSI run from just over 17500 in March to just under 28000 at the end of December. That’s more than 54% up since March when everyone thought we were facing the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression. (And offshore market recoveries have been even more spectacular.) During this time much has been written...