Have been busy with a death claim on a retirement annuity and have managed to get an extra 50% added to the payout value…read on for the details that once again highlight the value that a financial planner can add to a client’s portfolio. About a month before our client died we sat with him and his wife to work through all his insurances (he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer). We did not do a lot of his old policies but...

…in my opinion at least! I cant understand the motivation behind treasury and the FSB’s latest (very zealous) implementation of the regulation 28 rules that apply to retirement funds. These rules have a whole host of unintended consequences, not least of which, will probably be that RA’s are no longer used as savings vehicles and especially by younger people. First a brief bit of background: The Prudential Investment Guidelines...

I came across this post by Kokkie Kooyman from SIM (Sanlam Investment Management). He has twice been rated as Investment Week’s Global Fund Manager of the year and this is well worth the read. It is a good take on what is happening in the global...

I see that union members are striking over what they perceive to be an unfair wage increase offer of around 7%…they want somewhere between 11 and 20% (depending on who you read) while the official inflation rate is closer to 4%. On the face of it their demand seems unreasonable and their rejection of the increase which is already 3% more than inflation also seems ungrateful…or is it? The problem we have (and that the Reserve Bank...

Heard a radio ad this morning for RSA Retail Bonds…it went something like this…“There’s no fees or commissions therefore it’s a great way to save”. I disagree strongly with this statement – it is not a great way to save. It is a great way for people to generate income – at 7.25% for 2 years it is still the best rate out there, but as a long term savings product it is pretty poor. Even at 8.25% the 5 year rate is...