Take back control of your wealth.
What is this? The financial insights the industry kept to itself — the know-how that used to sit behind an adviser's desk. Explained simply, jargon-free, for everyone.
Real questions, plain answers, and tools you can play with. Free and private — your numbers never leave your device.
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What's the difference between rich and wealthy?
Rich is a snapshot: money in the bank, an income, a lifestyle — what your balance says today.
Wealthy is a structure: the strategies and mechanisms that keep building and protecting that money whether you're watching or not — so it's still standing in ten years, or on the day the income stops.
Money In, Money Out
Everything starts here. Before investments, before cover, before any big decision — it's the flow of money through an ordinary month that decides how much future you can afford. These answers cover the foundations: budgets, debt, credit and the big purchases.
- How big should an emergency fund be?
- What is a healthy debt-to-income ratio?
- Does the 50/30/20 budget rule work in South Africa?
- Pay off debt or invest — how does the maths compare?
- How does debt review work in South Africa?
- What is a good credit score in South Africa, and what moves it?
- What does a car really cost — instalment, insurance, fuel — as a share of income?
- What does always having a car payment cost?
- How much does a lifetime of new cars cost in depreciation?
- How much interest does a personal loan really add up to?
- What does a home loan really cost over 20 years?
- What happens if you pay extra into your bond?
- What does buying your first home really cost upfront?
- What are the upfront costs of buying a home?
- What is the difference between good debt and bad debt?
- What is the repo rate, and how does it reach me?
- How do stokvels work — and what are the risks?
- What are garnishee and emoluments attachment orders?
- Does debt consolidation actually save money?
- Can an access bond work as an emergency fund?
Protecting Family
One pay cheque usually supports more lives than most people realise. This section is about what happens if it stops — illness, disability, or death — and how the different kinds of cover fit together.
- What is the difference between medical aid, a hospital plan, and medical insurance?
- Do I need life cover if I have no dependants?
- Is a life-policy payout taxed, and when does it fall into your estate?
- Who should own a life policy?
- How much life cover does a person need?
- What is gap cover, and how is it different from medical aid?
- Disability cover vs income protection — what's the difference?
- What does severe illness (dread disease) cover actually pay for?
- What affects the price of life insurance in South Africa?
- Funeral cover vs life cover — what's the difference?
Retirement
The longest financial project of your life, and the one where time matters most. From the two-pot system to what happens after you stop working — how retirement saving actually works in South Africa.
- What is the difference between a pension, provident, and preservation fund?
- When can I actually access my retirement savings?
- What is Regulation 28?
- What is the financial impact of cashing out a retirement fund when changing jobs?
- How does the two-pot system work — and how much can you take out?
- How much does a person need to retire in South Africa?
- What does starting 10 years earlier actually do?
- What happens to your pension when you change jobs — and what does cashing out cost?
- What is a living annuity vs a guaranteed annuity?
- What is the 4% rule — and how long could a retirement pot last?
- Tax on retirement lump sums — how the tables work
- Who gets my retirement fund when I die?
- How does the retirement tax deduction work?
- What is the two-thirds annuitisation rule?
- How does a living-annuity drawdown work, and what is the risk?
Tax
Every rand you earn, save, invest or leave behind meets SARS somewhere. Knowing the rules — the brackets, rebates and allowances — is the difference between the tax you must pay and the tax you didn't have to.
- Who has to pay provisional tax?
- How is a bonus or 13th cheque taxed?
- How is rental income taxed?
- How much income tax do you pay in South Africa?
- RA vs TFSA — what are the limits, and which saves more tax?
- TFSA rules — the limits, and the 40% over-contribution penalty
- How does capital gains tax work in South Africa?
- How are investments taxed — dividends, interest, REITs?
- Medical tax credits — how do they work?
- What can salaried South Africans actually deduct?
- Do I have to file a tax return?
- What is an IRP5, and how is PAYE worked out?
- How is crypto taxed in South Africa?
- How do travel allowances and logbooks work?
- How does the foreign employment income exemption work?
- What is financial emigration and tax residency?
Estate & Legacy
What happens to everything you've built when you're gone. Wills, estate duty, executor fees, and the process your family would actually face — explained before it matters.
- What is estate duty and who pays it?
- What happens if you die without a will in South Africa?
- What does winding up an estate cost?
- How does your marriage contract affect your estate?
- What is a testamentary trust and when is one used?
- What happens to your bank accounts and assets when you die? (step by step)
- How do you make a valid will?
- What is the difference between a beneficiary nomination and a will?
- How do you nominate a guardian for your children?
- How does a living (inter vivos) trust work, and is it worth it?
- Can your estate pay its own costs?
- If I have offshore assets, do I need a foreign will?
- What happens to your debts when you die?
Growing Wealth
Saving keeps money; investing grows it. These answers cover how South Africans invest — the vehicles, the fees, the allowances, and the habits that quietly decide long-term returns.
- What is net worth — and how do you work it out?
- Does money really double every seven years?
- What do investment fees really cost over 20 or 30 years?
- What is diversification — and what is concentration risk?
- How much can South Africans invest offshore? (the R2m/R10m allowances)
- What is rand cost averaging?
- TFSA vs unit trusts vs ETFs — how do the wrappers differ?
- What is inflation, and how does it erode money?
- How do I open an investment account in South Africa?
- What is the difference between a money market fund and a bank savings account?
- How do active and passive investing compare?
- How do you read a fund fact sheet?
- What is the tax-wrapper hierarchy?
Business & Family
For owners and parents: the questions where a business and family life meet money — from what happens to a business without its owner, to what a child's education will cost.
- What is key person insurance and a buy-and-sell agreement?
- What happens to a small business when the owner dies?
- What will school and university cost in 10 years?
- Financially preparing for a baby — what changes?
- How do you value a business for sale or succession?
- What is a Small Business Corporation (SBC) and how is it taxed?
- What does a child really cost per year in South Africa?
- When must a business register for VAT?
- How do I pay myself from my business (salary vs dividend)?
- What is the difference between a sole prop, partnership, and Pty Ltd?
Habits & Planning
The maths is the easy part; behaviour decides the outcome. And when you want professional help — how to find it, what it costs, and what the letters after a planner's name mean.
- What's the difference between rich and wealthy?
- Lifestyle creep — what happens if you save your next raise instead?
- What is a financial needs analysis (FNA)?
- How do you find a really good financial planner?
- How much does a financial planner cost in South Africa?
- What questions should you ask a planner in the first meeting?
- What do the letters mean — CFP® and other designations?
- Don't just trust your planner — what should a planner never do?
Life Moments
Money rarely changes on a schedule — it changes when life does. Getting married, receiving an inheritance, losing a job, ending a marriage: each moment moves money in ways the law has often already decided. These answers explain what actually happens at each one, before you're standing in it.