Archive | September, 2014

South Africans spend 75% of their take-home paying off debt. Almost 90% of South Africans spend more money than they earn. 58% expect to continue to work for pay after formal retirement and for the majority, this will be due to financial necessity rather than choice. 62% of South Africans say they are not coping […]

We can expect a number of changes from March 2015 and beyond. And the landscape around these changes is a complex one. In an attempt to simplify current tax incentives, employer contributions to retirement funds will become a fringe benefit in the hands of employees for tax purposes. As from 1 March 2015, employees can claim a tax deduction of up to 27,5% (currently 15% of non-retirement funding income) of the greater of remuneration and taxable income on contributions to a pension fund, provident fund or retirement annuity. A ceiling of R350 000 per tax year will apply, and unused deductions may be rolled over to the following year. Remember that members can continue to make tax-deductible contributions to a retirement annuity even beyond the age of 70.

South Africa’s rand held near a seven-month low against the dollar on Friday, looking set to end the week with a loss as markets took in the end of Governor Gill Marcus’ five-year term at the bank. Marcus took markets by surprise on Thursday when she announced, after the bank had left interest rates unchanged at 5.75% as expected, that she would be stepping down at the end of her term in November.

The largest-ever outbreak of Ebola could drain billions of dollars from economies in west Africa by the end of next year if the epidemic is not contained, the World Bank said in an analysis on Wednesday. The global development lender predicted that slow containment of the deadly virus in Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone could lead to broader regional contagion, particularly through tourism and trade. Under the worst-case scenario, Guinea’s economic growth could be reduced by 2.3 percentage points next year while Sierra Leone’s growth would be cut by 8.9 percentage points. Liberia would be hardest hit, with a reduction of 11.7 percentage points next year.

South Africa’s headline consumer inflation quickened to 6.4% year-on-year in August, above market expectations of 6.2% and compared with 6.3% in July. However on a month-on-month basis CPI slowed to 0.4% from 0.8% in July. Core inflation, which excludes the prices of food, non-alcoholic beverages, petrol and energy, edged higher to 5.8% from 5.7%, but […]

Apple Inc said it received a record four million first-day pre-orders of its new iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus, meaning many customers will have to wait until October for their new phones. Apple said a significant number of orders will be delivered to customers beginning Friday, but many will be shipped in October as demand outstrips supply. The first-day pre-orders for the new iPhones, which feature larger screens, were double the two million orders for iPhone 5 models in 2012. “We attribute this (pre-order numbers) to the large pent-up demand for larger screens on the iPhone,” Janney Capital Markets analysts wrote in a note.

The Daily Mail reported earlier this year that trial costs are said to be as high as $9,000 a day, which pays for the team of at least three full-time lawyers in court, experts in forensics and ballistics, and an American crime scene reconstruction company.