Financial Planning
In terms of calculating estate duty, there is an abatement on the first R3.5 million of the value of the estate which is not subject to tax. If the deceased is the first-dying spouse, they may roll over any unused
Understanding your retrenchment benefits is of great importance. As a minimum, the employer is required to provide you with one week’s remuneration per completed year of service, plus any outstanding leave paid in full. That said, many reputable employers make
Another important factor when it comes to planning for complex family structures is the issue of retirement fund beneficiary nomination. In the case of retirement funds, bear in mind that your beneficiary nomination is merely a guide to the fund
If you intend setting up a trust, do not underestimate the importance of choosing appropriately skilled trustees to manage the trust assets, keeping in mind that the job a trustee is an onerous one that should not be taken lightly.
If you’re fit and healthy, you may want to remain in the family home for longer. You may also not feel ready to enter into a retirement home or village while you are still enjoying good health, which is understandable.
If you are an individual investor, you can use your annual capital gains tax exemption, being the first R40 000 of gains made on your investment portfolio, to rebalance their portfolios if necessary.
A trust can also be used strategically to safeguard your personal assets from the potential risks associated with business activities and/or insolvency. By setting up a living trust, you can transfer specific assets into the trust with the primary focus
As a word of caution, if your will is found to be invalid, for whatever reason, no testamentary trust can be formed which can result in your beneficiaries being financially prejudiced.
While alter-ego trusts may be valid, ‘sham’ trusts fail to meet the requirements for validity in that they are essentially fake trusts designed to deceive others. As such, the test for determining whether a trust is a sham one is
Through anchoring, investors come to rely on the first piece of information that they learn, whereafter all further information is analysed in relation to the initial ‘anchor’, as opposed to being analysed objectively.
