Lifestyle Financial Planning
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.
Once the assets are transferred into the trust, they no longer belong to the trust founder and the trustees are required to take over full control of the assets and ensure that they are managed to achieve the best outcomes
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.
Funds held in retirement annuities do not form part of one’s deceased estate meaning that RAs can play a role in your overall estate plan, although it is important to understand the associated idiosyncrasies. This is because retirement annuities, being
Stay updated on market news and developments but resist the urge to overreact to short-term fluctuations. Avoid making impulsive decisions based on emotions or sensational headlines. A calm and rational approach to market information is essential for sound decision-making.
