“Discover the intriguing differences between how men and women approach finances and investments. As we celebrate National Women’s Day, explore why women’s longer-term focus and trust in expert advice lead to successful investment choices.
Continue readingSowing financial seeds should be ordered not scattered!
Discover the significance of discipline in sowing financial seeds for a fruitful future. Learn from renowned investors like Warren Buffet and Sir John Templeton, who emphasized the value of discipline in…
Continue readingSome Personal Finance Rules
Investing success starts with building savings, and savings requires keeping expenses lower than income. On a personal level this simply…
Continue readingInterest rate hikes can be countered with positivity and flexibility
The recent spate of interest rate hikes has got many property owners worried about whether they can continue to pay their bonds and even whether their property, as an investment, is the right place to have their money. Those who became property owners recently, in particular, who bought when interest rates were at a low
Continue readingA financial SWOT analysis could assist through tough times
Pretty much everybody who’s in business has somewhere down the line conducted a SWOT analysis on that business, or probably has at least heard of it. For the uninitiated, as one authority puts it, ‘’The understanding of your position and planning for the future are keys to your success.
Continue readingWhat the young really need to know about creating wealth
Are you a working mum looking for ways to secure your financial future? Learn about pension plans, life cover, and other essentials from Hereford Group’s experts.
Continue readingWhat Dad wants most of all is peace of mind!
Give Dad the ultimate gift of peace of mind this Father’s Day. Discover solutions to his greatest concerns, from securing a good future to protecting against unexpected events. Work with Hereford Group, experts in creating wealth for over 30 years. Contact us now!
Continue readingDo you still want to be working after 65 ?
In May, on the 1st, we celebrated Worker’s Day, a very important milestone in any calendar as it is a day we honour those who were taken very much for granted for a long time. It is celebrated worldwide in fact and known elsewhere also as May Day or Labour Day due to the efforts of Labour unions to achieve equal employment standards for all.
We like to think that today we have a more equitable working situation and whether you are a blue or white-collar worker we are all respected for what we do. We certainly share a common goal and a dream to be financially independent and hopefully no longer working when we reach a certain age. So, how often do you ask yourself the question ‘’Do I still want to be working after 65?’’
Some plan to retire much sooner than that and others are happy to be employed for longer, but it’s doubtful that anyone wants to know that they will have to work after that age due to lack of funds. This is why a good retirement plan is essential from day one – the day you first become a worker!
A few basic rules can assist you with this, and you may have heard them before, but they are the foundation of ensuring you can plan to retire at the age that you prefer…
Start early!
From the day you start working, it is essential to begin a wealth creation mindset, which includes saving and using these savings as investments to grow your wealth. The power of compound interest is staggering and those who offer pension plan schemes utilise this expertly to improve your ultimate pension payout.
If you are employed, ensure you have a pension plan in place and if you don’t, or you chose to go the entrepreneurial route, then speak to a Financial Advisor (something else you should start early) about investing in a good pension plan.
Use tax-saving pension investments
If you are one of those who need to set up your own pension, then take advantage of the benefits offered by SARS regarding tax-efficient pension investments. The best of these is Retirement Annuities (RAs) which enable you to use a substantial portion of your salary (or earnings), which you would be paying tax on anyway, as a monthly contribution to the fund and these funds tend to earn great interest too!
It’s a no-brainer as you are saving on tax to gain wealth for your retirement years at a good rate of growth! You are only permitted to draw on it at 55, so it’s a commitment to your future too.
Don’t cash in too soon!
On that point, a critical mistake that many make when faced with a situation where they can draw on their pensions early, like the change of employment or when a pension reaches maturity at under 65, is to opt to cash it in and use the money for something else.
It’s important to realise that when you get to the last few years of an investment the interest earned from the increased capital increases exponentially and a few more years can greatly improve your payout.
Ensure your investments are outstripping inflation
The problem with most pension savings is that people get to retirement age and find that the payout is woefully short of what they will need to comfortably live on at the retirement age they choose. It’s generally too late to do anything to remedy this dire situation at this point!
This is why the input of a Hereford Group Financial Advisor is necessary all throughout your wealth creation journey. As professionals, we can continually gauge if your investments are aligned with your aspirations and your desired retirement age and goals.
If you don’t still want to be working after 65 – or any age for that matter, then start talking to us today and let us ensure that all that hard work has really paid off
Working mums can retire well too!
Are you a working mum looking for ways to secure your financial future? Learn about pension plans, life cover, and other essentials from Hereford Group’s experts.
Continue readingFinancial freedom comes through discipline, resilience and a little more…
In this month of April, we celebrate an important day in South Africa’s history. As Wikipedia puts it ‘Freedom Day is a public holiday in South Africa celebrated on 27 April. It celebrates freedom and commemorates the first post-apartheid elections held on that day in 1994.’
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