Personal Finance Newsletter - Volume 2005, Issue 300, November 2005

Extracted from text ... MEDICAL FUNDING Medical aid savings accounts - changes are coming Many medical schemes incorporate a savings element that is designed to cover the cost of day-to-day medical costs. These are set to change from the beginning of 2006. MEDICAL schemes incorporating savings elements (known in the industry as Medical Savings Accounts or MSA's) were introduced some years back to provide the member with greater flexibility and a degree of control over their day-to-day medical costs. The attraction of a MSA for many people is the fact that you could determine how much you needed for day-to-day costs, and fund ..

Extracted from text ... 2 November 2005 Moneyweb's PERSONAL FINANCE YOUR DETAILS IF YOU change your address or other contact details (phone or fax numbers or e-mail address), please let us know immediately to ensure that you continue to receive your issues promptly. Telephone us on (011) 327-1277, fax us on (011) 327-1279 or e-mail us at subs@moneyweb.co.za ?? prices generally were rising so fast that buyers were able to quickly build up equity in their homes and lower the loan-to-value ratio. "Now, however, the rate of price growth has slowed, and it may be time for buyers to have a serious rethink ..

Extracted from text ... Moneyweb's PERSONAL FINANCE November 2005 3 INVESTMENT MARKETS Alt-X turns two Moneyweb's Personal Finance picks through the assorted bunch of companies that make up Alt-X as the bourse marks two years' existence. By ANA MONTEIRO and JULIUS COBBETT AS the JSE's smaller compatriot AltX celebrates its second birthday, Moneyweb takes a look at the performance of the 16 stocks that make up the bourse over the course of 2005. AltX, a division of the JSE specialising in small- and mediumsized high-growth companies, has attracted an interesting mix of companies since its launch in October 2003. AltX manager Noah Greenhill ..

Extracted from text ... Moneyweb's PERSONAL FINANCE MOST people would be hardpressed to know the name of an ombudsman operating in the financial services sector, but the name Vuyani Ngalwana has fast become a household name. Ngalwana is South Africa's Pension Funds' Adjudicator. Though not the first in this role, he has certainly made the greatest waves in the financial services sector in his decisions out of all the watchdogs - particularly when it comes to Retirement Annuity RETIREMENT ANNUITIES 5 lessons from the Pension Funds' Adjudicator The Pension Funds' Adjudicator has been slapping the life assurance industry around quite a bit lately, ..

Extracted from text ... ERRATA In the September 2005 issue of Moneyweb's Personal Finance, we carried an article comparing the various stockbrokers, entitled "Who's the fairest?" in which we stated that the minimum commission charged by Absa was R150 per trade (excluding VAT). The correct figure is actually R120. The administration fee of R500 per year only applies to those clients who make four trades or less in a given year. For clients who trade more frequently, this administration fee is waived. The Insider Trading Levy is also to be renamed the Investor Protection Levy, and reduced to 0.0003% of the value of the ..

Extracted from text ... 6 November 2005 Moneyweb's PERSONAL FINANCE SHARES Wolf at the door Competition is finally at Telkom's door. Is it time to sell this share? What about MTN? Is there still value or is it too risky? By BELINDAANDERSON COMPETITION is finally beating on Telkom's door. After years of threatening, the onslaught now seems more likely than ever. So is it time to sell this - up to now brilliantly performing - share? And what about MTN - will its other expansion plans cast the share back into very risky territory? Sanlam Investment Management (SIM) fund manager Claude van Cuyck says ..

Extracted from text ... November 2005 7 INVESTMENT MARKETS Trading spreads vs futures Okay, so it's true - the JSE Securities Exchange is a casino - at least as far as these two investment products are concerned. But, as the saying goes, fortune favours the brave... By JULIUS COBBETT GEARED investment products offer traders the opportunity to multiply investment returns as much as tenfold. Of course, the increased return is not without its risk. Two similar products that maximise risk/return are futures and spread trading. Moneyweb's Personal Finance investigates the difference between the two. FUTURES Futures allow punters to gain exposure to JSE-listed ..

Extracted from text ... INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY Moneyweb's PERSONAL FINANCE November 2005 9 Your broadband options OK, so we've established there aren't too many, but how do consumers weigh up which one to get? Also, MyADSL rates the best wireless option. By BELINDAANDERSON IT was clear from the 'broadband shootout' hosted by the SA Institute of Electrical Engineers in September, that the market is in fact shooting blanks where as farreaching choice is concerned. And, from the recent colloquium on high telecoms prices, it was clear that South African broadband users get data transfer speeds that other countries would find unacceptable. That said, how does ..

Extracted from text ... 10 November 2005 Moneyweb's PERSONAL FINANCE THE office of the Pension Funds Adjudicator (PFA) is receiving a great deal of press of late, particularly with regard to some of the decisions being handed out against retirement annuity funds by Vuyani Ngalwana, who is the current Adjudicator in this office. This has led to a far greater awareness on the part of fund members with regard to their rights under the rules of their particular funds. A number of people are placing their funds under intense scrutiny, given the abuses that have made the headlines and have been the subject of ..

Extracted from text ... 12 November 2005 Moneyweb's PERSONAL FINANCE OLD MUTUAL/SKANDIA By GEOFF CANDY What to do? What to do? Will the Old Mutual / Skandia deal be good for shareholders? It all depends on who you believe. OLD Mutual shareholders have until the extraordinary general meeting on 14 November to decide whether or not to allow the company to go ahead with its R37bn bid for Skandia. Jim Sutcliffe and Julian Roberts think that it is a good idea to buy the Swedish company, which is roughly the size of Sanlam. Hans Erik-Anderson (Skandia's CEO), the Skandia board, and about 15% of ..

Extracted from text ... November 2005 13 THE MINI-BUDGET Trevor hits the sweet spot The 2005 Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement, or the "mini-Budget", as it has become known, provides a preview of what we are likely to see in the main Budget in February 2006. Judging from Finance Minister Trevor Manuel's comments, South Africa, Inc. is moving in the right direction. By ANA MONTEIRO and STEVEN JONES USING an analogy from a pastime he favours - golf - Finance Minister Trevor Manuel set the scene for next year's budget by saying: "We're hitting the sweet spot". The Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement builds on ..

Extracted from text ... Moneyweb's PERSONAL FINANCE November 2005 15 TAX Tax and your medical contributions - what the changes will mean to you After months of speculation since Finance Minister Trevor Manuel announced changes to the tax-deductibility of medical contributions in the last Budget, some numbers are finally on the table. We examine how this will affect you. By STEVEN JONES YOU can always count on Finance Minister Trevor Manuel for one thing - he manages to keep us tax practitioners on our toes, and 2006 is likely to be no different. Whilst as usual he is playing his cards close to ..

Extracted from text ... MONEY SAVING TIPS By STEVEN JONES ?? Tired of the frustrations of monthend grocery shopping? Try shopping during the middle of the month instead. It's not as difficult to achieve as one would think. If you normally do a big shop for the month, try purchasing five weeks' worth for the next two months. This will then push you away from the month-end crush into mid-month. Why would you want to do this? Apart from the obvious benefits to your sanity, shopping in the middle of the month allows you to carry out the task in a far more ..