The best 100 money tips ever! 21 - 40

This is the second part of five posts on The best 100 money tips ever.
Click below to read the other posts.
1- 20
21 - 40
41 - 60
61 - 80
81 - 100

21. If you are investing a large lump sum, put the money in a money market account to start with and phase it into pre-selected investments over a period of time. This is particularly important with equity markets: don’t invest all your money when prices are high and lose out later, when they come down.

22. Don’t be taken in by labels. Some investment products style themselves as fulfilling certain needs (for example, “a savings plan for your child”). Banks often offer need-branded products. Always check the underlying investment proposal. There might well be a more suitable generic product with a better-performing underlying investment, such as a life assurance managed portfolio or a unit trust asset allocation fund, which has a low-risk structure but the potential for much better returns.

23. Don’t become emotionally attached to shares. If a particular share bombs out for good reason, such as bad management or failure to adapt to new markets, get out. But if the share value is falling as part of a general sector downgrade, there is little reason to sell.

24. If you are trading shares for short-term gain, you are not an investor, you’re a gambler. Don’t be surprised when you make a loss.

25. Avoid investing in unlisted companies. These companies are not properly regulated and are the favourite vehicle of scam artists. If you decide to invest in an unlisted company, make sure you do your homework first and understand all the risks.

26. Never invest in anything where the underlying investments are shrouded in secrecy. Your money is likely to be secreted away too, never to be seen again. A good example was Jack Milne’s PSC Guaranteed Growth investment scam. Milne refused to divulge the underlying investments, claiming it would show his competitors how he was getting exceptional returns.

27. Being a contrary investor can make all the difference. As investment market guru Sir John Templeton says: “The time of maximum pessimism in the stock market is the time to buy; the time of maximum optimism is the time to sell.”

28. Never invest on an ad hoc basis. You should have an overall financial plan designed to meet all your financial needs, taking into account your investment goals and life assurance needs. Investing in something simply because someone (and that includes your neighbour or hairdresser) recommends it, is unlikely to help you achieve your financial targets.

29. When you are advised to invest in something, always do a bit of research of your own. Get a second opinion and use the internet.

30. Use comparatively safe investments – such as life assurance smoothed-bonus policies and unit trust prudential or flexible asset allocation funds – as core investments. They may not give you spectacular performance, but they will provide you with a measure of security.

31. Investing in a low-cost index fund may not give you top performance, but at least it will not give you bottom performance. Local and international research has repeatedly shown that very few active fund managers consistently out-perform the markets. With an index fund, you are likely to do better than the average fund manager – and at lower cost. Index investments come in many different forms, from unit trusts to exchange-traded funds, which are listed on stock exchanges. You need to understand them before you invest.

32. As a general rule, only invest when you have no debt. The tax-free return you receive from paying off debt is likely to be greater than any returns (which are likely to be taxed) you receive from an investment. There are exceptions, such as paying into a retirement fund while you have a home loan.

33. Be prepared to pay for good advice, as you would for any expertise. But make sure you deal with an adequately qualified adviser – preferably one who is a Certified Financial Planner accredited by the Financial Planning Institute. Good advice is worth its weight in gold. You would not go to a barber to have your teeth checked, so why go to someone for financial advice if that person is not properly qualified?

34. Always have an emergency cash fund. Ideally, the fund should be equal to three months’ income. This way you will not have to cash in investments at an inopportune time or take out a high-interest loan if you are suddenly landed with a major expense.

35. An investment in a unit trust fund that is always in the top 25 percent of performers, even if it has never come first, is preferable to one that has been ranked first once and languishes in the lower realms of the tables for the rest of the time. Check the consistency of performance tables published every three months in Personal Finance to help you find funds that perform well consistently.

36. If you are a member of a defined benefit or defined contribution retirement fund, or you contribute to a retirement annuity, you can deduct your contributions (limited to pre-determined levels) from your taxable income and defer tax until your retirement years. This way you get to earn investment returns on money that would otherwise have gone to the Receiver of Revenue.

37. Money paid into a retirement fund or retirement annuity is not counted as being part of your estate, so your creditors cannot claim this money if you go bankrupt. This is very useful if you are involved in a small business or you have provided personal security for a loan to a business.

38. At retirement you should consider exercising your option to take as cash up to one-third of your retirement savings from a defined benefit or defined contribution retirement fund or a retirement annuity. There are two reasons for doing this:
- In the case of retirement funds, you are entitled to either R120 000 or R4 500 a year multiplied by the number of years you belonged to the fund (whichever is the greater) as a tax-free amount. With retirement annuities, you are entitled to R4 500 multiplied by the number of years of membership, tax-free.
- The remaining amount will be taxed at your average rate of tax for the year of your retirement and the previous year, instead of at your higher marginal rate of taxation. Invest the tax-free amount where it will attract the lowest rate of tax and earn the best risk-adjusted returns.

39. The earlier you start a retirement annuity, the greater your tax-free benefit at retirement. This is because the tax-free portion is R4 500 multiplied by the number of years of membership of the fund. You should avoid having too many retirement annuity plans as you could undermine your ability to get the maximum tax-free allowance at retirement.

40. Mind the gap. Very few retirement funds provide enough money to ensure a financially secure retirement, particularly now that most companies are reducing or discontinuing medical scheme subsidies to retirees. This means you need to have other investments to top up your retirement fund savings. Make sure you check up on how you are managing to fill “the gap” by regularly having a financial needs analysis with a properly qualified financial adviser.

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