The perfect money month (#205)

A while back my smart and handsome co-host Simon Brown did a presentation about the perfect trade. Even though I don't trade myself, I found the presentation inspiring. As we often advocate, when it comes to this money business it's best to focus only on what you can control. A conversation with Cash Club writer Njabulo Nsibande made me realise we can apply the idea of a perfect trade to our investments too. As Simon and I flesh out that idea in this podcast, we realise you can aim for a perfect month in your own finances, regardless of what you're currently focusing on.  Here's the template for the perfect money month we came up with: The first money that leaves your account after every pay cheque goes towards your future. Look at your money: A broad overview of your whole portfolio, as well as your individual expenses every month.  Don't use the money you set aside. Every month you do all three of these things is a perfect month. Your challenge is to see how many months you can get in a row. Who's game? Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Win of the week: Linka I found "Just one lap podcasts" via Stealthy's blog where I ended up after not agreeing with a financial adviser about an investment strategy and deciding if other people can understand this stuff, I can too.  Vigorous amounts of googling and reading showed that as I guessed, none of this stuff is rocket science, its just the way that the information is presented that precludes the general public from accessing it. Thanks for all you and Simon's contribution to unraveling the unnecessary verbose complexity the industry uses. In short, just want to say, I really enjoy the podcasts. Have started to listen to the JSE direct one as well and surprisingly, I can understand most of it! I recently started working for myself and registered a company. Mainly to enable future tax deductions and to keep company and personal equity separate.  I opened a business account with FNB. At the time it made sense to me since I was already with them. I wanted a 7 days fixed deposit account to stash the incoming payments to keep this money from being lazy money. However - After looking at the bank fees for the gold account (personal) + business account I am starting to dislike the numbers. Also the extra charges I missed somewhere in the fine print is really starting to annoy me. If I don't need to have a business account, I can open two accounts at Capitec, which would probably be much cheaper. If this is not contrary to SARS' requirements - Capitec does not do business accounts yet. While being employed I was able to cover my bank charges with Ebucks, but with an irregular income, I doubt whether I will be able to maintain that level. Brendon My wife and I purchase the Ashburton World Government Bond ETF. The initial thinking was simply to get exposure to bonds. But I've been trying to figure out if we should rather purchase SA retail bonds instead of a bond ETF. Could you go through some differences and pros and cons of SA retail bonds versus bond ETFs. I understand that retail bonds provide you with a fixed interest rate (coupon), but I'm interested to know in what situations you would purchase one over the other. Marina We recently had a baby and decided to start saving for her immediately. The purpose of saving is mainly for her tertiary education.  We decided to go 50/50 into Discretionary and her TFSA. She can choose where to draw the money from when she starts University. It will be a good learning opportunity for her.  For the discretionary investment we want to do cash. FNB has a "my first savings" product at 5.75% interest and no monthly or transactional fees. However, our broker also pays interest on money not invested at a rate of around 6%, but Simons says it is illegal to do this. Why is it illegal? Can I invest the money into a cash ETF with similar returns? The main concern is whether she will be paying tax (in any form) as a minor. If the money was invested into a money market she would only need to pay tax on interest received when she starts earning and declaring an income. Would she be paying tax on interest received as a minor inside a cash ETF without a means to claim it back? And if she sells off the ETF would she be paying capital gains (even if it is a cash ETF)? Gregg  When you draw up your will, include a clause that if your children or spouse are to receive your inheritance, it cannot be taken by their respective spouses (in your children's case) and your wife's new spouse should she remarry.  You spoke of a separate will to manage your offshore assets. I have a US Equities Portfolio through EasyEquities. Would this qualify as offshore assets and require a separate will? You spoke of a life policy paid directly to my estate and/or directly to my beneficiaries. And that one should have a policy that takes care of the debt, duties, taxes and executor/legal fees in your estate. If I owe 500 000 on my house when I die, and my wife (not the estate) receives a life policy for 700 000. Is the estate going to sell/liquidate my assets in order to pay the 500 000 on the bond, or can my wife pay the 500 000 into the estate to settle the bond?  I'm trying to figure out if I need a separate life policy made out to the estate as beneficiary to cater for the debt in the estate? I don't want the estate to sell the assets to pay off the estate debt if I have left my wife sufficient funds to settle any debts. If I don't pay estate duties etc. on an estate less than R3M, does it mean if my estate is worth R3,1M, will I pay estate duty on the full R3,1M or only on the portion over and above the R3M limit, in this example 100k? If I own a second property, can I specify in my will that said property is not to be part of my estate but is ceded directly to my beneficiaries? If I wanted it not to form part of my estate, what would I need to do?