Get your Personal Affairs into Gear for the New Year
Here are four ways to help you plan your personal affairs for 2024.
14/12/2023
Tax season has ended. For many, each time we
file taxes it turns into an experience of
learning how extra tax savings can be made in
the next tax year, whether this is a result of a
new law, a new tax-free savings account or
because we’ve changed medical aids. Similarly,
as we personally develop with each year, we
should investigate new ways of maintaining and
organising our personal affairs.
This
could include ensuring your car insurance is up
to date, checking the interest rate on your
investment accounts, evaluating your retirement
planning journey, pre-booking your six-month
cleanings at the dentist, ensuring that you’ve
opened a savings account for your next holiday,
or booked an appointment to update your will.
The list of personal affairs to attend to
each year can seem daunting if you factor in
small things like the burst lightbulb that needs
changing, on top of everything else. Consider
making a top five list, of areas such as
finances, healthcare, career, fun, and even
friends and family to help you prioritise and
stay on top of things.
Here are four
ways to help you plan your personal affairs for
2024.
Factoring in fun and self-care
Consider putting a weekly budget in place for
the year ahead to keep overspending at bay. Look
out for free activities in your city. For
example, South Africa is home to a range of
National Parks and conservation areas fitted
with braai facilities and picnic areas.
While it’s common to arrive at
restaurants extremely hungry, a great trick to
avoid overspending is to have a small meal at
home before going out to eat. This way you are
less likely to want to order everything on the
menu and makes it easier to stick to your
budget.
Another suggestion is to look
for an event that suits your budget. For
example, set menu deals, buffets and weekly
two-for-one specials.
“Set menus are a
great way to do this,” says Radisson Blu Hotel
Waterfront’s Guest Relations Manager, Papy
Mingashanga. “Planned menus are paid for in
advance and include drinks, savoury meals and
desserts. Doing it this way yensures that there
is plenty of food and drinks as well as entertainment
- all at
one set price and you won't have to worry about
overspending.” he adds.
Ensuring you’re insured for 2024
In the current age of personalisation and
abundant choices, more power now rests squarely
in the hands of consumers around their insurance
decision-making. Pre-packaged insurance
offerings, which may contain unnecessary
elements, are no longer the only option.
Individuals can tailor their insurance product
to meet their specific needs, customising
coverage, provider, benefits, and additional
features. “For instance, a married couple
without dependents can limit the number of
authorised drivers on their vehicle, yielding
substantial savings on their car insurance,”
says Mishaya Chettiar, Executive Head at
Everything.Insure.
“Consumers overlook
the fact that things can change when is comes to
insurance and it is far better to ask questions to
fully understand their coverage so that premiums
can be tailored accordingly. The power to choose the right
policy ultimately lies in their hands,” adds
Chettiar.
Getting your investments into gear
If you’re in the final stages of your working
career and looking forward to retirement, you’ll
have some important choices to make. Is it
better to downsize or remaining in your current home? And if you do
downsize, should you look for a flat or
townhouse or should you move to a retirement
village before it’s too late? Should you stay in
the same town or city you’ve built a life in or
should you buy a house in that small seaside
village you fell in love with a couple of years
ago? Perhaps most importantly, however, how can
you best ensure that your money’s doing
everything it can for you?
“If the
majority of your wealth is invested offshore
these types of questions are critical to you. Maybe that’s
because, like
so many South Africans, you’ve
invested heavily offshore. Or maybe it’s because
you’ve physically and financially emigrated in
the past but are set on retiring in South
Africa, “ comments Harry Scherzer, CEO Future
Forex.
“Either way, you’re probably going
to regularly be moving reasonably large sums of
money from an offshore account to a South
African one. It’s something that can be
frustrating and complex, especially if you
choose the wrong international payments
provider. If, on the other hand, you choose a
partner that prioritises customer service and
transparency, then you’re much more likely to
have a smooth experience when bringing money
across to South Africa, “ he concludes.
Given that your retirement is supposed to be
more relaxing than your working life, the last
thing you need is currency exchange
difficulties. Going into 2024 while you work on
getting your retirement ducks in a row, make
sure you get a provider with the right focus and
that prioritises customer service.
Household planning around interest rates
In 2023, interest rate hikes have impacted
many consumers’ home loan affordability. Pockets
of opportunity to meet buyers’ needs remain
across the country. “Data reveals that
average home purchase prices have remained
virtually unchanged year on year, so any
positive shifts in interest rates could spark
activity in the housing market,” says Bradd
Bendall, Head of Sales at Better Bond.
If
you are a first-time home-buyer, in 2024, you
will still be able to find some comparatively
affordable options in new residential
developments in the inland provinces of the Free
State, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. “BetterBond data
shows that, despite price increases, first-time
buyers have managed to retain a share of more
than 60% of all home loan applications for the
past two years, and this positive statistic is
likely to be carried forward into 2024,” says
Bendall. The top three areas in terms of average
home loan values granted to first-time buyers,
over the past 12 months, have been the Western
Cape, Greater Pretoria and Mpumalanga.
An
alternative to buying on your own is collective
home buying. As economic challenges persist,
collective saving schemes, ‘stokvels’, offer an
increasingly popular way to buy property.
Some of South Africa’s big banks have
launched collective buying home loans that allow
up to 12 people to buy together, with each
person contributing towards the monthly
instalment.