What it is: A IUL is a cash growth vehicle: you use after tax money to pay policy premiums and the policy proceeds are tax-free. A IUL is different from other life insurance policies in the fact that part of your monthly premium is invested in a financial index that may give you a larger […]
GRANDPARENTS and parents would give more money to their families if they thought they could do it without paying a tax bill. But because they do not understand inheritance tax rules, they hang onto their wealth even if their children and grandchildren are struggling financially, a new survey has found. Almost half (44 per cent) […]
It’s a spiral no one wants to experience, but many have: You lose a job or suffer a costly illness. The bills pile up. By the time your finances stabilize, calls from collectors are pouring in. In this situation, debt settlement — where creditors agree to settle your debts for less than you owe — […]
IF YOU are on a monthly mobile phone tariff, you need to crunch the numbers carefully to avoid making a wrong and expensive call. Too many mobile phone users are throwing money away by paying for data they never use or a handset they have already paid off. As tariffs become more complex, and many […]
It’s important to keep the right records from a charity to deduct contributions when filing the 2017 taxes, so you don’t lose the deduction if you’re audited. The records you need depend on the type and the size of the gift. “The IRS is unforgiving on charitable contributions. If you don’t have the right pieces […]
If your child is one of the thousands of first-year students enrolled at institutions of higher learning for 2018, you may have found yourself on a parents’ WhatsApp group discussing the tricky question “How much money do we give them?”. Niel Fourie, the public policy actuary at the Actuarial Society of South Africa, says funding […]
ORGANIZE HOUSEHOLD SUPPLIES. Use an over-the-door hanging shoe rack with clear vinyl pockets to organize and store cleaning supplies, with one item per pocket. This gets them up and out of the reach of children. But even better, now you can actually see what you have. OPEN BLISTER PACKS. Use a manual can opener to […]
It has been a cold and not very pleasant winter and many of us have used hundreds of blankets and sent our heating temperatures soaring to keep us warm. But this results in larger heating bills, and the warmer months are still just a smidge too far to be wishing for the sun. Although we […]
THERE is nothing like being one of the first to watch the latest blockbuster on the day it comes out. But with the rising cost of cinema tickets, it can sometimes feel like a total rip-off — especially if you end up hating the film. Ticket prices jumped from on average £5.05 in 2007 to […]
You’ve heard the saying, “what goes up, must come down.” This is true of interest rates, which means that interest rates must also go back up now that they’ve dropped down. We’re just coming out of a period of historically low interest rates, and the economy is strong. When that happens, the Federal Reserve usually […]
Frugal gardeners save unused seeds from previous years, thinking they’ll save money. Like everything else, the price of seeds increases almost every year. But you don’t save money if the seeds you saved and planted did not germinate or grow as expected. Seeds saved in a closed container in the lower portion of the refrigerator […]
If you’re a fan of money expert Clark Howard, you probably make a habit of scanning the internet for fresh money-saving tips. Sadly, most articles offer the same tired advice — “lose that latté habit” and “pack a work lunch from home” come to mind. As a personal finance writer, nothing annoys me more than […]
