Like many of you, I have listened to every episode of The Fat Wallet Show. I’ve learned so much over the years, but I find it interesting that some lessons keep repeating. This week, Simon and I spend our last episode together reflecting on lessons we keep on learning. Think of this as the TL;DR version of 245 episodes of this incredible show.
Here’s what we know for sure:
Win of the week: Tim
I feel like you are both good friends due to the millions of hours of the Fat Wallet Show I have listened to. I have been there from the beginning when I discovered your show in 2016 during the start of my financial obsession ( don't judge me for not writing, I'm an expert procrastinator).
Although living in Germany since 2018, I have been listening to your show religiously and a lot of what I have learnt is the bedrock of my financial strategies. In October last year, my world changed forever, when in the week of the birth of our first child, my partner and I both got Corona which was a complete nightmare. Now 5 months later, a healthy beautiful boy, 2-3 hours of sleep a night, I am emerging from the haze of these challenging last few months to get back to old habits. I turned on the Fat Wallet Show and was shocked and saddened to hear that you are leaving Kristia.
I just wanted to thank both of you for the amazing job you have done over the last 240 something episodes. You have taught me so much and done it in such a fun and enjoyable way. As a teacher myself, I hope that some of my students could have such an enjoyable learning experience as I have had with the two of you over the last few years.
Ros
It's worth looking into the bottom-of-the-range Discovery card.
The Gold credit card, on its own, is R60pm. If you want, you can add R15pm for Vitality Money. I would recommend adding the Vitality Money for the extra discounts and rewards it gives you. I'm attaching the Discovery brochure that explains the "dynamic discounts" (it's almost impossible to find this on their website, and almost impossible to understand the product without it, which is why I'm attaching it) as well as my spreadsheet showing how much I "make" out of Discovery Health and Card each month.
Some things to note about the spreadsheet (there are two tabs):
All my calculations are based on Diamond Vitality money status. (Also Diamond Vitality Health status, but I'm not sure that has any effect on the cashback calculations). A lower Vitality Money status means lower Vitality Money cashback percentages. I got to Diamond Vitality Money status without really trying - you should be able to as well.
I'm a single person and generally a low spender. About 90% of my food spend is on "Healthy" food at Pick n Pay. I don't spend much on HealthyCare or HealthyGear, so the extra monthly cost of the Platinum credit card, or taking out a Gold transactional account, isn't worth it for the extra percentage discount on HealthyCare or HealthyGear.
I battle to hit the R12500 monthly credit card spend in order to hit the maximum Vitality Money extra cashback percentage on HealthyFood, fuel, and exercise points to miles. And I put *everything* on my card - even a chocolate for R15! Of course I pay it off in full every month.
Even at my low spend levels, I'm netting R450 to R650 per month (and that excludes my gym savings).
Download Ros' Discovery cashback spreadsheet.
If you’re new to this money business, access bonds will confuse you. Not only do we use the word “bond” to mean “lending money to the government” and “borrowing money from the bank to buy a house”. The access we’re talking about has changed over the years. As Simon Brown explains in this week’s episode, in the bad old days before the 2008 crash, banks used to give you a little additional spending money when you took out a home loan. Those days are long gone, but the idea prevails.
These days you can’t access the interest or principal repayments you’ve already made. You can only access additional repayments you’ve made to reduce your interest payments over time. For this reason, many people store their emergency fund in their access bond. It simultaneously reduces the interest you pay by reducing your principal amount outstanding and protects your cash from tax on interest.
In this episode we discuss the possibility of using your access bond to become your own credit provider.
Gwen
I am in the process of searching for a house and I often hear people saying that they use an "access bond" as an emergency fund. A friend of mine once told me in the past that I should never take up an access Bond because you never finish paying it.
Listening to a lot of podcasts I often hear people saying they use it to put their emergency fund and then they get the benefits to reduce interest. Am finding it difficult to understand how this works, can you kindly explain this to me and how it works practically.
I need to understand how I put money in the access facility, do I deposit it and will the interest reduce automatically?
Win of the week: Katrien
Just a short note to say thank you for the work you’ve done at Just One Lap. I’m one of the many thousands of people who drive to work on a Monday morning with a big smile to start our week. In addition to learning about personal finances, you guys lift our spirits and give us hope.
Greg
Moving towards pulling the trigger on the investment side so getting there...
TFSA for kids... (trustworthiness aside)
If I want to play catch up with their contributions (or mine) as we are all starting late (12 & 14 for them and 49 for me) I am aware of the 40% tax on over contributions, but surely in the long term their returns will work this off and they will be ahead of the slower sticking to the limit curve?
No.. I have not tried to spreadsheet this yet... My assumption is that the tax is on the input only?
It has always been the philosophy of this show that a good question is more valuable than a good answer. It’s incredible what you can learn from a really good question, both about the topic and about the person asking the question.
This week, Frank had an excellent question about moving retirement funds. This question reveals, first and foremost, just how much Frank already knows about the market. It also reveals a thoughtful person who has found a balance between taking calculated risks and doing whatever he can to protect his assets.
In this episode, we address issues around the ethics of retirement product providers, loss aversion and rand cost averaging. All of that, from a single question!
Frank
I have been contemplating transferring my retirement funds to OUTvest. I have some money with Allan Gray, some with Sygnia and most recently with EasyEquities. Combining all with Outvest will qualify me for the R4,500 fixed fee.
My concern is switching providers too frequently and whether the risk associated with the potential savings is too high. The time out of the market between the exit and the re-entry may result in losses. Is it worth considering? What happens if someone cheaper comes along next year and I'm tempted to switch again? My other concern is the potential manipulation by the provider that I'm transferring away from, the amount that went to Allan Gray from Old Mutual was significantly lower than the balance showing on the investment platform around the time of the transfer.
I had no control over what day the selling of the units happened and had no way of verifying whether the sale actually happened on the day they said. A number of weeks pass from the day you notify a provider of your intention to move away to when the move actually happens.
What prevents them from selling on day two after I notify them, but selecting the lowest unit price in the following days and reporting that to me as the day on which they sold my units? They could sell on 1st of the month for R50, but the transaction is only finalised at the end of the month (31st) - they could then see that the unit price on the 12th was R46 and report to me that my units were sold for R46 - giving them the profit (is this a kind of arbitrage?).
I'm conflicted about whether I should move to Outvest now and whether the benefit would be substantial or whether I should just leave the money where it is to grow and perhaps consider Outvest the next time I change jobs. With the bulk being in a Preservation Fund, what are the considerations I should take into account when combining it into my RA?
Sygnia had allowed me, at the time, to change the allocation of my provident fund to 75% SYGWD (MSCI World ETF) and 25% SYGP (Global Property ETF). My concern is that with the uncertainty around the changes, the online platform is now reporting that my investment is not reg 28 compliant. What are the risks? Whose responsibility is it to ensure that the provident fund is compliant (me or Sygnia). What happens in reg 28 compliant providence where there is "drift" in allocation (ie I may have had the correct percentage in equities during January, but price changes in asset classes may have resulted in "drift" where the asset value in that class is now outside the allowed percentage?)
In a previous episode Simon briefly mentioned that there may be scope to use available funds from a bond to invest in the market for returns that neat the interest. My current bond interest rate is 6.55% and I have a substantial amount available in the access bond portion. Could you discuss whether I should use those funds to buy ASHEQF? Am I correct in stating that 6.55% per annum is 0.55% per month? My logic says that as long as ASHEQF returns more than 6.55% per annum I should get out ahead. Thoughts?
Win of the week: Shumi
I am 33 years old, single, female with no dependents. I am not a cat, engineer or doctor. I studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics and ended up in finance but not the math side. I found the Fat Wallet in late 2018 after a financial awakening when I found FIRE and Stealthy’s blog. Since then my net worth has grown from -R660 000 in June 2018 (I bought a house before I found FIRE 😓) to over half a million in March 2021 (technically over a million if you include the house but I know that although it is an asset it is not an investment). This is attributable to two main factors, my standard of living remained the same as my income increased allowing me to save and invest the difference.
Kristia once posted a hand written note of the Fat Wallet manifesto on twitter and I followed it to the letter. I live on less than 40% of my income, no debt except for my bond, have a 12 month emergency fund, max out my RA and TFSA and also have ETFs in a local and offshore discretionary accounts. I also save and invest any increases and bonuses (Simon’s rule of thirds really helped me). So far I’ve stayed away from bitcoin, bees, gold and Tesla. Precovid travel was my money dial and I happily spent on frugal and extravagant local and international trips. Most of that has been diverted to chuckles & diy during the pandemic. This simple plan has worked well for me.
My income is relatively high (2 promotions in 3 years) so a lot of this success is because I earn enough to have a gap between what I make and what I spend. But without the Fat Wallet, lifestyle inflation would have creeped in and I wouldn't have known how to grow my money. From the outside nothing much has changed, I live in the same house and drive the same car (pushing 8 years now) as when I was in debt but I sleep much better knowing I have a solid financial base.
Thank you for all you do. Good luck on your new journey Kristia. Simon I listen to you 8 times a week so I will still be learning.
Feedback from Kris about contributing to a bond vs investing in the market
A good approach could be to use asset allocation.
E. G. If you already have a lot (or some) home equity but now want to start investing then why not aim for a certain ratio e. G. 50% each. So over time contribute to each such that you reach equal amounts in home loan equity as in stock market investments. Once you reach this equilibrium just maintain it going forward. It's diversification.
Itshekeng
I was swamped with debts and could not repay them all at the same time. I sold my house and have a lump sum which I would like to invest. On the other hand, I wish I could use some of it to reduce my debt repayment period. I am still working and would really like to get out of debt and be able to save up for a house and a car and retirement, and take out policies for my child.
What is most important and where to invest with good returns over 5 years?
A conversation on our excellent community group had me wondering why we’ve never dedicated a whole Fat Wallet to finding passive income streams outside of investments. It took about ten minutes for the realisation to dawn on me: true passive income is a myth.
We often talk about side-hustles. “Hustle” is the operative word there, because we’re describing a second job. The appeal of working in your free time is the diversification of income streams and the potential to eventually earn your monthly income doing something you enjoy instead of your day job.
True passive income means you work at nothing but capital for the initial investment. It’s important to remember capital can be physical or it can refer to your time. We discuss the potential of online businesses and the enormous amount of time required to get any sort of momentum. We talk about rental income, having an Uber fleet and selling products online and in each case talk about the work required to truly make it work.
Win of the week: Kay
I stumbled across your podcast Sep 2019, via Sam Beckbessinger's book. I binged listened to all the episodes in a rather short space of time.
I got a much clearer understanding of TFSA, and opened one immediately. My fear of stocks (which was more a lack of understanding) disappeared.
Took my ostrich head out of the ground, and looked at my liberty RA. Ouch. That got shifted out, can't say immediately, but Liberty did eventually let me go.
I started pumping money into an emergency fund. Life had taken an interesting turn in early 2019, and my income was more than halved. Come 2020 I had an emergency fund, which has saved my ass (or more like my animal’s asses....pet insurance is definitely a future consideration with younger animals ) more times than I thought I could possibly ever need to use an emergency fund.
If I had not discovered your podcast before 2020, I shudder to think what may have been in 2020.
Once again, thank you for all that the two of you have done. It really has been life changing.
I have a feeling once I finally retire, and I am able to still drink a fairly decent whiskey, I will think back to the early days of The Fat Wallet Show, and think thank goodness I discovered the podcast.
On a side note, does Simon get to keep all the future donations that will be sent once we all have it made?
Inge
I currently hold Ashburton 1200 and Satrix top 40. Now, with SATRIX I am guessing I am not taxed on dividends as these are SA stocks and fall under SARS, so they can't shaft me here.
But do I pay tax on dividends and gains in the Ashburton 1200? Is there any benefit to holding it in my TFSA or should it just be a discretionary investment?
Should do a 50% , 50% split between these two? OR because I have a local RA, do I max my offshore in the TFSA and do a 70 ash / 30 satrix split?
I am torn between putting extra into my bond to reduce the term (and amount of compound interest paid) vs putting money into my RA/TFSA for the future. Currently my bond is also my emergency and travel savings fund.
My current strategy is-
RA: maintain and only do standard annual increase.
Bond: pay in an extra 50%,
I take about the same amount I put into my bond and put 2/3 into a TFSA and 1/3 into an FNB share account.
Do I pump up that bond and get it done, or maintain the current strategy?
Do you have any suggestions of what calculator to use to show someone the value of time in the market?
Una
I began a new job in early December and had my daughter in early February. While I understand the value of getting medical when you have a child, I signed up for health insurance instead of medical aid because I was in a hurry. I'm not sure if I should cancel and get medical aid; could you please advise which of the two choices is the best?
Tim
She owns her home and should downsize. She likes having 2.5 vacant bedrooms for myself and my brothers.. despite 2 of us being married.
In 2014, we started buying apartments in Joburg, she owns a 1/3 of the company that owns 4 units (1.5 still bonded).
She is a member of the GEPF
She has minimal discretionary investments (Satrix etc.) and I started her on a TFSA last year.
My stepdad lost all his pension funding assets in his divorce. He’s a (retired) teacher with a (small) preservation fund (and a TFSA from this year).
My mom currently has R15k per month cash to invest. My thinking is smash R6k into their two TFSAs and convert the balance to USD through EE/Shyft and buy VT through EE or TD Ameritrade.
She will need to leave that money for at least 5 years. She has a large amount of property and Reg28 exposure relative to offshore/ETFs.
Is there anything else you would suggest looking into?
I’ve heard you say a few times that dividends within an RA/preservation and a TFSA are tax free whilst in the vehicle. Apart from the total return ETF complication, how does the company paying the dividend know that it is going into one of these vehicles and, therefore, doesn’t deduct the tax?
Christiaan
It might seem that we have some tax relief, but when electricity prices are going up 15% and the fuel levy is increasing by 27c/l, does it just not mean indirect taxes are just diminishing any perceived gains?
Are we being tricked into feeling good, but when you look at your personal cash-flow you realise there is not more left? When electricity and fuel go up, would it not mean we have increased food prices, inflation in the general economy and will pay more for goods and services in general? When that happens, are we also likely to see interest rates going up?
Mo
My goal over the last year was to get an apartment and pay it off quickly to avoid big interest payments. I have already set aside an emergency fund and I am now paying extra into the bond to get it paid off hopefully under seven years.
Having discovered the wonders of TFSAs, ETFs, etc. I am now torn as to how to go about spreading my money. I am struggling to find a good ratio between the additional bond payments and an investment account (ETF invested account, not TFSA).
I like the idea of having the apartment paid off but I am worried that I am putting too much emphasis on reducing the time period of the bond and at the same time losing out of potential growth of ETFs. I was previously putting all extra cash into the bond account, but am now looking at putting 2/3rds into the bond and 1/3rd into investments.
I am still young and doing what I can to live frugally and not stuff up being in a good position.