SENSIBLE ESTATE PLANNING
DISCUSSING ESTATE DUTY continued from page 4
Currently, donations made in anticipation of death are excluded from Donations Tax. The committee further proposes a removal of the exemption in order to discourage people from transferring their assets in anticipation of death.
Although these recommendations are merely proposals for the Minister of Finance ' s consideration, they should be kept in mind in making estate planning decisions. Should they be tabled in a bill and later promulgated as legislation, they will have a huge impact on your estate plan.
Considering that a person ' s last will and testament contains most of the estate planning strategies, particularly where part of the estate is left to the surviving spouse, a review of the last will and testament and the holistic estate plan will need to be made. This review will look into whether your estate will be able to handle the estate duty burden which might arise, if these recommendations are promulgated.
Should you believe that your Will needs reviewing or that your circumstances have changed over the past few years, please contact one of our Private Wealth Managers on the following numbers: East London 043-735 2000 = Port Elizabeth 041-582 3990 Cape Town 021-202 0001 = Johannesburg 011-895 8000
SENSIBLE INVESTMENT
LOOKING AFTER YOUR RETIREMENT INVESTMENT continued from page 16 compounded tax free growth. This results in a shortfall in retirement capital that is often hard to address during the latter stages of life when university fees, bond payments and other obligations are likely to be more pressing.
Get Financial Advice before Marriage and before Divorce: one never knows whether divorce will affect them or not. One therefore needs to plan for possible outcomes and give attention to planning for undesirable outcomes so as to mitigate financial devastation should these events present themselves. It is important to get advice on how divorce can affect your retirement savings, and which investment strategies can be put in place to protect your retirement savings from divorce. For example, moving a retirement annuity from an insurer to another platform prior to a divorce may mean parting with a larger portion of your retirement fund capital in a divorce settlement. Getting holistic financial planning advice before marriage and before divorce proceedings becomes invaluable in preserving as much of your investment value as possible.
For further detail on any of the aspects discussed in this segment please contact one of our financial advisors on one of the following numbers: East London 043-735 2000 = Port Elizabeth 041-582 3990 Cape Town 021-202 0001 = Johannesburg 011-895 8000
SENSIBLE QUESTIONS
Q & A continued from page 26
provide retirement benefits for their staff it has become more and more imperative that individuals take on the responsibility of planning and managing their own retirement funds with the assistance of a quality financial advisor.
Government dangle the tax relief“ carrot” to encourage you to invest so it is good to take advantage of this. If you are 30 and have not started to save for retirement you will need to invest around 22 % of your salary to achieve 75 % of your salary at retirement. If you ' re only starting at 35 this jumps to 30 % and gets exponentially higher the longer you wait.
Chat to your financial advisor to make sure your plan is in place and that you understand all the benefits.
28 sensible finance Mar17