One of the first pieces of advice that financial gurus generally give is having an emergency fund equivalent to six- to nine months of expenses in cash, to use whenever an emergency strikes. I think that only having this emergency fund may not be enough, though, because it underestimates the likelihood of compound risks: the possibility that one financial disaster can cause another. Let me explain why… Continue reading
The passing of singing icon Whitney Houston started me thinking about deceased estates. I remembered a news story ranking the Estates of the rich and famous in terms of value and income after the person had passed away. First on the list was the late Michael Jackson’s Estate. This got me thinking: What can Michael Jackson teach us about investing? Continue reading
Have you ever been stuck in a position of continuing with something, even though it may not be the best course of action anymore? Often, if you were to make the decision today, you would do something completely different. This is “Sunk cost”: the energy, effort and time already expended.
On one side, sunk cost can be positive: Continue reading
As many of you have noticed, this has been a quiet week here at mzansifinance.com, the Mzansi Finance Facebook page and on the @mzansifinance Twitter feed.
This week has been my birthday week and I decided to take a little digital sabbatical.
They say that technology should be slave to the person and not the other way around. These days it so so easy to conduct instantaneous communication with everyone electonically that we sometimes forget that real relationships happen outside the digital world and not in it. I think everyone should take digital sabbaticals every now and again to remind themselves that life does not have to be a constant Facebook status update or Twitter feed.
From Monday onwards you will continue to find insanely useful and entertaining content here on Mzansifinance.com. I aim to post something new at least every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and I will be back on Monday.
Kevin Mzansi
Image by Will Clayton
I think that Facebook friends are the new Joneses.
We used to look up and down the street and see everybody flaunting their possessions. Now, our friends are sitting in beautiful destinations around the globe, enjoying the good life and we chase after that.
I have a very dear friend of mine, who lives in the Cayman Islands. Continue reading
Valentines Day is either universally loved or loathed. Many people see it as a way for the world of commerce to wrangle some more cash from our pockets after a long “Januworry”. I would bet that a high percentage of people feel that they are being bullied into a Hallmark holiday. Others see it as a great opportunity to highlight how much you “like-like” that special someone. That being said:
How can we make your honeybun feel special without breaking the bank? Here are some ideas… Continue reading
In the last post I introduced late-joiner penalties and how it protects the current members of Medical Aid schemes against newcomers who wait until they are sick before joining. In today’s post I will show you how the late-joiner penalty is calculated. Continue reading
Late-joiner penalties are one expense that can cause you to literally pay for the folly of your youth for the rest of your life. If you join a medical scheme after a certain age, you may pay more than everyone else for the rest of your life. This was a surprise to me, too, when I learnt about this fact. Continue reading
The last time I posted, I talked about the one downside of frugality: it removes some of your ambition. Today I will talk about the other negative aspect of frugality: the danger of skimping on the potentially important stuff.
Most of us will agree that some of the easiest stuff to avoid paying for could possibly be the most important. The items that come to mind most glaringly are the need for Insurance and our health. Continue reading
The one thing that the economic crisis has taught us all is that we sometimes have to do certain things to save money. One of the ways we have learned how to save is to adjust our lifestyle to embrace frugality. Today I will discuss a favorite topic of personal finance blogs around the globe: the debate on being frugal and how frugal one needs to be.
Over the last year, while I was a full-time student, I decided to go ultra frugal – spend only the cash that I have left in savings and not put anything on my credit card unless it was absolutely necessary. Continue reading
