Author Archives: KevinMzansi

House of cards: How one financial misfortune may trigger others

Posted on March 9, 2012 by KevinMzansi

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Protect | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

What Michael Jackson can teach us about investing

Posted on March 2, 2012 by KevinMzansi

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Earn, Invest | Tagged , , | 4 Comments

Sunk cost and flogging a dead chicken

Posted on February 20, 2012 by KevinMzansi

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Invest, Plan | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Birthday week and Digital Sabbatical

Posted on February 17, 2012 by KevinMzansi

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Uncategorized | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Never look at Facebook when you are feeling depressed

Posted on February 10, 2012 by KevinMzansi

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Save, Spend | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Frugal Valentine’s day gift ideas

Posted on February 8, 2012 by KevinMzansi

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Spend | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

How are late-joiner penalties calculated?

Posted on February 3, 2012 by KevinMzansi

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Protect | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Medical Schemes: What are late-joiner penalties?

Posted on February 1, 2012 by KevinMzansi

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Protect | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments

The downside to frugality – part 2

Posted on January 30, 2012 by KevinMzansi

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Plan, Protect, Save, Spend | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

The downside to frugality

Posted on January 27, 2012 by KevinMzansi

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Plan, Save, Spend | Tagged , , | 4 Comments