February 2, 2026 • 53 mins
Stephen Grootes spoke to Nosipho Maketo‑van den Bragt, founder of Chocolate Tribe, about her work in animation and VFX, the creative industry and how she makes her money while growing local talent, to Warren Ingram, co‑founder of Galileo Capital, about how South Africans can maximise their finances in the final month of the tax year, to Dr. Rutendo Hwindingwi of Tribe Africa Advisory about the top business news across the African continent, and to Consumer Ninja Wendy Knowler about how The Money Show helped a loyal listener navigate the challenges of buying their first home.
The Money Show is a podcast hosted by well-known journalist and radio presenter, Stephen Grootes. He explores the latest economic trends, business developments, investment opportunities, and personal finance strategies. Each episode features engaging conversations with top newsmakers, industry experts, financial advisors, entrepreneurs, and politicians, offering you thought-provoking insights to navigate the ever-changing financial landscape.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Seven not you're listening to the best of The Money Show.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The Money Show.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to the best Bits of the Money Show, a
digestive some of the most important thoughts, comments, insights, and
sometimes just the best jokes from The Money Show over
the last week. If you'd like to hear more, please
go to our website or your podcast s app and
just search for us The Money Show. Where's a good
idea to send it along to someone who you think
might benefit from one of the conversations as well. Might
(00:26):
be someone in your office you think actually really needs
to hear this conversation, or would just find it very
interesting To start. Some of the news stories that we
thought were important from the week. That was the Reserve
Bank keeping the reaper rate unchanged at six point seven
five percent. The prime lending rate, as long as it lasts,
also stays steady at ten and a quarter percent. Lots
(00:48):
of conversations, of course, around what is going to happen
in the future, particularly when you look at the stronger
rand and to an extent, a weeker dollar and a
weeker oil price. South Africa also considering imposing tariffs, perhaps
of up to fifty percent on vehicles from China and
India because so many cars from those countries are becoming
(01:08):
into South Africa. And this week the official launch of
the African Credit Rating Agencies in Johannesburg that wants to
have more transparent rating systems and to allow more collaboration
across African markets. Tonight, if we bring you a mixture
of stories from the world of money, from the week
that has been and how I make my money. This
week we spoke to nip Maketo Vandenbracht, the co founder
(01:32):
of Chocolate Tribe. They do high end animation and visual effects.
Her studio has created premium content for global giants night
like Netflix. She started out in Soweto and then became
a top lawyer. Here's no thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So much that you also find it, you know, a
wonderful story because as you know, I started off as
an attorney in practice and actually a high end law firm,
and in ty fourteen I decided to take a shot
left and go into the creative industry.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
So yeah, I mean you started. If I've understood your
history correctly, you actually grew up mostly in Soweto. Which
part of Soweto was that in deep.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Clue fin Zone five, and yeah, a very vibrant childhood.
And I mean I grew up in the seventies eighties
and the hive of you know, a lot of fun,
tension and strife in our country. And yeah, when I
was ten years old, we left the country actually, and
(02:40):
so when I was eighteen, we came back and I
went to this. So for me, there's a very you know,
strong bond with Soweto and Johannesburg in particular. I remember
Joe Burck as you know, the City of Gold. Even
with all the sort of like tensions that were happening,
I always kind of view it as this, you know,
(03:01):
absolute amazing place if its potential is fully realized in
different ways.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
So yeah, no, sure, I mean there's something about the vibe.
I think that Cape Town frankly, and we're broadcasting Cape
Town as well tonight, of course. So I say this
as loudly as I can, that Cape Town after just
doesn't seem to have You didn't just stop with an LLB.
I mean you are passionate enough about law to do
a master's. I mean that's that's a lot of passion.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
A lot of passion. I mean I often tell people
the story that for me, there was a natural connection
between law and film or creativity. I mean, one of
my colleagues once said, you know, lawyers are failed actors,
you know, so I did. I actually went to the
College University of London to do a master's in law,
(03:51):
and while I was there, there was actually an elective
called Laws Moving Image, and it was really about how
you know, fail can move people and you know, can
change laws and can change people's minds and hearts. So
I think it was that moment when the tennt drops
that there's a possibility to kind of you know milians
(04:13):
or connect all my my my you know, aspirations and passions.
And I was also marriage to, or still a marriage
to a you know, an artist, so there was always
this deep love and kind of like fascination with the
artistic world. And so for me it was an easy
I don't want to call it a transition because I
(04:35):
feel like I still live in both worlds. I'm still
my company's lawyer and I you know, do all the
you know, contractual work and at the same time, you know,
feast on all the wonder and joy of being in
a very you know, vibrant creative space.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So what do you do now as structor tribe And
I was trying to think of the best way to
explain it. But you do you make sort of parts
of movies. Would that be the right way to describe it?
You know the I don't know, do we still use
the phrase CGI or is that a little twentieth century
you sort of put together some of the really complicated
(05:14):
technical parts.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
True? True, I mean like that's that's a great, you
know explanation. I mean, we create assets to the service
of the story. The thing with us in the VFX
and even in the animation space, we really want to
create mesmerizing worlds and characters that push the story forward
(05:36):
and just to mess you know, audiences into that. I mean,
if you imagine the Avatars, the Lord of the Rings,
and I mean even regular stories. The point is how
can we capture your your mind and heart as we
tell the story. So the effects is really the art
(05:56):
and science of you know, capturing the audience in a
fantastical way, in a way that you know, imagination can
travel as far and as wide as possible.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So yeah, I mean it is amazing how big that is.
Over the holiday season, for various reasons, I found myself
rewatching the Shrek series and enjoying them as much as
someone on the wrong side of fifty as my children were.
And look, we were all watching them again, we've all
seen them before. But there's something about animation. There's a
(06:30):
K Pop demon Hunters at the moment which is really
just caught the imaginations and I'm afraid to say the
playlists of so many people. It's really quite a powerful medium.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Absolutely absolutely, and I think for me why it's so powerful,
particularly at this time of our lives in South Africa
and in Africa, is the fact that, you know, for
the first time it feels that our stories really really match,
and the global stage is ready to hear them and
(07:04):
is open to, you know, getting to know us through
that that you know method of storytelling, and I mean
what it's done. As much as you might think you're
on the wrong side of fifty, I think all of
us are children, you know, and we should always embrace
that sense of wonder and that sense of you know, curiosity.
(07:26):
So I definitely think we are at a beautiful time
in terms of creativity, where there's an openness. It's no
longer seen as you know, like creativity was often seen
like this little sort of dirty secret. You couldn't really
openly come out and say you're an artist or a creative.
People just thought you were crazy and you didn't want
to actually take on a proper job and do what
(07:48):
everybody else was doing, which is being you know, grown
up in a sense. So I think we are at
a golden age of creativity. And what I would like
to actually see, especially from an African and aur Aftan perspective,
is us telling those mesmerizing stories, those stories that humanize us,
but that also allows us to fly and just explore
(08:14):
our imagination beyond stories of struggle and stories of you know, colonization.
Those stories matter absolutely and they're important for us to
tell them, but I think what's also important is for
us to be able to open up our aperture for
a fantastical method of storytelling.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, so in a way, what happened in the past matters,
But our dreams matter too, and I don't know if
we spend dreams.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
It is and that's it, and that's really what for me,
animation and VFX is about. It's about you exploring those
recesses that have been closed off because a lot of
us grow in places where you know, it's bread and
butter issues, and that kind of you know, is reflected
(09:07):
on the kind of stories that we tell, and I
reiterate those stories do matter, but there should also be
a widening of our perspective and ability to explore and
go to, you know spaces. You always tell people that
the thing about animation and their sex is it allows
you to get into an intergalactical space, you know, spaces
(09:30):
that we never knew existed, and now we can create
those worlds. Now we can dream and we can actually
see them in reality. And that's really important for any
human imagination to be able to have that level of freedom.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And so yeah, yeah, that just the transition. So you're
a lawyer, you've got a master's in law and your husband,
your partners working in the visual space in the great space.
Was it did it happen quickly? Was it was there
(10:04):
one conversation? Did it happen over six months? Was it
a period of a decade that made you actually change
direction in this way and and want to work with him?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
If I'm being one hundred percent, I never really thought
of working with Rob. I always thought, you know, quite
like his sort of Dutch background, very you know, formulaic,
and so for me, I was like, yeah, you know,
this is a little bit and at the same time
(10:34):
very creative. And so it was a series of conversation
and I think there was also a constellation of stars
in terms of where we were in our life as
a couple. We had just returned to South Africa and
we'd had our third child, and we were trying to
think how do we go beyond, you know, in terms
(10:56):
of our dreams and aspirations, and was transitioning in the
company that he was at, and I was going through
I guess some level of you know crisis in terms
of I wanted to be more than just a lawyer.
I absolutely love being a lawyer and what it's done
for me, and I'm very appreciative of all the people
(11:17):
along the way. However, I wanted something bigger, and so
we set for you know, months and months. I can
openly say there were nights and days where we ate
tinned fish and you know, because we were building this
thing together. So it was a series of conversations. It
was a lot of sweat and you know, discomfort because
(11:41):
we were not sure whether we were crazy or you know,
going to you know, do something that was amazing, so
we're very grateful that it has, twelve years later, materialized
into this wonderful community of artists. And you know, it's
also changed how you know, African the effects and animation
(12:05):
is seen. So yeah, I'm incredibly proud to be a
couple working together and having created an amazing things such
as a chocolate tribe. You see it as our fourth child.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
So yeah, all right, I've got so many questions about
how the industry has changed in those twelve years. Speaking too,
fanden BRACHTI founder of Chocolate Tribe Nacipor, You've been running
the studio for twelve years and the technology behind what
you do has changed immensely in that time. What's it
(12:39):
been like to sort of keep up because the image
that you can create, the imagination that you can give
life to, has changed dramatically, and you really do have
to be on a par with everyone else in the industry.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Absolutely. I mean, I think right now the sort of
biggest and topical change is in relation to AI and
real time rendering. I mean we have to sort of
like trace it back to the fact that you know,
the streaming revolution that happened from like twenty twelve to
(13:20):
now has kind of you know catapulted you know, the
sort of like tastes of audience to from TV to
feature film and how we are able to create you know,
a lot more high end VFX because when it was
still TV, you know that there wasn't much of a
(13:43):
demand for high end VFX, and so the technique and
the you know, the sort of like requirements were of
a lower quality. But now because even episodics on the
likes of Netflix have to be of higher quality, that's
meant that there's a lot of investment in terms of
(14:05):
you know, the technical requirements, but also software and hardware.
And then the most sort of the greatest movement now
is in relation to AI and how do we render
images in real time and forto realistically so that when
(14:27):
you look at it, you know, you cannot tell which
is real and which is you know, created by AI
or even by you know, human hand. So I think
that's where we are. And as you know, this is
kind of like created a feriory of conversations from ethical
conversations to you know, employment and you know security and
(14:53):
all of that. So there's been a leap. I think
the film industry is one of those industries that are
often under mind in terms of innovation, and people don't
understand that there's such a great movement within a short
space of time that now even the likes of you know,
James Cameron, when they are filming something, they can actually
(15:15):
see the VFX live on their cameras. Whereas before you
would then film something, hand over the plates to the
post production team and they'd have to do what they
need to do from the VFX and editing. But now
there's like real time rendering where you see what's happening
almost you know, close to what the audience will be
(15:36):
seeing on screen.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
This is a strange question, but I mean we're probably
quite close to Niro where anyone with a big Apple
laptop can create a very very high quality animation movie
and sort of send it to Netflix. And that's fine,
but it kind of kills the industry. I mean, it's
it might be slightly different, I suppose, but musicians will
tell you that they make far less money now because
(15:59):
the Spotify doesn't work for them as much as it did,
And I mean does that worry you. I mean, for
a start, there's going to be a lot more high
quality content than there's ever been, and to kind of
stick out from that, it's going to be harder.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Sure. I think the thing is that the industry has
been shifting for the past twenty years. Certainly those who've
been in the industry for a lot longer, you know,
speak of the glory days of the Effects, where you know,
there was a lot more budget and a lot more
kind of like investment in terms of craftsmanship. And I
(16:34):
think now there is We are definitely, you know, concerned
in the sense that how do we embrace change without
necessarily almost copying out because one of the biggest issues
that are really critical for us as chocolate tribe is
to empower and upscale the next generation. And how do
(16:57):
you upscale you know, a generation and that skill is
shifting itself, you know. So I think there is you know,
a I want to say, an unease with the first
placements of AI, But I think we are taking it
in our stride as a company and we are learning
(17:20):
how do you you know, manage this kind of change
and at the speed that it's happening. But for me,
I still think Stephen, nothing is going to beat the
sort of like human heart and soul that is poured
into a piece of art. I often also tell people
that when you and I make art, we are making
(17:41):
it for each other. It's a human conversation. So when
I'm looking at a Picasso, you know there was something
that Piicauso was saying in his art, and he's talking
to me. And you you know, he's not talking to
an inanimate object or an algorithm or a data set.
He's talking to another hum And so I think for me,
(18:02):
as much as you know, AI being a tool and
all the other different innovations, they are there to help
perfect spedite processes. But the human hand and the human
heart must be steeped in our art and in our experience.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
No Spermoketo fond Brachbe, co founder of Chocolate Tribe, just
taking you behind the scenes of some of what happens
in the animation space in South Africa.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
The Best of the Money Show one.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Two Personal Finance. This week weren Ingram the financial advisor
co founder of Galileo Capital, speaking about what you could
do in the final month of the tax here to
minimize what you have to give to SARS and to
maximize your finances. Outlining the steps you need to take
to boost your savings, make use of all of the
available deductions, and to improve your overall financial position ahead
(18:55):
of the tax deadline.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Sorrs are not the most generous lot today of us
that pay income taxes, and so you're right, we don't
get a lot of tax breaks, and the few that
we do get, I'm suggesting we should do our very
best to maximize all the legal things that we can
to pay our dues, but not to pay access.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Okay, I suppose we should start. I should have known
your start with retirement funds. And this is about how
you make the most from your tax with your retirement
fund contributions.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
So just to give a little bit of a little
bit of background here, we can contribute a certain amount
every year to our retirement fund, so whether it's a
company retirement fund like a provident fund, or your own
retirement in uity. And if you contribute up to a
maximum of twenty seven and a half percent of your
(19:51):
income or limited to three hundred and fifty thousand a
year for the big earners, you can get quite a
big tax break back from size for those contributions. So,
just to give you a simple example, if you earn
a salary that puts you in a forty one percent
tax bracket, and you decide that you haven't maximized your
(20:12):
retirement fund contribution and you top it up by ten
thousand rand now in the next month that you'll get
back around four one hundred from sorrow's in a tax saving.
So it's real the tax saving that we get from sorrow.
So making a contribution to your own retirement fund, in
other words, investing in your future for you gives you
(20:35):
quite a big tax saving now in the amount of
income tax that you would pay in this tax here.
So I think it's quite a big one that we
should maximize. And most people's contributions, they're not really maximizing
the amount that they can paint to their retirement funds.
And it's to me a little bit of a no
(20:56):
brainer something you really should be doing.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You don't have to do this in advance. You can
you can do it sort of at the last minute
if you want one payment.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Yeah, And and you know, especially for people who work
in the gig economy or you know, have very variable
earnings through the year, they might not want to do
it a monthly debit order. And so now just to
say you've got a month to go. And you know,
if you calculate what you've earned, whether it's been you know,
commission or salary or contract fees, interest or even rent,
(21:32):
you know, all all the things that that attract income tax,
it's worth working out what you've earned in the year
and and and then saying, you know it, does that
have I done the contributions to get to the point
of twenty seven and a half percent of that amount
of money? And if you haven't and you've got the
money available, then then you really should you should do
it now?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Okay, you don't, can you overdo it? I mean you
need to be you need to actually do the maths
quite carefully to you.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Uh yeah. So this is one of those things where
where people disagree with each other in my industry. So
if you over contribute to your retirement funds, you're not
going to get penalized and you know, and saras won't
fine you or rest you or do anything like that.
Uh and but but you're not going to get a
tax break immediately. What will happen is you will get
a benefit that's very delayed. So when you get your
(22:24):
retirement and you start drawing money from your your your
retirement investments. Then your over contributions will be will be
beneficial there you'll get an offset it. So some people
would just say, well, you know, don't worry about about
the benefit. Just go and contribute as much as you
can to your retirement funds and and then worry about
that tax benefit later. I think I'm maybe a bit conservative,
(22:47):
but I don't really want to over contribute during my lifetime.
I'm happy to do the maximum that Sorrows allows every
year and and and save save money for the rest.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
No, sure, that does make sense, all right. Medical expenses,
I mean lots of five about the medical aid tax
credit at the moment is I think there will be
for some time. And we're not talking about that, we're
actually talking about what you pay directly.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Yeah, so so there there is. I mean, for people
who spend a lot of money on medical expenses, my
suggestion here is make sure that you've got all your
receipts and the expenses that you've paid for that haven't
been covered by your medical aid, because there is a
point when when you can actually start to claim those
(23:29):
expenses that are unpaid. Unfortunately, it's not for every cent
that you haven't been able to claim and and all
sorts of limits. But the bottom line for the next
month is to make sure you've got all your your
your slips and receipts, and you know, contact your medical
providers if you haven't, because you know they might not
keep everything by July when you start and start needing
to submit. So so get yourself ready now and be
(23:52):
prepared now.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Okay, donations to public benefit organizations charities, NGOs, things like that,
what's the benefit there?
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Yeah, not many people know this, but you can donate
up to ten percent of your income, your taxable income
to register charity. So they have to be registered with
SARS as public benefit organizations and you get a tax
deduction for that. In other words, if you contribute, Let's
say you earn a million round a year and you
(24:25):
do your ten percent contribution, that will mean that one
hundred thousand round of which is your contribution, will be
deducted from the amount of income that you earn for
tax calculation purposes. In other words, SOS will say, Okay,
for the purposes of this calculation, although you earned a
million round, we're going to look at it as if
you've earned nine hundred thousand rund and then work out
(24:47):
the tax that you owe from that perspective. So the
reality here is you get a bit of a tax
break for doing something very good. And to me, you know,
there are people in a position who would like to
make donations to whether it's you know, animal shelters or
schools or you know, education funds, whatever it is that's
important to you, and and you know, use this time
(25:08):
now to make sure that those organizations are registered with
SARS and then take advantage of this opportunity to pay
but less tax and do you know, do good with
your money in a way that you want to do.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
I've always been interested in this because I kind of
sometimes wonder if SARS is going to crack down, if
other people are going to get it quite cynical about
public benefit organizations have In fact, that might change at
some point because it really does allow people to give
to their sort of pet causes rather than give the
money to government.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
In the end, I mean, I think the view is
that there are so many, you know, very good public
benefit organizations that do work that you know, that that
government simply cannot get to. And and so it would
be you know, I always think about some you know,
an organization a gift of the givers, you know, I mean,
look at what they do in towns and situation of
(26:00):
great distress. And you know, if SARUS, you know, doesn't
do what they can to help organizations like that deliver
good to to to the South African public, you know,
that would be a tragedy. So I really hope they don't.
I'm very happy that you know that SARUS does the
work to make sure that these are legitimate public benefit
organizations doing real work and not just you know, tax
(26:20):
avoidance schemes. But but yeah, I hope I hope that
that never happens, Stephen, that they're banos those deductions.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
All right, your travel logbook, and this is this is
about a car and and how you actually manage what
you can claim back.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
Yeah, so not everyone you know, gets gets travel allowances
or earns let's say, commission where where you can write
off the expense of of the of the journey that
you do every day for for work purposes. So so
just to be clear, this isn't about you know, traveling
to and from your office every day. If you're an
office worker earning a salary, this is not this is
(26:58):
not for you. But but for people who have all
two different places, you know, doing work and earning income
at that point that they can get a tax break.
And one of the things that people in this situation
often forget to do is make sure that their log
book is up to date. So you've you've got to
keep a record of every single trip, you know, the
mileage of that trip, and then take notes of what
(27:20):
your mileage on your car is at the end of February.
So so don't you don't wait until July and then
then go gee, I can't remember what the mileage was
in my car at the end of the month, and
and and you know, at the end of February rather
and then you find yourself scrambling. So so just again,
make sure your records are up to date now, because
the paperwork is important, and it is one of those
(27:41):
things that I think Sienz is looking at very closely.
And you know, every time people get audited, this is
one of the things that trips them up because they
haven't got proper records, and then those deductions for their
expenses around their car not allowed.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
One of the things I find interesting about the whole
log book issue for a car is there's quite a
lot of Even if you had a good electronic system,
and I'm sure someone somewhere has a kind of car
log book app thing for a phone that makes it
as easy as possible, you still have to remember to
do it each time. And obviously for some people you
travel quite a bit in your card really is worth it.
(28:18):
I'm sure there's some people who just think, ah, it's
really not worth the hack.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
Yeah, I wish, I wish, you know, Sorrus could find
a way to automate this, because it really is a hack.
And and again, you know, for people who are legitimately
traveling for work and incurring expenses and you know, dodging
potholes in joe Burg and you know, whatever the conditions
are and fires in the Western care but it's kind
of a hazardous thing being on the road trying to
(28:44):
earn a living. And so you know, this should be
one of the situations where where the technology I'm sure
is available, and if Sarrus could offer it to people
in that position, everyone's life would be easier.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
You know.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
It's just it's such a simple thing to kind of
get the taxpayer and the tax man aligned. I agree
with you, it should just be done.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
For some people they like to try and claim on
an office when they work from home. If you have
a home office, are you able to do that?
Speaker 4 (29:13):
You can just you know, for example, if it's your
primary residence, so it's the place where you live, and
you say, okay, I'm going to I'm going to dedicate
some space. I've got a you know, little office. You
know that that I'm now going to claim as a
home office. It's it's possible to do that, I think again,
you know that the documentation and the paperwork around this
(29:33):
is very important, and and and and are we getting
right to the limits of my tax knowledge, Stephen. But
what one of the things that's also going to happen
is that that portion of your property you will not
be treated as your primary residence when you then sell
it one day. And and why that's important is, you know,
if we've got our if we live in our home
and uh and we sell that home one day, you know,
(29:54):
if we've made a profit on on the sale of
that home, we do get a bit of a tax
break from SARS before we start paying for capital gains tax.
And so if you've now used up you know, a
third of the size of your home as a home office,
for example. Then then you might find that you're not
getting such a big tax break on the capital gains.
And and you know, if if you live in a
(30:14):
place where property prices are going up strongly, it could
be that that benefit that you got from your home
office doesn't outweigh the last now of that capital gains
tax break that you got on your primary residence. So
I would suggest someone in this position should do the
work just to you know, go and pay a tax consultant,
just to work, you know, walk it through with you
(30:36):
and make sure that you're making the right call before
you make a decision.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Like this, So so much sort of put together ahead
of the tax. Yeah, your questions Warren Ingram, the co
founder of Galileo Capital A double one double A three
or seven two two one four four six o five
six seven, and of course voice notes on a seven
two seven O two one seven O two. We do
have a question tonight, and it goes like this, Hi,
(31:00):
I just got a new job with a decent salary increase.
At the moment, my expenses are matching my income, so
the increase would give me some breathing room. I don't
want to waste the increased money, but I would like
to buy some extras to improve my life a bit.
We all need a little bit of ice cream in life.
Warren for the Money Show Personal Finance with Warren Ingram.
(31:22):
Warren Ingram, of course, the co founder at Galileo Capital.
Some questions coming in for him, now them to put
them to you in a moment, Warren at first, a
question that came in earlier. I've got a new job
with a salary increase. My expenses are matching my income,
so the increase gives me some breathing room. I don't
want to waste the money, the extra money. I would
like to buy some extras to improve my life. Warren,
(31:42):
how do you sort of judge that? How do you
assess what you should do in that case?
Speaker 4 (31:47):
I mean, I think it's one of those things where
let's say your increase is ten percent, then by all
means allow your lifestyle costs to increase as well, but
don't let them increase by ten percent in line with
your your salary rise. Rather let your your lifestyle costs
go up by five percent, and that means that you
are saving half of that big you know, that big increase,
(32:10):
that you've got and and so what you're doing is
you're allowing your savings to grow at a faster rate
than your salary and or maybe than your expenses is growing.
So yes, you get to give yourself a bit of
a reward, but you don't fall subject to something called
salary creep where or lifestyle creep where where you just
you know, allow your expenses to grow as fast as
your income and then you never get to save enough.
(32:32):
Your goal here is save more as you can, and
a salary increases a great time to give yourself that
opportunity to to save for your future.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, I mean, I've seen that where someone gets an
increase in salary and then they kind of strangely, you
get you're so used to the money you can't get
out of it, and actually your options become very limited.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
Yeah, you know, and as your expenses rise, you know,
along with your your income, it's very hard to adjust
yourself from from that new lifestyle back to the lifestyle
you had you know, one or two increases ago. So
the pain of going backwards is much worse than just
not going there. And so allowing yourself an extra little
bit of breathing rome is great and you should do that.
(33:15):
It is a reward for the hard work. But just
don't get used to that new lifestyle and then you
don't feel the pain.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Carliso's got in touch with us tonight saying Hi, Warren,
I've certified, I think satisfied. She means with my contribution
to my RA and I also max my tax free
payment every year. I have the Discovery Vitality rewards between
one thy six hundred rand and two thousand rand every month,
and I'd like to deploy it effectively. My portfolio is
(33:41):
very poor in crypto. Should I add these funds to
my RA, my retirement annuity or to crypto? That's Carliso's question, Warren.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
So my view is like, I'm I understand investments, and
I understand you know how you can value shares and
you know property company and even government bonds, but but
I can't value crypto. So so for me at the moment,
it's one of those things that's evolving. I think it's
I still struggle to call it an investment. I think
it's still a speculation. So so rather go into the
(34:14):
retirement funds than than than the cryptos.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, I mean it's so interesting because so many people
will go the other way, but actually some of it
is still very difficult to kind of know what's going
to happen. Mon Tomby asks any advice on a retirement plan.
I'm just going to quote this word for word, any
advice on a retirement plan that one can take on
the side, And how do I determine the correct amount
to add in line with the maximum allowance? Thanks? That's
(34:38):
from from MN Tomby Warren.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Great question, Man Tomby. I think so the thing that
you do on the side, I'm assuming that means that
you've got a company retirement fund and you want to
do something extra on your on your own and and
for all of us that that would be a retirementenuity.
And and you can, you know, you can do almost
any size contribution to retire intinuity. So you can either
do a debit or or an annual lumpsum. And the
(35:02):
way to decide on what retirement annuity to choose look
for one that's you know, on a unitraust platform where
there's no upfront fees or exit penalties. And then when
you're trying to decide how much to contribute, workout what
your your pre tax salary is so if you earn
one hundred thousand around a year, then you know twenty
(35:22):
seven and a half percent of that is what your
maximum contribution to the retirement fund can be. So then
you can work out what you're currently contributing to your
company fund and you can then do the balance. If
there's a gap, you can do the balance into your
own ra and choose the investments that work for you.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Warren Ingram there Financial Advice, a co founder of Galileo Capital,
sharing what you can do in the final month of
the tax yeah, to save you money.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
You are listening to the money shows the best Bids.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Africa Business Focus this week doctor Rtinda and Dingui, the
founding director of Tribe Africa Advisory, looking at some of
the top business stories from across the continent, but also
exploring the major trends that are shaping markets in our
content and the shifts in regional economies. Eco charcoal, I
mean eco charcoal, Can there be such a thing. It's
a sort of cleaner, cheaper alternative to fire with. This
(36:14):
is in Cameroon.
Speaker 5 (36:15):
This is in Cameroon. So just to sort of define
eco charcoal, It's made up of agricultural waste, of fast
grained non native plant species. So like you summarize it, Stephen,
it's a combination of cleaner, cheaper and more affordable form
of coal. Why this is so key we know from
an Africa perspective, Stephen, the challenge we have is about
half of the African population that are six hundred million
(36:37):
people don't have access to energy, and those that do
because they use cheap fossil fuels like normal coal, it
actually contributes to health problems. The average rated the moment
of deaths one hundred thousand is one hundred and fifty
five people, which is quite higher and higher than the
world average. So the eco Chuckal solution, which is a
graining ya Wanda Cameroon, is allowing for this clean up
(37:01):
source of fuel to be able to be used. It's affordable,
it reduces deforestration, and from a strategic perspective in terms
of solving Africa's a health and energy problem. At the
same time, it's the right step forward and so it's
quite a good solution. In your one day is leading
in terms of pioneering this offering from a continental perspective.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
To make something like that work, you have to get
people on board. They have to agree to do it.
It often has to be the same price or cheaper,
otherwise it's not going to work.
Speaker 5 (37:29):
Yeah, and that's the you should be able to scale,
and not just from a social impact perspective, but from
an economic perspective. And that's where the whole dilemma happens
because obviously it's a combination that, say, from agricultural waste
a fast growing non native plant species. So the dynamic
around that, Steven, is in terms of the amount of
investment that you have to put in so to scale
is always the challenge, and you need to get key
(37:50):
investors and skill sets that are able to drive that.
So it's still a long way from selves solving Africa's problems,
but definitely a step in the right direction, Stephen.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
And then Jan has now got zero duty access to China.
I mean, this is interesting. We were talking about the
India EU deal earlier today. There's a lot going on
around trade at the moment. This will be important for Kenya.
Speaker 5 (38:10):
Yeah, so this is a sort of a reflection of
the global shakeup that's happening Stephen.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Kenya.
Speaker 5 (38:15):
Remember that two things that's happened to Kenya. One is
that it was also impacted by the terraffs by the
US in terms of higher tariffs. But having say that
they got the lower bracket of terraffs, I think THEIRS
was about ten percent, and more importantly, they also got
impacted by gore and the reality with trade globally there's
never a vacuum, so Kenya was forced to look at
other options. Kiya has always been quite good in terms
(38:37):
of positioning themselves. So remember last year, the early last
year they broke at a deal with thirty EU countries
to send pre manufactured goods across to the EU. From
an agri perspective, and what they've been able to still
to be ratified by Parliament, but they'll be able to
secure a deal with China to get zero percent rated
tariffs with regards to them sporting into China, which is
(39:01):
a big thing and the key products around agriproducts. So
for from a Kinga perspective, and I think from an
Africa perspective, it says the right tone because we've always
had the challenge of exporting and not being competitive in
the markets to export to. So with zero tariffs and
if this works out, it'll be a key step up
for Quina in terms of going in the Asian market.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
I was amazed when the story broke because I found
it fascinating. So we got on the one side, fetch
the global ratings agency. We everyone takes them very seriously
and AFROCSM Bank and Affraction Bank has basically said, we're
no longer going to be a part of you. We
do not accept your credit ratings.
Speaker 5 (39:39):
Like wow, that sounds quite familiar. I think somebody else
has been saying that in other parts of the world.
But on a more serious snort. I think from the
positive side, it's good. Affrics and Bank has kind of
stood up well. They've highlighted that they've got to last
year a triple B I'm saying a triple B rating,
which put them in the negative outlook, and they've said,
(39:59):
based on the member states and as well as how
they define the methodology of FISH, they believe that it
was an unfair rating. So they've said it's no longer
relevant in terms of their strategy, and it's as a
as a multilateral institution from an African perspective, it's totural
in their right in terms of saying that. So they've
stepped out and said were no longer I'm going to
use the future rating. I think the risk there, Steve,
(40:20):
is that when you have key associations or entities like Fish,
which are obviously which way from a global perspective, and
you step away from them, then the question is who's
going to set the right standard from a global perspective,
and so that's where the risk is. So I think
with where the world is going, where the question in
multi literism, where people are standing out and saying yes
to this and not that it does create a bit
(40:42):
of a risk in terms of how long is a
piece of string in terms of defining who's got the
right standard and who do we follow, because we still
need some sort of a global standard. In the case
of AFRICS and Bank, they've said no to FICH the
other they're obviously other rating agency that people can follow.
But it'll be interesting to see how this plays out
in terms of some of the concerns that AFRICS and
Bank have reached out on and how that will shape
(41:05):
future discussions are outrated on the African continent.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
It's also no use if you're the only one if
other countries say to Fish's like actually no, And it
would really help if an institution another part of the
world did it. But if it's just one in Africa,
or if it's just Africa, it doesn't really help.
Speaker 5 (41:22):
It doesn't really help. And remember Africa is only three
percent of global GDP. Even if you look at VC
funding for take start ups on Africa, we only attract
three percent. And the ratings by feature some of the
things that global players of investors look at. So when
you stand out and you say we're not going to
use them, the guys kind of say, look, you're already
high risk. Now one of the measure in lines that
(41:43):
is used to measure your success you said no to.
So where do we stand. So again, on one side,
it's positive, but it does create a risk with regards
to grain forward in the perception in terms of that
part of the world.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
It's a fascinating story and history to Somali land. Most
countries don't see it as a nation. South Africa doesn't
recognize it. Israel did controversially and that was about something else,
I think. But then it seems that they were at
the World Economic Forum and they had dinner with Eric.
Speaker 5 (42:13):
Trump, hey, the son of Donald Trump. So a chip
off the old block to put it lightly, but as
well well away. Somalia Land has been for a number
of years, I think over sixteen years, Stephen, they've been saying, look,
we want to be separate from Somalia. One of the
key assets that Somalia Land has is the port of Barbera, Yeah,
which is which is the key obviously faces the Indian Ocean.
(42:36):
And recently I think two months ago, you know, Israel
as well as supported by Americans, but obviously Americans and
endorsed it. But Israel is the only country in the
UN that has actually stood out and say that they
will recognize Somalia Land. So apparently there was a dinner
it with and the president of Somalia Lan President Mohammad,
(43:00):
and I present hazeg from Israel as also they they
did a pitch to Erictop. Apparently that was the presentation
that happened. What came out of it, nothing has been confirmed,
was any deal confirmed. Nothing, So it was sort of
a pitch where nobody knows really what happened. What was pitch?
Nobody really knows. But from a WAVEE perspective, there was
a good dinner that was had. So again another great
(43:22):
interest is storing to follow through because obviously from an
au perspective, they've made it quite clear they don't recognize
so many land. But again with global politics happening and
America wigning. Also on the Ethiopian Egypt debacle, which is
quite close to so many eland, you never know what happened.
So it's another thing to keep an eye on.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Two important people are in a room and then where
you'd really want to feel sick if you're in Africa,
which cities have access to the best health services?
Speaker 5 (43:53):
Now, an interesting report from the Africa Report where they
surveyed forty one cities in Africa and they looked at
about eight thousand health institutions, and the criteria was really around,
you know, the staffing levels, primary health care, institutional stability,
and the five top performing countries in terms of health conditions.
(44:14):
And that's for you or Bridge also learn espec you
do fall thick in Africa where you must fall seeking.
The first city that came up tops in terms of
great health facilities was Kigali.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Noturt, not Joburt.
Speaker 5 (44:26):
Pretoria was number four. The Pretoria pre Pretoria was number four,
and so so South Africa was there. Number three was
tunis in Tunisia, number four Pretoria and number five our
surprise was caught to know in Benin. So those are
the top five again and funny enough for Wanda. One
(44:47):
of the key drivers of them coming up to the
top was there health insurance scheme which was which is
named mutualis disanti moving to say it properly because it
sounds very French, but has actually been dorsed by the
World Health Organization of the World. Capital was number ten.
I think Joeberg was slightly below came but it was
interesting again just in terms of a third party doing
(45:08):
an external survey and just highlighted some of the key
countries that are doing the right thing in terms of
their health strategy from an African perspective.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Doctor Rutendo and Dingui there the founding director of Tribe
Africa Advisory, looking at the top business stories from across
our continent. Seven notes The best of the Money Show
from this week. I consume an injur of this week
Wendy Knoeler explaining how The Money Show actually helped a
loyal listener navigate the challenges of buying their home.
Speaker 6 (45:38):
It's always gratifying when you get feedback like this. It's
very seldom actually you put advice out and you think, well,
maybe that'll help someone, but you're never quite sure. So yeah,
I got an email from Matthew earlier in the week
and it began. I listened to your segment on The
Money Show every week the podcast, and I just wanted
(45:59):
to say thank you. My wife and I are buying
our first home together and thanks to you, I knew
how to Then he goes on to list all the
precautions that he took. So I thought it was worth
sharing because it's quite good key advice on.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
How to go about buying the house.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
What was on his list, because I mean, he would
have taken some time to put it together, and it's
obvious stuff. It's not stuff that's always obvious.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Okay, Yeah, So I found it really interesting. He said.
Speaker 6 (46:31):
He first got Inspector Home. That's one of these professional
property inspection companies. There are others. House Check is another one.
I think that's the biggest one in the country, but
there are many. They got Inspector Home out to check
that the home that they were buying was sound. He says.
It's an old home built one hundred years ago in Parktown,
North So this was crucial, he says, because he has
(46:51):
the thing. According to John Graham, who's the head of
house Check, one of which is one of the one
of these companies, only between three and five percent of
homeowners do this on average. I don't know about us even,
but I found that horrifying statistic given and probably because
I get the emails from people who weren't told that
there was damp or you know, a dodgy roof and
(47:14):
found out the hard expensive way later. So so yeah,
for me, it's a no brain And I was so
so many, so few people do it that when not
Matthew told me about it, I was like, oh, that's
that made by day.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
And the main issues, I mean, there are obviously so
many things that can happen with the house, it's such
a purchase.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
The main ones are no plans or.
Speaker 6 (47:37):
An extension done in addition done no plans, and that's
a big issue. Roof poorly constructed or badly maintained or both,
non compliant, installation of geezers and damp it is a
huge one have in many of those cases. And then
walls and roots are not built to building regulation standards
and also boundary walls, and this of course is a
(48:00):
big issue. If you have an insurance plan. Is a
big storm, it's your area of the roof avison or
the wall falls down, and then your insurer comes back
and it's a huge reason for rejections that come back
and say, oh, but urs says, the wall wasn't built
according to regulations and that's why it felt down, and
the storm is just a contributing factor. So yeah. The
(48:21):
Graham of house Check says no one should put an
offer to purchase without making it a conditional upon a
satisfactory home inspection. Well, of course you would, that's his business.
But I completely agree that it is crazy to do that.
But if you didn't think of it before you bought
the house and moved, and you should absolutely do it
(48:41):
now to for that insurance reason, right, and to make
sure that you're not sitting with a problem that means
you're going to be wasting your premiums. You're never ever
going to get a successful storm plan.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Yeah, I mean I see that, and I suppose. I
mean you think about a conditional offer, and I think, well,
in joe Burg, I'm sure you could do that. In
Cape Town, the person it's just going to take, you know,
in some parts of Cape Town we'll just take the
next offer that's not conditional. Because there's such a shortage
of property in some places.
Speaker 6 (49:07):
Absolutely so at Cape Town. I can totally see that
being a problem, and it has been worrying me. I've
been thinking about this. If you look at if you
look at listings for anything from a studio apartment to
your average home in Cape Town, you'll see under off,
under off of sold, sold, sold. I mean, it's just
absolutely crazy, huge shortage of stock and too many people
(49:29):
wanting to buy. And so I can imagine if you
said to the agent, well, I'm here's my offer, but
I'm making it conditional upon getting a check done first,
which is the wise advice.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
You'll lose out.
Speaker 6 (49:39):
It's a difficult one for me because I foresee, especially
in the Cape Town era, because of that, I foresee problems,
big problems with think about it, you can sell just
about anything so that you didn't know any of the
problems were there, and the desperate buyer who was like
the lucky one and inverted Commas, lands up with big
structural issues to deal with very expensively later.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
These inspections are are they expensive.
Speaker 2 (50:02):
Wendy, It's all relative.
Speaker 6 (50:06):
They're about fall to five thousand rand for the average
sized house, And you think of.
Speaker 2 (50:10):
What they're doing.
Speaker 6 (50:11):
They're checking getting in the roof, they're checking your plans,
they're checking the integrity of your boundary walls, checking to
see that was built according to regulation, all the things
that could trip you up later. So it might seem
like buying a house is so expensive, and now there's
this extra thing when you consider what is what's at stake.
I really think it's crazy, crazy, risky to not get
(50:33):
that check done before you sign on that dotted line
and commit.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
So yeah, it's.
Speaker 6 (50:40):
A difficult one, but I talk about it a lot because,
as I say, I get a lot of emails from
people who didn't and then really really live to regret it.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
I mean, was that other advice that.
Speaker 6 (50:54):
A few more things on this list was I made
sure the home had approved plans so that we can
properly ensure the home.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
He says, they didn't.
Speaker 6 (51:02):
Have the plans ready for him, so they're getting him
done now part of the sale. So I was like, yay,
so glad to hear that, because that would have been
a mistake if he hadn't known to do it. And
also how to avoid remember we talk about business economic
slorry business email compromised when you're paying your money over
to the convincing attorneys, and.
Speaker 2 (51:22):
Yeah, the brook jumps in the.
Speaker 6 (51:24):
Middle, intersects the email, puts their bank details there, and
you go and pay the CROC instead of the transferring attorneys.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
So he's done all those checks and tests.
Speaker 6 (51:35):
He did a test one hundred rand to see it
landed in the correct account. So I just wanted to
say thank you for all the lessons. There's still a
way to go and purchase purchasing the home bond approvals,
et cetera. But I feel a little bit more knowledgeable
going into the whole process and hopefully everything continues smoothly,
and I certainly hope so too. Yeah, as I say,
really gratify to get that.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yeah, I mean, I mean, I was just thinking about
how do you make sure you're paying it into the
right thing, And I was thinking, oh, I would take
my phone to the attorney's office and make them put
in the details.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
There's that.
Speaker 6 (52:08):
So I should add here that the other thing you
can and must do is most of the banks will
have a little if you look at when you go
to pay do ANYFT, you'll see a little thing that
says something like verification. It's really an expense of a
few rand. And so if you're paying to the name
of your transferring it to and you're the legal practice,
you can check that that actually is the practice's account
(52:29):
and if it's not a match, your bank will tell you.
So that's another way to find out. But I mean
at one hundred rand or ten rand, check is is
foolproof as well.
Speaker 1 (52:37):
Sumer Ninja Wendy Nola there sharing how we is The
Money Show ended up helping a loyal listener through the
hurdles of buying perhaps their biggest purchase, a new home.
You've been listening to the best bits of The Money Show.
A digest of some of the best conversations from the
show this week. If you'd like to hear more, please
go to our website, to your favorite podcast app and
search for The Money Show. Thanks for being with us
(52:57):
this week. We're back with The Money Show six o'clock
on Monday. Have a good week end.
Seven not you're listening to the best of The Money Show.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
The Money Show.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to the best Bits of the Money Show, a
digestive some of the most important thoughts, comments, insights, and
sometimes just the best jokes from The Money Show over
the last week. If you'd like to hear more, please
go to our website or your podcast s app and
just search for us The Money Show. Where's a good
idea to send it along to someone who you think
might benefit from one of the conversations as well. Might
(00:26):
be someone in your office you think actually really needs
to hear this conversation, or would just find it very
interesting To start. Some of the news stories that we
thought were important from the week. That was the Reserve
Bank keeping the reaper rate unchanged at six point seven
five percent. The prime lending rate, as long as it lasts,
also stays steady at ten and a quarter percent. Lots
(00:48):
of conversations, of course, around what is going to happen
in the future, particularly when you look at the stronger
rand and to an extent, a weeker dollar and a
weeker oil price. South Africa also considering imposing tariffs, perhaps
of up to fifty percent on vehicles from China and
India because so many cars from those countries are becoming
(01:08):
into South Africa. And this week the official launch of
the African Credit Rating Agencies in Johannesburg that wants to
have more transparent rating systems and to allow more collaboration
across African markets. Tonight, if we bring you a mixture
of stories from the world of money, from the week
that has been and how I make my money. This
week we spoke to nip Maketo Vandenbracht, the co founder
(01:32):
of Chocolate Tribe. They do high end animation and visual effects.
Her studio has created premium content for global giants night
like Netflix. She started out in Soweto and then became
a top lawyer. Here's no thank you.
Speaker 3 (01:46):
So much that you also find it, you know, a
wonderful story because as you know, I started off as
an attorney in practice and actually a high end law firm,
and in ty fourteen I decided to take a shot
left and go into the creative industry.
Speaker 1 (02:09):
So yeah, I mean you started. If I've understood your
history correctly, you actually grew up mostly in Soweto. Which
part of Soweto was that in deep.
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Clue fin Zone five, and yeah, a very vibrant childhood.
And I mean I grew up in the seventies eighties
and the hive of you know, a lot of fun,
tension and strife in our country. And yeah, when I
was ten years old, we left the country actually, and
(02:40):
so when I was eighteen, we came back and I
went to this. So for me, there's a very you know,
strong bond with Soweto and Johannesburg in particular. I remember
Joe Burck as you know, the City of Gold. Even
with all the sort of like tensions that were happening,
I always kind of view it as this, you know,
(03:01):
absolute amazing place if its potential is fully realized in
different ways.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
So yeah, no, sure, I mean there's something about the vibe.
I think that Cape Town frankly, and we're broadcasting Cape
Town as well tonight, of course. So I say this
as loudly as I can, that Cape Town after just
doesn't seem to have You didn't just stop with an LLB.
I mean you are passionate enough about law to do
a master's. I mean that's that's a lot of passion.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
A lot of passion. I mean I often tell people
the story that for me, there was a natural connection
between law and film or creativity. I mean, one of
my colleagues once said, you know, lawyers are failed actors,
you know, so I did. I actually went to the
College University of London to do a master's in law,
(03:51):
and while I was there, there was actually an elective
called Laws Moving Image, and it was really about how
you know, fail can move people and you know, can
change laws and can change people's minds and hearts. So
I think it was that moment when the tennt drops
that there's a possibility to kind of you know milians
(04:13):
or connect all my my my you know, aspirations and passions.
And I was also marriage to, or still a marriage
to a you know, an artist, so there was always
this deep love and kind of like fascination with the
artistic world. And so for me it was an easy
I don't want to call it a transition because I
(04:35):
feel like I still live in both worlds. I'm still
my company's lawyer and I you know, do all the
you know, contractual work and at the same time, you know,
feast on all the wonder and joy of being in
a very you know, vibrant creative space.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
So what do you do now as structor tribe And
I was trying to think of the best way to
explain it. But you do you make sort of parts
of movies. Would that be the right way to describe it?
You know the I don't know, do we still use
the phrase CGI or is that a little twentieth century
you sort of put together some of the really complicated
(05:14):
technical parts.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
True? True, I mean like that's that's a great, you
know explanation. I mean, we create assets to the service
of the story. The thing with us in the VFX
and even in the animation space, we really want to
create mesmerizing worlds and characters that push the story forward
(05:36):
and just to mess you know, audiences into that. I mean,
if you imagine the Avatars, the Lord of the Rings,
and I mean even regular stories. The point is how
can we capture your your mind and heart as we
tell the story. So the effects is really the art
(05:56):
and science of you know, capturing the audience in a
fantastical way, in a way that you know, imagination can
travel as far and as wide as possible.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
So yeah, I mean it is amazing how big that is.
Over the holiday season, for various reasons, I found myself
rewatching the Shrek series and enjoying them as much as
someone on the wrong side of fifty as my children were.
And look, we were all watching them again, we've all
seen them before. But there's something about animation. There's a
(06:30):
K Pop demon Hunters at the moment which is really
just caught the imaginations and I'm afraid to say the
playlists of so many people. It's really quite a powerful medium.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Absolutely absolutely, and I think for me why it's so powerful,
particularly at this time of our lives in South Africa
and in Africa, is the fact that, you know, for
the first time it feels that our stories really really match,
and the global stage is ready to hear them and
(07:04):
is open to, you know, getting to know us through
that that you know method of storytelling, and I mean
what it's done. As much as you might think you're
on the wrong side of fifty, I think all of
us are children, you know, and we should always embrace
that sense of wonder and that sense of you know, curiosity.
(07:26):
So I definitely think we are at a beautiful time
in terms of creativity, where there's an openness. It's no
longer seen as you know, like creativity was often seen
like this little sort of dirty secret. You couldn't really
openly come out and say you're an artist or a creative.
People just thought you were crazy and you didn't want
to actually take on a proper job and do what
(07:48):
everybody else was doing, which is being you know, grown
up in a sense. So I think we are at
a golden age of creativity. And what I would like
to actually see, especially from an African and aur Aftan perspective,
is us telling those mesmerizing stories, those stories that humanize us,
but that also allows us to fly and just explore
(08:14):
our imagination beyond stories of struggle and stories of you know, colonization.
Those stories matter absolutely and they're important for us to
tell them, but I think what's also important is for
us to be able to open up our aperture for
a fantastical method of storytelling.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
Yeah, so in a way, what happened in the past matters,
But our dreams matter too, and I don't know if
we spend dreams.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
It is and that's it, and that's really what for me,
animation and VFX is about. It's about you exploring those
recesses that have been closed off because a lot of
us grow in places where you know, it's bread and
butter issues, and that kind of you know, is reflected
(09:07):
on the kind of stories that we tell, and I
reiterate those stories do matter, but there should also be
a widening of our perspective and ability to explore and
go to, you know spaces. You always tell people that
the thing about animation and their sex is it allows
you to get into an intergalactical space, you know, spaces
(09:30):
that we never knew existed, and now we can create
those worlds. Now we can dream and we can actually
see them in reality. And that's really important for any
human imagination to be able to have that level of freedom.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
And so yeah, yeah, that just the transition. So you're
a lawyer, you've got a master's in law and your husband,
your partners working in the visual space in the great space.
Was it did it happen quickly? Was it was there
(10:04):
one conversation? Did it happen over six months? Was it
a period of a decade that made you actually change
direction in this way and and want to work with him?
Speaker 3 (10:14):
If I'm being one hundred percent, I never really thought
of working with Rob. I always thought, you know, quite
like his sort of Dutch background, very you know, formulaic,
and so for me, I was like, yeah, you know,
this is a little bit and at the same time
(10:34):
very creative. And so it was a series of conversation
and I think there was also a constellation of stars
in terms of where we were in our life as
a couple. We had just returned to South Africa and
we'd had our third child, and we were trying to
think how do we go beyond, you know, in terms
(10:56):
of our dreams and aspirations, and was transitioning in the
company that he was at, and I was going through
I guess some level of you know crisis in terms
of I wanted to be more than just a lawyer.
I absolutely love being a lawyer and what it's done
for me, and I'm very appreciative of all the people
(11:17):
along the way. However, I wanted something bigger, and so
we set for you know, months and months. I can
openly say there were nights and days where we ate
tinned fish and you know, because we were building this
thing together. So it was a series of conversations. It
was a lot of sweat and you know, discomfort because
(11:41):
we were not sure whether we were crazy or you know,
going to you know, do something that was amazing, so
we're very grateful that it has, twelve years later, materialized
into this wonderful community of artists. And you know, it's
also changed how you know, African the effects and animation
(12:05):
is seen. So yeah, I'm incredibly proud to be a
couple working together and having created an amazing things such
as a chocolate tribe. You see it as our fourth child.
Speaker 1 (12:18):
So yeah, all right, I've got so many questions about
how the industry has changed in those twelve years. Speaking too,
fanden BRACHTI founder of Chocolate Tribe Nacipor, You've been running
the studio for twelve years and the technology behind what
you do has changed immensely in that time. What's it
(12:39):
been like to sort of keep up because the image
that you can create, the imagination that you can give
life to, has changed dramatically, and you really do have
to be on a par with everyone else in the industry.
Speaker 3 (12:54):
Absolutely. I mean, I think right now the sort of
biggest and topical change is in relation to AI and
real time rendering. I mean we have to sort of
like trace it back to the fact that you know,
the streaming revolution that happened from like twenty twelve to
(13:20):
now has kind of you know catapulted you know, the
sort of like tastes of audience to from TV to
feature film and how we are able to create you know,
a lot more high end VFX because when it was
still TV, you know that there wasn't much of a
(13:43):
demand for high end VFX, and so the technique and
the you know, the sort of like requirements were of
a lower quality. But now because even episodics on the
likes of Netflix have to be of higher quality, that's
meant that there's a lot of investment in terms of
(14:05):
you know, the technical requirements, but also software and hardware.
And then the most sort of the greatest movement now
is in relation to AI and how do we render
images in real time and forto realistically so that when
(14:27):
you look at it, you know, you cannot tell which
is real and which is you know, created by AI
or even by you know, human hand. So I think
that's where we are. And as you know, this is
kind of like created a feriory of conversations from ethical
conversations to you know, employment and you know security and
(14:53):
all of that. So there's been a leap. I think
the film industry is one of those industries that are
often under mind in terms of innovation, and people don't
understand that there's such a great movement within a short
space of time that now even the likes of you know,
James Cameron, when they are filming something, they can actually
(15:15):
see the VFX live on their cameras. Whereas before you
would then film something, hand over the plates to the
post production team and they'd have to do what they
need to do from the VFX and editing. But now
there's like real time rendering where you see what's happening
almost you know, close to what the audience will be
(15:36):
seeing on screen.
Speaker 1 (15:37):
This is a strange question, but I mean we're probably
quite close to Niro where anyone with a big Apple
laptop can create a very very high quality animation movie
and sort of send it to Netflix. And that's fine,
but it kind of kills the industry. I mean, it's
it might be slightly different, I suppose, but musicians will
tell you that they make far less money now because
(15:59):
the Spotify doesn't work for them as much as it did,
And I mean does that worry you. I mean, for
a start, there's going to be a lot more high
quality content than there's ever been, and to kind of
stick out from that, it's going to be harder.
Speaker 3 (16:13):
Sure. I think the thing is that the industry has
been shifting for the past twenty years. Certainly those who've
been in the industry for a lot longer, you know,
speak of the glory days of the Effects, where you know,
there was a lot more budget and a lot more
kind of like investment in terms of craftsmanship. And I
(16:34):
think now there is We are definitely, you know, concerned
in the sense that how do we embrace change without
necessarily almost copying out because one of the biggest issues
that are really critical for us as chocolate tribe is
to empower and upscale the next generation. And how do
(16:57):
you upscale you know, a generation and that skill is
shifting itself, you know. So I think there is you know,
a I want to say, an unease with the first
placements of AI, But I think we are taking it
in our stride as a company and we are learning
(17:20):
how do you you know, manage this kind of change
and at the speed that it's happening. But for me,
I still think Stephen, nothing is going to beat the
sort of like human heart and soul that is poured
into a piece of art. I often also tell people
that when you and I make art, we are making
(17:41):
it for each other. It's a human conversation. So when
I'm looking at a Picasso, you know there was something
that Piicauso was saying in his art, and he's talking
to me. And you you know, he's not talking to
an inanimate object or an algorithm or a data set.
He's talking to another hum And so I think for me,
(18:02):
as much as you know, AI being a tool and
all the other different innovations, they are there to help
perfect spedite processes. But the human hand and the human
heart must be steeped in our art and in our experience.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
No Spermoketo fond Brachbe, co founder of Chocolate Tribe, just
taking you behind the scenes of some of what happens
in the animation space in South Africa.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
The Best of the Money Show one.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Two Personal Finance. This week weren Ingram the financial advisor
co founder of Galileo Capital, speaking about what you could
do in the final month of the tax here to
minimize what you have to give to SARS and to
maximize your finances. Outlining the steps you need to take
to boost your savings, make use of all of the
available deductions, and to improve your overall financial position ahead
(18:55):
of the tax deadline.
Speaker 4 (18:57):
Sorrs are not the most generous lot today of us
that pay income taxes, and so you're right, we don't
get a lot of tax breaks, and the few that
we do get, I'm suggesting we should do our very
best to maximize all the legal things that we can
to pay our dues, but not to pay access.
Speaker 1 (19:17):
Okay, I suppose we should start. I should have known
your start with retirement funds. And this is about how
you make the most from your tax with your retirement
fund contributions.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
So just to give a little bit of a little
bit of background here, we can contribute a certain amount
every year to our retirement fund, so whether it's a
company retirement fund like a provident fund, or your own
retirement in uity. And if you contribute up to a
maximum of twenty seven and a half percent of your
(19:51):
income or limited to three hundred and fifty thousand a
year for the big earners, you can get quite a
big tax break back from size for those contributions. So,
just to give you a simple example, if you earn
a salary that puts you in a forty one percent
tax bracket, and you decide that you haven't maximized your
(20:12):
retirement fund contribution and you top it up by ten
thousand rand now in the next month that you'll get
back around four one hundred from sorrow's in a tax saving.
So it's real the tax saving that we get from sorrow.
So making a contribution to your own retirement fund, in
other words, investing in your future for you gives you
(20:35):
quite a big tax saving now in the amount of
income tax that you would pay in this tax here.
So I think it's quite a big one that we
should maximize. And most people's contributions, they're not really maximizing
the amount that they can paint to their retirement funds.
And it's to me a little bit of a no
(20:56):
brainer something you really should be doing.
Speaker 1 (21:00):
You don't have to do this in advance. You can
you can do it sort of at the last minute
if you want one payment.
Speaker 4 (21:05):
Yeah, And and you know, especially for people who work
in the gig economy or you know, have very variable
earnings through the year, they might not want to do
it a monthly debit order. And so now just to
say you've got a month to go. And you know,
if you calculate what you've earned, whether it's been you know,
commission or salary or contract fees, interest or even rent,
(21:32):
you know, all all the things that that attract income tax,
it's worth working out what you've earned in the year
and and and then saying, you know it, does that
have I done the contributions to get to the point
of twenty seven and a half percent of that amount
of money? And if you haven't and you've got the
money available, then then you really should you should do
it now?
Speaker 1 (21:53):
Okay, you don't, can you overdo it? I mean you
need to be you need to actually do the maths
quite carefully to you.
Speaker 4 (22:01):
Uh yeah. So this is one of those things where
where people disagree with each other in my industry. So
if you over contribute to your retirement funds, you're not
going to get penalized and you know, and saras won't
fine you or rest you or do anything like that.
Uh and but but you're not going to get a
tax break immediately. What will happen is you will get
a benefit that's very delayed. So when you get your
(22:24):
retirement and you start drawing money from your your your
retirement investments. Then your over contributions will be will be
beneficial there you'll get an offset it. So some people
would just say, well, you know, don't worry about about
the benefit. Just go and contribute as much as you
can to your retirement funds and and then worry about
that tax benefit later. I think I'm maybe a bit conservative,
(22:47):
but I don't really want to over contribute during my lifetime.
I'm happy to do the maximum that Sorrows allows every
year and and and save save money for the rest.
Speaker 1 (22:55):
No, sure, that does make sense, all right. Medical expenses,
I mean lots of five about the medical aid tax
credit at the moment is I think there will be
for some time. And we're not talking about that, we're
actually talking about what you pay directly.
Speaker 4 (23:08):
Yeah, so so there there is. I mean, for people
who spend a lot of money on medical expenses, my
suggestion here is make sure that you've got all your
receipts and the expenses that you've paid for that haven't
been covered by your medical aid, because there is a
point when when you can actually start to claim those
(23:29):
expenses that are unpaid. Unfortunately, it's not for every cent
that you haven't been able to claim and and all
sorts of limits. But the bottom line for the next
month is to make sure you've got all your your
your slips and receipts, and you know, contact your medical
providers if you haven't, because you know they might not
keep everything by July when you start and start needing
to submit. So so get yourself ready now and be
(23:52):
prepared now.
Speaker 1 (23:54):
Okay, donations to public benefit organizations charities, NGOs, things like that,
what's the benefit there?
Speaker 4 (24:03):
Yeah, not many people know this, but you can donate
up to ten percent of your income, your taxable income
to register charity. So they have to be registered with
SARS as public benefit organizations and you get a tax
deduction for that. In other words, if you contribute, Let's
say you earn a million round a year and you
(24:25):
do your ten percent contribution, that will mean that one
hundred thousand round of which is your contribution, will be
deducted from the amount of income that you earn for
tax calculation purposes. In other words, SOS will say, Okay,
for the purposes of this calculation, although you earned a
million round, we're going to look at it as if
you've earned nine hundred thousand rund and then work out
(24:47):
the tax that you owe from that perspective. So the
reality here is you get a bit of a tax
break for doing something very good. And to me, you know,
there are people in a position who would like to
make donations to whether it's you know, animal shelters or
schools or you know, education funds, whatever it is that's
important to you, and and you know, use this time
(25:08):
now to make sure that those organizations are registered with
SARS and then take advantage of this opportunity to pay
but less tax and do you know, do good with
your money in a way that you want to do.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
I've always been interested in this because I kind of
sometimes wonder if SARS is going to crack down, if
other people are going to get it quite cynical about
public benefit organizations have In fact, that might change at
some point because it really does allow people to give
to their sort of pet causes rather than give the
money to government.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
In the end, I mean, I think the view is
that there are so many, you know, very good public
benefit organizations that do work that you know, that that
government simply cannot get to. And and so it would
be you know, I always think about some you know,
an organization a gift of the givers, you know, I mean,
look at what they do in towns and situation of
(26:00):
great distress. And you know, if SARUS, you know, doesn't
do what they can to help organizations like that deliver
good to to to the South African public, you know,
that would be a tragedy. So I really hope they don't.
I'm very happy that you know that SARUS does the
work to make sure that these are legitimate public benefit
organizations doing real work and not just you know, tax
(26:20):
avoidance schemes. But but yeah, I hope I hope that
that never happens, Stephen, that they're banos those deductions.
Speaker 1 (26:28):
All right, your travel logbook, and this is this is
about a car and and how you actually manage what
you can claim back.
Speaker 4 (26:36):
Yeah, so not everyone you know, gets gets travel allowances
or earns let's say, commission where where you can write
off the expense of of the of the journey that
you do every day for for work purposes. So so
just to be clear, this isn't about you know, traveling
to and from your office every day. If you're an
office worker earning a salary, this is not this is
(26:58):
not for you. But but for people who have all
two different places, you know, doing work and earning income
at that point that they can get a tax break.
And one of the things that people in this situation
often forget to do is make sure that their log
book is up to date. So you've you've got to
keep a record of every single trip, you know, the
mileage of that trip, and then take notes of what
(27:20):
your mileage on your car is at the end of February.
So so don't you don't wait until July and then
then go gee, I can't remember what the mileage was
in my car at the end of the month, and
and and you know, at the end of February rather
and then you find yourself scrambling. So so just again,
make sure your records are up to date now, because
the paperwork is important, and it is one of those
(27:41):
things that I think Sienz is looking at very closely.
And you know, every time people get audited, this is
one of the things that trips them up because they
haven't got proper records, and then those deductions for their
expenses around their car not allowed.
Speaker 1 (27:56):
One of the things I find interesting about the whole
log book issue for a car is there's quite a
lot of Even if you had a good electronic system,
and I'm sure someone somewhere has a kind of car
log book app thing for a phone that makes it
as easy as possible, you still have to remember to
do it each time. And obviously for some people you
travel quite a bit in your card really is worth it.
(28:18):
I'm sure there's some people who just think, ah, it's
really not worth the hack.
Speaker 4 (28:23):
Yeah, I wish, I wish, you know, Sorrus could find
a way to automate this, because it really is a hack.
And and again, you know, for people who are legitimately
traveling for work and incurring expenses and you know, dodging
potholes in joe Burg and you know, whatever the conditions
are and fires in the Western care but it's kind
of a hazardous thing being on the road trying to
(28:44):
earn a living. And so you know, this should be
one of the situations where where the technology I'm sure
is available, and if Sarrus could offer it to people
in that position, everyone's life would be easier.
Speaker 3 (28:54):
You know.
Speaker 4 (28:55):
It's just it's such a simple thing to kind of
get the taxpayer and the tax man aligned. I agree
with you, it should just be done.
Speaker 1 (29:04):
For some people they like to try and claim on
an office when they work from home. If you have
a home office, are you able to do that?
Speaker 4 (29:13):
You can just you know, for example, if it's your
primary residence, so it's the place where you live, and
you say, okay, I'm going to I'm going to dedicate
some space. I've got a you know, little office. You
know that that I'm now going to claim as a
home office. It's it's possible to do that, I think again,
you know that the documentation and the paperwork around this
(29:33):
is very important, and and and and are we getting
right to the limits of my tax knowledge, Stephen. But
what one of the things that's also going to happen
is that that portion of your property you will not
be treated as your primary residence when you then sell
it one day. And and why that's important is, you know,
if we've got our if we live in our home
and uh and we sell that home one day, you know,
(29:54):
if we've made a profit on on the sale of
that home, we do get a bit of a tax
break from SARS before we start paying for capital gains tax.
And so if you've now used up you know, a
third of the size of your home as a home office,
for example. Then then you might find that you're not
getting such a big tax break on the capital gains.
And and you know, if if you live in a
(30:14):
place where property prices are going up strongly, it could
be that that benefit that you got from your home
office doesn't outweigh the last now of that capital gains
tax break that you got on your primary residence. So
I would suggest someone in this position should do the
work just to you know, go and pay a tax consultant,
just to work, you know, walk it through with you
(30:36):
and make sure that you're making the right call before
you make a decision.
Speaker 1 (30:39):
Like this, So so much sort of put together ahead
of the tax. Yeah, your questions Warren Ingram, the co
founder of Galileo Capital A double one double A three
or seven two two one four four six o five
six seven, and of course voice notes on a seven
two seven O two one seven O two. We do
have a question tonight, and it goes like this, Hi,
(31:00):
I just got a new job with a decent salary increase.
At the moment, my expenses are matching my income, so
the increase would give me some breathing room. I don't
want to waste the increased money, but I would like
to buy some extras to improve my life a bit.
We all need a little bit of ice cream in life.
Warren for the Money Show Personal Finance with Warren Ingram.
(31:22):
Warren Ingram, of course, the co founder at Galileo Capital.
Some questions coming in for him, now them to put
them to you in a moment, Warren at first, a
question that came in earlier. I've got a new job
with a salary increase. My expenses are matching my income,
so the increase gives me some breathing room. I don't
want to waste the money, the extra money. I would
like to buy some extras to improve my life. Warren,
(31:42):
how do you sort of judge that? How do you
assess what you should do in that case?
Speaker 4 (31:47):
I mean, I think it's one of those things where
let's say your increase is ten percent, then by all
means allow your lifestyle costs to increase as well, but
don't let them increase by ten percent in line with
your your salary rise. Rather let your your lifestyle costs
go up by five percent, and that means that you
are saving half of that big you know, that big increase,
(32:10):
that you've got and and so what you're doing is
you're allowing your savings to grow at a faster rate
than your salary and or maybe than your expenses is growing.
So yes, you get to give yourself a bit of
a reward, but you don't fall subject to something called
salary creep where or lifestyle creep where where you just
you know, allow your expenses to grow as fast as
your income and then you never get to save enough.
(32:32):
Your goal here is save more as you can, and
a salary increases a great time to give yourself that
opportunity to to save for your future.
Speaker 1 (32:42):
Yeah, I mean, I've seen that where someone gets an
increase in salary and then they kind of strangely, you
get you're so used to the money you can't get
out of it, and actually your options become very limited.
Speaker 4 (32:52):
Yeah, you know, and as your expenses rise, you know,
along with your your income, it's very hard to adjust
yourself from from that new lifestyle back to the lifestyle
you had you know, one or two increases ago. So
the pain of going backwards is much worse than just
not going there. And so allowing yourself an extra little
bit of breathing rome is great and you should do that.
(33:15):
It is a reward for the hard work. But just
don't get used to that new lifestyle and then you
don't feel the pain.
Speaker 1 (33:21):
Carliso's got in touch with us tonight saying Hi, Warren,
I've certified, I think satisfied. She means with my contribution
to my RA and I also max my tax free
payment every year. I have the Discovery Vitality rewards between
one thy six hundred rand and two thousand rand every month,
and I'd like to deploy it effectively. My portfolio is
(33:41):
very poor in crypto. Should I add these funds to
my RA, my retirement annuity or to crypto? That's Carliso's question, Warren.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
So my view is like, I'm I understand investments, and
I understand you know how you can value shares and
you know property company and even government bonds, but but
I can't value crypto. So so for me at the moment,
it's one of those things that's evolving. I think it's
I still struggle to call it an investment. I think
it's still a speculation. So so rather go into the
(34:14):
retirement funds than than than the cryptos.
Speaker 1 (34:17):
Yeah, I mean it's so interesting because so many people
will go the other way, but actually some of it
is still very difficult to kind of know what's going
to happen. Mon Tomby asks any advice on a retirement plan.
I'm just going to quote this word for word, any
advice on a retirement plan that one can take on
the side, And how do I determine the correct amount
to add in line with the maximum allowance? Thanks? That's
(34:38):
from from MN Tomby Warren.
Speaker 4 (34:41):
Great question, Man Tomby. I think so the thing that
you do on the side, I'm assuming that means that
you've got a company retirement fund and you want to
do something extra on your on your own and and
for all of us that that would be a retirementenuity.
And and you can, you know, you can do almost
any size contribution to retire intinuity. So you can either
do a debit or or an annual lumpsum. And the
(35:02):
way to decide on what retirement annuity to choose look
for one that's you know, on a unitraust platform where
there's no upfront fees or exit penalties. And then when
you're trying to decide how much to contribute, workout what
your your pre tax salary is so if you earn
one hundred thousand around a year, then you know twenty
(35:22):
seven and a half percent of that is what your
maximum contribution to the retirement fund can be. So then
you can work out what you're currently contributing to your
company fund and you can then do the balance. If
there's a gap, you can do the balance into your
own ra and choose the investments that work for you.
Speaker 1 (35:38):
Warren Ingram there Financial Advice, a co founder of Galileo Capital,
sharing what you can do in the final month of
the tax yeah, to save you money.
Speaker 2 (35:48):
You are listening to the money shows the best Bids.
Speaker 1 (35:51):
Africa Business Focus this week doctor Rtinda and Dingui, the
founding director of Tribe Africa Advisory, looking at some of
the top business stories from across the continent, but also
exploring the major trends that are shaping markets in our
content and the shifts in regional economies. Eco charcoal, I
mean eco charcoal, Can there be such a thing. It's
a sort of cleaner, cheaper alternative to fire with. This
(36:14):
is in Cameroon.
Speaker 5 (36:15):
This is in Cameroon. So just to sort of define
eco charcoal, It's made up of agricultural waste, of fast
grained non native plant species. So like you summarize it, Stephen,
it's a combination of cleaner, cheaper and more affordable form
of coal. Why this is so key we know from
an Africa perspective, Stephen, the challenge we have is about
half of the African population that are six hundred million
(36:37):
people don't have access to energy, and those that do
because they use cheap fossil fuels like normal coal, it
actually contributes to health problems. The average rated the moment
of deaths one hundred thousand is one hundred and fifty
five people, which is quite higher and higher than the
world average. So the eco Chuckal solution, which is a
graining ya Wanda Cameroon, is allowing for this clean up
(37:01):
source of fuel to be able to be used. It's affordable,
it reduces deforestration, and from a strategic perspective in terms
of solving Africa's a health and energy problem. At the
same time, it's the right step forward and so it's
quite a good solution. In your one day is leading
in terms of pioneering this offering from a continental perspective.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
To make something like that work, you have to get
people on board. They have to agree to do it.
It often has to be the same price or cheaper,
otherwise it's not going to work.
Speaker 5 (37:29):
Yeah, and that's the you should be able to scale,
and not just from a social impact perspective, but from
an economic perspective. And that's where the whole dilemma happens
because obviously it's a combination that, say, from agricultural waste
a fast growing non native plant species. So the dynamic
around that, Steven, is in terms of the amount of
investment that you have to put in so to scale
is always the challenge, and you need to get key
(37:50):
investors and skill sets that are able to drive that.
So it's still a long way from selves solving Africa's problems,
but definitely a step in the right direction, Stephen.
Speaker 1 (37:59):
And then Jan has now got zero duty access to China.
I mean, this is interesting. We were talking about the
India EU deal earlier today. There's a lot going on
around trade at the moment. This will be important for Kenya.
Speaker 5 (38:10):
Yeah, so this is a sort of a reflection of
the global shakeup that's happening Stephen.
Speaker 1 (38:15):
Kenya.
Speaker 5 (38:15):
Remember that two things that's happened to Kenya. One is
that it was also impacted by the terraffs by the
US in terms of higher tariffs. But having say that
they got the lower bracket of terraffs, I think THEIRS
was about ten percent, and more importantly, they also got
impacted by gore and the reality with trade globally there's
never a vacuum, so Kenya was forced to look at
other options. Kiya has always been quite good in terms
(38:37):
of positioning themselves. So remember last year, the early last
year they broke at a deal with thirty EU countries
to send pre manufactured goods across to the EU. From
an agri perspective, and what they've been able to still
to be ratified by Parliament, but they'll be able to
secure a deal with China to get zero percent rated
tariffs with regards to them sporting into China, which is
(39:01):
a big thing and the key products around agriproducts. So
for from a Kinga perspective, and I think from an
Africa perspective, it says the right tone because we've always
had the challenge of exporting and not being competitive in
the markets to export to. So with zero tariffs and
if this works out, it'll be a key step up
for Quina in terms of going in the Asian market.
Speaker 1 (39:20):
I was amazed when the story broke because I found
it fascinating. So we got on the one side, fetch
the global ratings agency. We everyone takes them very seriously
and AFROCSM Bank and Affraction Bank has basically said, we're
no longer going to be a part of you. We
do not accept your credit ratings.
Speaker 5 (39:39):
Like wow, that sounds quite familiar. I think somebody else
has been saying that in other parts of the world.
But on a more serious snort. I think from the
positive side, it's good. Affrics and Bank has kind of
stood up well. They've highlighted that they've got to last
year a triple B I'm saying a triple B rating,
which put them in the negative outlook, and they've said,
(39:59):
based on the member states and as well as how
they define the methodology of FISH, they believe that it
was an unfair rating. So they've said it's no longer
relevant in terms of their strategy, and it's as a
as a multilateral institution from an African perspective, it's totural
in their right in terms of saying that. So they've
stepped out and said were no longer I'm going to
use the future rating. I think the risk there, Steve,
(40:20):
is that when you have key associations or entities like Fish,
which are obviously which way from a global perspective, and
you step away from them, then the question is who's
going to set the right standard from a global perspective,
and so that's where the risk is. So I think
with where the world is going, where the question in
multi literism, where people are standing out and saying yes
to this and not that it does create a bit
(40:42):
of a risk in terms of how long is a
piece of string in terms of defining who's got the
right standard and who do we follow, because we still
need some sort of a global standard. In the case
of AFRICS and Bank, they've said no to FICH the
other they're obviously other rating agency that people can follow.
But it'll be interesting to see how this plays out
in terms of some of the concerns that AFRICS and
Bank have reached out on and how that will shape
(41:05):
future discussions are outrated on the African continent.
Speaker 1 (41:08):
It's also no use if you're the only one if
other countries say to Fish's like actually no, And it
would really help if an institution another part of the
world did it. But if it's just one in Africa,
or if it's just Africa, it doesn't really help.
Speaker 5 (41:22):
It doesn't really help. And remember Africa is only three
percent of global GDP. Even if you look at VC
funding for take start ups on Africa, we only attract
three percent. And the ratings by feature some of the
things that global players of investors look at. So when
you stand out and you say we're not going to
use them, the guys kind of say, look, you're already
high risk. Now one of the measure in lines that
(41:43):
is used to measure your success you said no to.
So where do we stand. So again, on one side,
it's positive, but it does create a risk with regards
to grain forward in the perception in terms of that
part of the world.
Speaker 1 (41:55):
It's a fascinating story and history to Somali land. Most
countries don't see it as a nation. South Africa doesn't
recognize it. Israel did controversially and that was about something else,
I think. But then it seems that they were at
the World Economic Forum and they had dinner with Eric.
Speaker 5 (42:13):
Trump, hey, the son of Donald Trump. So a chip
off the old block to put it lightly, but as
well well away. Somalia Land has been for a number
of years, I think over sixteen years, Stephen, they've been saying, look,
we want to be separate from Somalia. One of the
key assets that Somalia Land has is the port of Barbera, Yeah,
which is which is the key obviously faces the Indian Ocean.
(42:36):
And recently I think two months ago, you know, Israel
as well as supported by Americans, but obviously Americans and
endorsed it. But Israel is the only country in the
UN that has actually stood out and say that they
will recognize Somalia Land. So apparently there was a dinner
it with and the president of Somalia Lan President Mohammad,
(43:00):
and I present hazeg from Israel as also they they
did a pitch to Erictop. Apparently that was the presentation
that happened. What came out of it, nothing has been confirmed,
was any deal confirmed. Nothing, So it was sort of
a pitch where nobody knows really what happened. What was pitch?
Nobody really knows. But from a WAVEE perspective, there was
a good dinner that was had. So again another great
(43:22):
interest is storing to follow through because obviously from an
au perspective, they've made it quite clear they don't recognize
so many land. But again with global politics happening and
America wigning. Also on the Ethiopian Egypt debacle, which is
quite close to so many eland, you never know what happened.
So it's another thing to keep an eye on.
Speaker 1 (43:41):
Two important people are in a room and then where
you'd really want to feel sick if you're in Africa,
which cities have access to the best health services?
Speaker 5 (43:53):
Now, an interesting report from the Africa Report where they
surveyed forty one cities in Africa and they looked at
about eight thousand health institutions, and the criteria was really around,
you know, the staffing levels, primary health care, institutional stability,
and the five top performing countries in terms of health conditions.
(44:14):
And that's for you or Bridge also learn espec you
do fall thick in Africa where you must fall seeking.
The first city that came up tops in terms of
great health facilities was Kigali.
Speaker 1 (44:24):
Noturt, not Joburt.
Speaker 5 (44:26):
Pretoria was number four. The Pretoria pre Pretoria was number four,
and so so South Africa was there. Number three was
tunis in Tunisia, number four Pretoria and number five our
surprise was caught to know in Benin. So those are
the top five again and funny enough for Wanda. One
(44:47):
of the key drivers of them coming up to the
top was there health insurance scheme which was which is
named mutualis disanti moving to say it properly because it
sounds very French, but has actually been dorsed by the
World Health Organization of the World. Capital was number ten.
I think Joeberg was slightly below came but it was
interesting again just in terms of a third party doing
(45:08):
an external survey and just highlighted some of the key
countries that are doing the right thing in terms of
their health strategy from an African perspective.
Speaker 1 (45:16):
Doctor Rutendo and Dingui there the founding director of Tribe
Africa Advisory, looking at the top business stories from across
our continent. Seven notes The best of the Money Show
from this week. I consume an injur of this week
Wendy Knoeler explaining how The Money Show actually helped a
loyal listener navigate the challenges of buying their home.
Speaker 6 (45:38):
It's always gratifying when you get feedback like this. It's
very seldom actually you put advice out and you think, well,
maybe that'll help someone, but you're never quite sure. So yeah,
I got an email from Matthew earlier in the week
and it began. I listened to your segment on The
Money Show every week the podcast, and I just wanted
(45:59):
to say thank you. My wife and I are buying
our first home together and thanks to you, I knew
how to Then he goes on to list all the
precautions that he took. So I thought it was worth
sharing because it's quite good key advice on.
Speaker 2 (46:18):
How to go about buying the house.
Speaker 1 (46:20):
What was on his list, because I mean, he would
have taken some time to put it together, and it's
obvious stuff. It's not stuff that's always obvious.
Speaker 2 (46:28):
Okay, Yeah, So I found it really interesting. He said.
Speaker 6 (46:31):
He first got Inspector Home. That's one of these professional
property inspection companies. There are others. House Check is another one.
I think that's the biggest one in the country, but
there are many. They got Inspector Home out to check
that the home that they were buying was sound. He says.
It's an old home built one hundred years ago in Parktown,
North So this was crucial, he says, because he has
(46:51):
the thing. According to John Graham, who's the head of
house Check, one of which is one of the one
of these companies, only between three and five percent of
homeowners do this on average. I don't know about us even,
but I found that horrifying statistic given and probably because
I get the emails from people who weren't told that
there was damp or you know, a dodgy roof and
(47:14):
found out the hard expensive way later. So so yeah,
for me, it's a no brain And I was so
so many, so few people do it that when not
Matthew told me about it, I was like, oh, that's
that made by day.
Speaker 2 (47:27):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (47:28):
And the main issues, I mean, there are obviously so
many things that can happen with the house, it's such
a purchase.
Speaker 2 (47:34):
The main ones are no plans or.
Speaker 6 (47:37):
An extension done in addition done no plans, and that's
a big issue. Roof poorly constructed or badly maintained or both,
non compliant, installation of geezers and damp it is a
huge one have in many of those cases. And then
walls and roots are not built to building regulation standards
and also boundary walls, and this of course is a
(48:00):
big issue. If you have an insurance plan. Is a
big storm, it's your area of the roof avison or
the wall falls down, and then your insurer comes back
and it's a huge reason for rejections that come back
and say, oh, but urs says, the wall wasn't built
according to regulations and that's why it felt down, and
the storm is just a contributing factor. So yeah. The
(48:21):
Graham of house Check says no one should put an
offer to purchase without making it a conditional upon a
satisfactory home inspection. Well, of course you would, that's his business.
But I completely agree that it is crazy to do that.
But if you didn't think of it before you bought
the house and moved, and you should absolutely do it
(48:41):
now to for that insurance reason, right, and to make
sure that you're not sitting with a problem that means
you're going to be wasting your premiums. You're never ever
going to get a successful storm plan.
Speaker 1 (48:52):
Yeah, I mean I see that, and I suppose. I
mean you think about a conditional offer, and I think, well,
in joe Burg, I'm sure you could do that. In
Cape Town, the person it's just going to take, you know,
in some parts of Cape Town we'll just take the
next offer that's not conditional. Because there's such a shortage
of property in some places.
Speaker 6 (49:07):
Absolutely so at Cape Town. I can totally see that
being a problem, and it has been worrying me. I've
been thinking about this. If you look at if you
look at listings for anything from a studio apartment to
your average home in Cape Town, you'll see under off,
under off of sold, sold, sold. I mean, it's just
absolutely crazy, huge shortage of stock and too many people
(49:29):
wanting to buy. And so I can imagine if you
said to the agent, well, I'm here's my offer, but
I'm making it conditional upon getting a check done first,
which is the wise advice.
Speaker 2 (49:38):
You'll lose out.
Speaker 6 (49:39):
It's a difficult one for me because I foresee, especially
in the Cape Town era, because of that, I foresee problems,
big problems with think about it, you can sell just
about anything so that you didn't know any of the
problems were there, and the desperate buyer who was like
the lucky one and inverted Commas, lands up with big
structural issues to deal with very expensively later.
Speaker 1 (50:00):
These inspections are are they expensive.
Speaker 2 (50:02):
Wendy, It's all relative.
Speaker 6 (50:06):
They're about fall to five thousand rand for the average
sized house, And you think of.
Speaker 2 (50:10):
What they're doing.
Speaker 6 (50:11):
They're checking getting in the roof, they're checking your plans,
they're checking the integrity of your boundary walls, checking to
see that was built according to regulation, all the things
that could trip you up later. So it might seem
like buying a house is so expensive, and now there's
this extra thing when you consider what is what's at stake.
I really think it's crazy, crazy, risky to not get
(50:33):
that check done before you sign on that dotted line
and commit.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
So yeah, it's.
Speaker 6 (50:40):
A difficult one, but I talk about it a lot because,
as I say, I get a lot of emails from
people who didn't and then really really live to regret it.
Speaker 1 (50:50):
I mean, was that other advice that.
Speaker 6 (50:54):
A few more things on this list was I made
sure the home had approved plans so that we can
properly ensure the home.
Speaker 2 (51:00):
He says, they didn't.
Speaker 6 (51:02):
Have the plans ready for him, so they're getting him
done now part of the sale. So I was like, yay,
so glad to hear that, because that would have been
a mistake if he hadn't known to do it. And
also how to avoid remember we talk about business economic
slorry business email compromised when you're paying your money over
to the convincing attorneys, and.
Speaker 2 (51:22):
Yeah, the brook jumps in the.
Speaker 6 (51:24):
Middle, intersects the email, puts their bank details there, and
you go and pay the CROC instead of the transferring attorneys.
Speaker 2 (51:32):
So he's done all those checks and tests.
Speaker 6 (51:35):
He did a test one hundred rand to see it
landed in the correct account. So I just wanted to
say thank you for all the lessons. There's still a
way to go and purchase purchasing the home bond approvals,
et cetera. But I feel a little bit more knowledgeable
going into the whole process and hopefully everything continues smoothly,
and I certainly hope so too. Yeah, as I say,
really gratify to get that.
Speaker 1 (51:57):
Yeah, I mean, I mean, I was just thinking about
how do you make sure you're paying it into the
right thing, And I was thinking, oh, I would take
my phone to the attorney's office and make them put
in the details.
Speaker 2 (52:06):
There's that.
Speaker 6 (52:08):
So I should add here that the other thing you
can and must do is most of the banks will
have a little if you look at when you go
to pay do ANYFT, you'll see a little thing that
says something like verification. It's really an expense of a
few rand. And so if you're paying to the name
of your transferring it to and you're the legal practice,
you can check that that actually is the practice's account
(52:29):
and if it's not a match, your bank will tell you.
So that's another way to find out. But I mean
at one hundred rand or ten rand, check is is
foolproof as well.
Speaker 1 (52:37):
Sumer Ninja Wendy Nola there sharing how we is The
Money Show ended up helping a loyal listener through the
hurdles of buying perhaps their biggest purchase, a new home.
You've been listening to the best bits of The Money Show.
A digest of some of the best conversations from the
show this week. If you'd like to hear more, please
go to our website, to your favorite podcast app and
search for The Money Show. Thanks for being with us
(52:57):
this week. We're back with The Money Show six o'clock
on Monday. Have a good week end.
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