8 Easy ways to help you save R500p.m. for next year's vacation

Apart from losing weight and spending more time with the family, one popular resolution for many is to save more money. We think that while putting money away is a good idea, saving money with a particular goal in mind might be a better one.

And of all the things occupying your thoughts at the moment, that recent vacation, or lack thereof, might hold the key difference to a string of wishful thinking and getting at least one new years resolution right.

The primary idea is to help you save R500 per month on your general day-to-day spending, which will enable you to build a vacation fund. Our aim (as always) is to gain everything by doing (almost) nothing. In other words, it is possible to painstakingly pinch a penny here and there, but why not rather try and make small changes that will result in big savings.

Here are our suggestions.

Tip 1: Buy in quarters
We all know that meat is very expensive. Many of us are in the (bad) habit of buying our monthly meat at the Spar or PicknPay, or on a weekly basis at the our favorite butcher. But we all are to familiar with that rush every Saturday to buy steak, wors and biltong before the rugby match and braai.

Herman from Braai-in-Style Butchery, Centurion (012 663 7113) recommend buying a hind quarter for R2 030, (around 55-60kg) that will last two people between three and six months. That is a lot of mince, wors, T-bone, steak or whatever your specific need are. Should you buy that meat individually, you could end up paying as much as R4 800 so a similar quantity.

Tip 2: Make your own biltong
For R600 you can buy 13kg of biltong meat (they say you need Silverside) at Rudesheim Meat, Centurion (012 653 5956). That is around 9kg of dry biltong worth R1 350 which is a saving of R750. Your own biltong costs R66/kg in lieu of R150/kg and includes free bragging rights.

Tip 3: Redefine your shopping list: compare brands
We understand that comparing individual prices between retailers takes a committed effort and there is guarantee that you will actually save money on your bottom line. Comparing brands however, is quick, easy and have a lasting savings effect on your monthly expenses. We found PicknPay online ( www.pnponline.co.za) especially useful.

We choose to compare canned dog food. Did you know that Huskey is almost 100% more expensive than Boss? You will not know whether there is a difference until you have asked your dog, but if he gets that treat once a week, you will save R480 per year, just by changing brands.

Do that with a few other brands and you will end up saving more than you have bargained for.

Tip 4: Buy generic brands at Shoprite, Dischem and Fruit and Veg City 
This is a slight inconvenience, but doing it once a month and changing your habits to buy certain goods at certain stores will also save you money. Buy generic goods like your household cleaning products (Mr. MIN, Sunlight liquid etc) at Shoprite. No one will know whether your bought it Shoprite or Woolies, but you will save! I have further found that almost everything at Dischem is cheaper than any other stores and who does not know that Fruit and Veg offer good value for money?  

Tip 5: Re-price your short-term insurance
That is easy. Print out your insurance schedule, fax it to a couple of companies and wait for a call. If they offer to save you say R150 per month on your insurance, you just fax that quote to you existing insurance, and tell them to either re-price your insurance or say goodbye to your support.

The chance are very good that you might save R100 per month without even moving to a different insurance company. (Because that IS schlep)

Tip 6: Replace expensive life insurance
Over-the-phone life insurance (like Clientele) is more (much more!) expensive than insurance underwritten by medical examination and blood tests. It is a given that the life insurance premium on your outstanding home loan offered by the bank is more expensive than insurance medically underwritten. Also watch out for insurance added to your clothing account.

Tip 7: Eating-in is more fun
Not only is eating-in more fun with you own concoction of escargots (see recipe here) but restaurants always over-charge for drinks. Say eating out consist of two beers (R30), two glasses of white wine (R30), a bottle of red wine (R110) and two coffees, (R24) the drinks alone is R194 per evening. And you have to then take your chances on the road. Drinking exactly the same at home will reduce the bill to R68 per night. That's a saving of R126.

Impressing your better-half is very easy these days with PicknPay Recipes. You simply click on what you want to eat, say beef, and they provide you with mouth watering recipes, estimated cooking times, serving suggestions and automated shopping list with all the required ingredients mailed to your inbox. I suppose you have to clean up afterwards, but just think of your reward after such a romantic dinner...

Eat-out less and if you do decide to paint the town red, take your own wine and pay the corkage fee.

Tip 8: Go to the movies on Tuesday
That is easy. Movies are half-price (R25) at Ster Kinekor Classic Cinema's on Tuesday. If you see two movies per month, then you will save R600 per year just by switching to Tuesdays.

Stick to the plan by signing a debit order 
By committing yourself to a regular deduction of R500, you will remind yourself each month to keep up the good work and by this time next year, when everyone is depressed by the thought of going back to work, you will be able to take advantage of the special travel offers. R 8 596 for 7 Nights in Mauritius for example.

While everybody at work is scrambling to survive until month-end, you will be saying... ta-ta!

The only trouble is...how to you get you partner to join? : -)

Ciao!

Other suggestions on how to save money and your valued feedback can be sent to jaco@amedco.co.za

MISDAAD IN CENTURION

Ek is seker enige Suid-Afrikaner sal jou ure lank kan besig hou met staaltjies en stories van misdaad. In Afrika is dit omtrent so algemeen soos biltong en rugby. Verder sal ek bieg, was ek redelik vas oortuig dat meeste van die misdaad deur arm uitlanders en Nigeriese mafia-sindikate gepleeg word.

Hierdie week is ek egter stomgeslaan om vas te stel dat twee wit manne in alle waarskynlikheid sal kan help met die oplos van twee huisbrake in ons kompleks.

Ons CCTV wys duidelik hoe 'n BMW M3 om 10:42 by ons kompleks inry, nadat 'n inwoner uitgery het. Veertig minute later, ry die BMW weer uit by die hek, nadat hulle die opsigter se vrou vra om vir hulle oop te maak.

Net na 12:00 kom Tania by die huis en die plek is besteel.

Wat vir ons egter snaaks is, is die man (sien foto) wat kom rondstaan by die hek terwyl die BMW in die komplek is.



Waarom staan hy so rond? (Een ou meen hy is 'n plaveisel inspekteur :-) En die man hoef mos nie so sku te wees vir die kamera nie? En dan (lyk dit my) dink hy dink dit begin reen, want hy sit sy kappie op. Of was dit dalk die son?

Hierdie is die tipe vrae wat die Polisie graag aan die man sal wil stel. Hulle dink hy is net die regte persoon om mee te gesels omdat hy presies die tyd van die diefstal daar kom rondkrap het. Die probleem is egter, hy bly nie in ons kompleks nie, en niemand ken hom nie - maar wee o wee die weduwee - gelukkig is daar die internet.

Ons wend ons dus tot die w.w.w. en het die 60 sekonde CCTV video op YouTube gepubliseer in die hoop dat hy homself sal raaksien en straks die polisie bel, of dat sy ma vir hom kan se iemand soek hom.

Hoe dit ook al sy, daar is by twee huise ingebreek. 'n Beide gevalle is net die LCD TV's, Playstations en Laptops gesteel. In beide gevalle (het ons toe nou daardie aand agtergekom) het ons duur luidsprekers en klanktoerusting by dieslefde winkel in die Centurion Mall gekoop.

Nou hoe op aarde gebeur dit?

Ons werk hard aan hierdie probleem, en sal almal op hoogte hou van sake. Ons vra egter dat jy die e-pos sal aanstuur vir jou vriende in Gauteng, want ek twyfel of die perd van Zimbabwe is.

Groete

Jaco

*Naskirf: Moet nou nie probeer om die kerels self vas te trek nie, Suid-Afrika is 'n gevaarlike plek. Bel vir speurder Selolo op 083 694 3908 of Lyttelton Polisie op 012 644 8600. Ons verwysingsnommer is CAS 324/7/2010.

Net 'n laaste woord van waardering aan die SAP manne. Hulle was binne een uur hier, twee uur later die speurder gestuur, en die volgende dag die meisie van die vinger- afdrukke. Soos dinge nou loop, staan die saak vinnig einde se kant toe.

Documentary of Warren Buffet

You all know that I am a big fan of Mr. Warren Buffet. He’s investment rules are simple to understand but nevertheless tough to follow. Many however, would not read through the 900 odd pages of his biography, ‘The Snowball: Warren Buffet and the business of life’ written by Alice Schroeder.

Fortunate there is now is an effortless option. Evan Davis of the BBC has produced a short film  based of the world’s most successful investor. The first of this six part series is on our facebook fanpage. It features the down-to-earth world of billionaire Buffet. Whether you have never heard of the man or have read all he’s annual reports, this documentary will give you an unique insight into he’s life. It’s an entertaining as well as educational tour of the principles of successful investing.

I have also took the liberty to load the second instalment of the film on the Amedco fan page who features Mr. Charlie Munger, Warren’s long time partner.

Enjoy! 

PS: Remember to become a facebook supporter of Amedco to ensure you receive all the most interesting things regarding financial matters.   

Warren Buffet's 2010 Letter to Shareholders

This is one of the "must read's" of the year.

The Annual Letter to Shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway written by Warren Buffet. 

The 2010 letter was just released and if you have never treated yourself to this well written and easy to understand annual report by the world's now 3rd wealthiest individual, is the time.

It is 19 pages, with financial stuff here and there but worth the hour spent.

Read it here

The World's Richest, and it's not Bill

An interesting week if you had your eye on being the wealthiest person in the world. Only for the 2nd time since 1995, Bill Gates is not at the top of the annual Forbes' list of richest , released this morning.

Carlos Slim, Mexican telecoms tycoon came in at number one. He's net worth is a staggering $53.5 billion.

Bill is not that far behind at $53 billion. Only $500 million separates him and the first non-American to top the list since 1994.

All could change with a 3.4% increase in Microsoft's share price. But who keeps score?

Warren Buffet is in 3rd place with a net asset value of $47 billion. To put this in perspective: The South African Government collected $88.5 billion in the previous fiscal year.

Some interesting facts on this year's list:

It is all about the return

Until we delisted from the find an advisor website, we were annoyed with phone calls from asset managers nearly every week. Excluding the Namibian funds, an investor have close to 700 funds to choose from, according to Morningstar.

The list is available on the Amedco website.

Each fund on the Morningstar list have their year-to-date, 1 month, 3 months, 6 months, 12 months, two year, three years, five years, seven years and ten years respective return published.

Who will be in Majorca?

This week I received two warnings. The first from Chubb Security Services, advising me not to flash at vehicles with no headlights. It might be a gang who will turn around and kill me. The other (if I can recall) from homeland security, advising me not to open Michael Jackson e-mail as it may be a computer virus.

These e-mails are well intended, sent by concerned friends. The odds of occurrence? Relatively low.

Today, I am issuing a warning. One that I hope you will forward to your friends, as this may probably be the longest running scam in South Africa. It is called Term Policies.

Dear Mr. Jacob Zuma

Did you notice that The President of the United States happens to be a black guy?

That is right. I am playing the race card in the first sentence of this open letter to you and now that it's out of the way, I can get right to the crux of the matter, hopefully, without being labelled a racist.

Spaar: 'n Riemtelegraaf

As dit nie vir Allan Gray was nie, het ek ook nie geweet dat Julie Spaar-maand in Suid-Afrika is nie. Blykbaar, is daar ook iets soos die Suid Afrikaanse Spaar Instituut. Dit is egter te verstane dat die Oktoberfest meer betekenis het as Bewahrenzeit as jy na die syfers kyk.

Suid-Afrika Spaar Nie

In 'n onlangse uitgawe van GrayIssue, skryf Rob Formby van Allan Gray Bate Bestuurders dat die spaarkoers van die land op 'n all-time low is.

Hoe meer verdien word, hoe minder gespaar word.

The Greater Depression

What new research is showing us

This week I received an interesting e-mail from Chris Botha of Stanlib Asset Managers. It was an astonishing chart that compare the World Industrial Output between the Great Depression of 1929 and our current state of affairs that started in April 2008.

I simply could not believe the similarities and set out to search for the source.

The authors of this chart turns out to be Barry Eichengreen, Professor of Economics and Political Science at the University of California (also a senior policy adviser at the IMF) and Kevin H. O'Rourke, Professor of Economics at the Trinity College in Dublin.

The Hot Hand Fallacy

And how asset managers may mislead you.

Can you predict on which side the coin will fall looking at the following sequence: Heads (H) or Tails (T)

HHH TTT HHH TT?

or

HTH TTH THH TH?

Most people may erroneously believe that the coin in the first sequence will land on tails. This is a very wrong assumption. The fact is that it appears as a sequence, but is actually just as random as the second sequence. Even more important is to realise that most people will perceive casual regularity of this sort as ‘n sequence of events.

Less (hindsight) is more (profit)

This is the third article in our series on Investor Psychology. It is loosely based on research done by Daniel Kahneman (Ph.D) who published "Aspects on Investor Psychology" in 1998 as well as other interesting finds on the subject.

It is well documented that people can rarely reconstruct what they thought was going to happen just before the event occurred. Most people exaggerate their earlier estimate of the probability that an event may occur. This manifestation is called hindsight biases.

It's all in the mind - part II

Optimism

In the previous post I wrote about overconfidence. Another aspect that influences investor behavior, and closely related to overconfidence, is optimism.

How good driver are you compared to others on the road?

The research by Kahneman (Aspects of Investor Psychology by Daniel Kahneman, PhD) and other articles I found on the Internet, suggests an overwhelmingly percentage (80%) of people believe that their driving skills are above average. Although I could not find any statistics on driver abilities (I conclude that it must be very difficult to measure), you have to agree that this is a typical illustration of optimism.

Quote of the year

“Bob has been smart to shop his situation around to several planners, ... Yet in doing so, he has become further confused in realizing that financial planning is more an art than a science.” Marc Freedman

Wanneer laas was jy in Durban?

Ek was 10 jaar laas in Durban. As ek Natal toe kom, haas ek my na die huurmotor en jaag verwoed na 'n beskaafde plek soos Umhlanga

Toe iemand my so paar jaar gelede se dat hy 'n woonstel in Durban gekoop het, het ek byna in my bier verstik.

Die enigste beeld wat ek van Durban gesien het, is jaar-na-jaar op die 8uur nuus van 1 Januarie.
Dan wys die TV gewoonlik hoe daar triljoene op Durban se hoofstrand toesak en byna die see-homself verstop.

Wat is 'n wereld-inkomste?

Ek het nog altyd gewonder wat is die inkomste van burgers in eerste wereld lande.

Die burgers van lande in Europa en die VSA het tog 'n lekker lewe! Een van die opvallendste dinge wat ek in die buiteland opgemerk het is die tydperk wat verloop tussen sogenaamde "refurbishment" van geboue.

Niks word toegelaat op oud te word nie! (behalwe die gebou wat reeds oud is). Ek het baie gesien hoe hulle lugversorgers, meubels en rekenaars vervang met beter infrastruktuur, plasma skerms en dies meer. In Suid-Afrika sal jy mos nie sommer jou matte elke 4 jaar vervang nie.

Of sal jy?

Alles hang af van jou inkomste. Time Magazine het onlangs 'n studie gepubliseer van die gemidelde Amerikaner.

Daarvolgens, verdien 50% van alle Amerikaners minder as R220 000 per jaar.

90% Van Amerikaners maak minder as R733 000 per jaar (ek neem aan voor belasting).

Dit beteken, om dit baie eenvoudig te stel, dat as jou inkomste meer is as R733 000 per jaar, jy jouself kan ag as 'n ware wereld burger!

Laat ons dadelik aan die werk spring!

Die ongemaklike waarheid

Ek kan nie glo dat daar iets is soos eerlike politici nie, maar dit lyk my Al Gore, die Amerikaanse Demokraat, wil aanspraak maak op die status.

Hy speel die hoofrol in 'n film oor aardverwarming: An Inconvenient Truth.

Dit wys tans by die Cinema Nouveau in Brooklyn.

Gaan kyk dit!

Ek dink almal moet weet wat die mens besig is om aan te vang met Die Planeet. Die film het 'n lekker tempo en genoeg humor om aanklank te vind by meeste mense.

Dit is maklik die beste film vir 2006.

Sien die voorskou op http://www.climatecrisis.net/