What needs to be insured in your Small Business

In order to ensure your small business insurance covers all the major aspects of your company here are a few things to make sure you are covered for:

• Buildings
• Natural Disasters
• Loss of Income
• Business Personal Property- Tables, chairs, Stationary

A small business is more than the sum of its supplies, the people that make up the company itself need to also be covered by your small business insurance plan. This is called liability insurance and it covers the following aspects:

• Personal Injuries
• General Liability
• Insurance cover for Negligence

A policy that is correctly structured will cover all aspects of your business and prevent you from being stranded without a lifeline should circumstances move against you.

Get your small business insurance today and make sure it is a policy that is all encompassing.

Find Out Which Bank Charges What in SA

• Your banking needs differ to everyone else’s making your banking wishes and requirements unique.
• Look for a bank that will charge you fees that will suit your individual specifications and  requirements best.
• Consider an account with a fixed monthly fee is you or your business performs more transactions than the average person or business.
• Changing banks is not difficult, and could benefit you if your bank charges are exorbitant.

Trade Union, Solidarity, compared costs of running personal banking accounts from various banking institutions.

• Absa charges the highest rates for their services.
• Standard Bank is a close second.
• Capitec charges the lowest rates; an average charge of R67, 35 is charged.
• Standard Bank charges an average of R133, 43.
• Nedbank’s average rates are R105, 04 and rose by 4, 3 % in 2011.
• The second least expensive bank is FNB which charges R73, 10 a month with an increase of 5, 1 % increase in 2011.

All these figures are rates charged in 2011, and could have had a price hike in 2012. It would therefore be advisable to contact the relevant banks to find out what is being charged at present this year.

If You Immigrate Before Your Annuity Matures

• The full fund value can be paid out if someone immigrates before the retirement annuity matures.
• This is usually at the age of 55.
• This could also be before the age of 55, all depending what the retirement annuity stipulates.
• If no tax benefits have been received the first R22 500 is tax-free; this is only in the instance where no retirement benefits have been received.
• The SARS Tax table will assist in spelling out the rules and regulations pertaining to the withdrawal of retirement annuities.
• The amount after tax which has been taken off forms part and parcel of the amount allowed in your foreign capital allowance, when you immigrate.
• Should the member not draw from the annuity before the maturity date, then a third of the fund’s cash value in cash at retirement age of 55 can be drawn, but is taxable.
• If retirement benefits have never been received by the member at retirement age, then retirement benefits for the first R315 000 will be tax-free.
• And if the balance is invested this will be taxed as per any monthly taxable income.
• If the retirement annuity was taken out only five years before immigrating, then the total taxed income can be paid out to the member in his or her new country.
• If the annuity was taken out less than five years prior to immigration, then only a portion of this can be paid out to the member.
• Every circumstance differs.
• One retirement annuity could easily differ from another.

Should you need to find out more about immigration and your retirement annuity visit the SARS website at www.gov.za to further your knowledge.

Back on the agenda is the Governments proposed “twin peaks” approach to regulating the financial services industry. The proposal is a single statutory ombuds office in line with the government’s policy document “A safer financial sector to service SA better”. It has been confirmed that this has been commissioned by the National Treasury.  This is not the first time the government has considered creating such a body; it attempted to do so in 2003 and was met with dogged resistance by most of the financial services industry who wanted to retain the status quo.

Currently there are a number of dispute resolution structures in place, i.e.
•    Pension Funds Adjudicator
•    Ombud for financial service providers
•    Credit ombud
•    Ombudsmen for long-term and short-term insurance
•    Ombudsman for banking services

Both the statutory and non-statutory dispute resolution offices are supposed to hand down decisions that are based on ethical considerations and not only the strict letter of the law. There is no evidence on the table to suggest that consumers would be better served by a single complaints structure. Cas Coovadia, managing director of the Banking Association says the industry is not in favour of a single statutory ombud’s office; they cannot fathom the rationale behind such a concept since the various ombuds have performed very well to the benefit of consumers and in promoting sustainable sectors. These voluntary ombuds are funded by the sectors, while a statutory single ombud would have to be funded from the fiscus which would be a waste of taxpayers’ money.

The government in its twin peaks policy document says “international best practice requires the financial sector to provide consumers with speedy and affordable redress when resolving disputes”. The paper also states that “the SA financial services sector is characterized by high and opaque fees and, in some cases, the unfair treatment of customers”.

Your Month by Month Planner
Let this be the year to sort out anything to do with money by using a month by month planner.

January
• At the beginning of any year, make this the perfect time to get your paperwork and finances organized.
February
• February is the end of the financial tax year; let this be the year you get all your taxes in order and ensure that you are getting all the benefits due to you.
March
• March is a good month to draw up an accurate budget.
• Essentials have to be paid first.
• Start saving this year.
• The best way to save is to organise a debit order that will take a fixed amount off your salary every month.
• Budget for luxury items only after the essentials are paid off.
• When drawing up a budget remember that spending more than you earn will only get you into hot water.
April
• Consolidate debts in April
• Take out a second bond or loan to consolidate your debts; this way you will only pay one lot of interest.
• Something that should be taken into account is that the interest rate of the loan or the bond to consolidate these debts should be lower than that of the debts you are consolidating.
May
• Revisit your long-term insurance.
June
• Revisit any and all investments you have; these include taking an in-depth look and ensuring that you will get the best returns on your investments.
July
• Update your will, and if you do have dependents this is of paramount importance.
August
• Your children will hopefully go onto university after they have completed school; if you have not provided for them in this regard, then taking a long and hard look at how this can be done is essential.
September
• Plan for the end of year festivities; take a long and hard look to see where you can cut a few corners on your budget in order to make provision for those extras.
October, November and December
• Prepare in advance for the shock of January after the long festive period.

With this savvy financial guide you won’t have any more sleepless nights.

When you broach this with your insurance broker, you will need to give your office insurance broker the necessary information so that your individual specified items will then be correctly listed on your insurance schedule.

When covering individual electronic equipment

• You need to give the brand of the machine that needs to be replaced.
• You need to furnish the type and model of the item.
• And most important of all, is you need to furnish the insurers with a serial number of any electronic equipment.

Without this important information, your insurance company would not be able to list these items on your insurance schedule.

Your PC is usually covered under Household Contents if you are working from home, therefore individual office insurance would not be necessary if this is the case. The cover would then include provision for damage through fire, explosions, storms, theft, lightning, earthquakes and explosions.

Certain insurance companies will even go so far as to cover the software, but this has to be specified separately right from the outset, and proof of software costs would be required.

Not all power surges and incidental damages are covered by all insurance brokers; this cover has to be specified separately and will certainly push up the costs of your premiums.

If you need cover for the office, ensure that your office insurance is sufficient in order to protect your livelihood  against any and all eventualities;  consult your broker to find out more about what needs to be specified right from the outset.

Firstly, make sure you talk over your financial situation with either a friend, family or someone who can counsel you on debt. People who have been in your situation may be able to offer some tips on how they managed and what they did to get their debts under control.

Once you have done this it is time to get a full picture of the state of your finances and then an idea of what you owe and what you can afford to pay off each and every month. Set yourself a budget to pay all your monthly outgoings and to control your spending, and include in that budget your new repayment schedule.

Always make sure you cover the minimum payments at a bare minimum as this will keep your interest rates lower, avoid punitive charges and keep your credit score respectable. If possible however, try and clear more than the minimum each month as this will help you to clear the debts much more quickly.

Where possible, try and find a balance transfer deal to move all of your debts into one low interest lump sum. If you have credit card debts try to move them over to zero percent interest special offers.

Finally, try and build up an emergency fund – just a small donation every week from your salary – even $20 – is enough to cover you should something go wrong one month.

Follow these suggestions and stick to your budget and you will soon see those debts rapidly clearing.

Alex is a financial writer and blogger. He writes about everything from credit cards to mortgages to tax reduction.