Hi all, I’ve learned a lot from reading through old and new posts over the last few days. I’m not sure if anyone would have to time to respond to me but I thought I would just put my situation out there for any feedback.
I’m turning 25 this year, working in my first job for about 2 years (1 as intern) and take home about R27k p/m. I’m living at home with my parents but hoping to move out (renting) soon-ish. I would like to buy my first car quite soon. I need it to get to work mostly and am in an industry where there can be a bit of travel for events/meetings. Also the car will play a role in my independence which is a bit stunted living at home. My expenses at the moment are kinda minimal at around 8k, most of that being Discovery medical aid. I have built up a bit of a savings account over the last year which is R86k in a 32 day notice account (7.95% interest p.a). Clear score has my credit score at 652.
Based on my reading this is what I have been thinking and I would be grateful for opinions:
Any comments would be super helpful. My financial goals are just not needing to borrow money and create stupid debts and knowing I’m looking after myself. Thank you!
I’m turning 25 this year, working in my first job for about 2 years (1 as intern) and take home about R27k p/m. I’m living at home with my parents but hoping to move out (renting) soon-ish. I would like to buy my first car quite soon. I need it to get to work mostly and am in an industry where there can be a bit of travel for events/meetings. Also the car will play a role in my independence which is a bit stunted living at home. My expenses at the moment are kinda minimal at around 8k, most of that being Discovery medical aid. I have built up a bit of a savings account over the last year which is R86k in a 32 day notice account (7.95% interest p.a). Clear score has my credit score at 652.
Based on my reading this is what I have been thinking and I would be grateful for opinions:
- Open a TFSA with a R36k lump sum deposit from my 32 day account. I’ve never had a TFSA but have seen Sygnia come up often enough.
- Start an RA and I was thinking of contributing 8-10% of take home pay. My job makes no retirement contribution and no medical aid contribution either. Is that too low? I was also going to go with the Sygnia skeleton 60.
- Allocate R20k to a car deposit and go shopping around for something reliable preowned/demo at about R200-250k. So financing R180-230k with the bank. I was thinking of using Absa’s insurance (this is also where I will probably take out the loan) but I’ve seen Naked Insurance come up too. I would love a Swift GLX auto but it’s not looking like a super smart price choice. Am I being too extravagant?
- What do I do with the remaining R30k in my 32 day account? Throw it at the car?? Some other posts say you can get a better interest rate on a larger loan amount (so no deposit), others say 10%, others that the first repayment should be large so paying R30k (basically the ‘deposit’ amount) instead of R5k (the minimum repayment). I’m not super well educated on investing and just learned about TFSA in the last week lol. I’m probably not a very active researcher on stocks and investing so is there anything passive I could look into?
Any comments would be super helpful. My financial goals are just not needing to borrow money and create stupid debts and knowing I’m looking after myself. Thank you!