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The Monverdo Journal

For people whose finances have outgrown a spreadsheet. Clear, careful writing on net worth, real returns, and the accounting underneath.

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Two columns labelled with the same total, "R11.5m", sitting above the words "Same number, different position." The left column is mostly cash and liquid assets in mint; the right is mostly a house and a retirement annuity in slate, the same height but a different composition.
Two columns labelled with the same total, "R11.5m", sitting above the words "Same number, different position." The left column is mostly cash and liquid assets in mint; the right is mostly a house and a retirement annuity in slate, the same height but a different composition.

Rian Cronje, CEO and Founder of Monverdo

Rian Cronje

7 minutes

Personal balance sheet vs net worth: what's the difference, and why it matters

Two people can report the same net worth and be in completely different financial positions. The number hides the composition. Here's what the balance sheet keeps that the scalar throws away.

A return curve rising across a dark chart with a flow marker on its timeline, beside the headline "What your return actually is."
A return curve rising across a dark chart with a flow marker on its timeline, beside the headline "What your return actually is."

Rian Cronje, founder of Monverdo.

Rian Cronje

9 minutes

The return your broker shows you isn't the return you think it is

Your broker shows one return; the fund factsheet shows another. The gap is time-weighted vs money-weighted — and knowing which question each answers is the whole game. One worked rand portfolio, carried end to end.

Eleven scattered account tiles converging into a single mint total panel, beside the headline "Your wealth in one number you can trust."
Eleven scattered account tiles converging into a single mint total panel, beside the headline "Your wealth in one number you can trust."

Rian Cronje, founder of Monverdo.

Rian Cronje

9 minutes

Your wealth lives in eleven places. None of them agree.

A net worth number you cannot audit is not a number you can trust. Why aggregators and spreadsheets fail silently once your wealth is spread across many accounts and what a reconciled view actually shows.

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SA Tax

Net worth

Real returns

The accounting underneath

Four mint allowance buckets under the headline "Every year, these reset", labelled TFSA R46,000, CGT exclusion R50,000, interest R23,800, with a coral arrow showing the unused part emptying at the 1 March reset.
Four mint allowance buckets under the headline "Every year, these reset", labelled TFSA R46,000, CGT exclusion R50,000, interest R23,800, with a coral arrow showing the unused part emptying at the 1 March reset.

Rian Cronje, CEO and Founder of Monverdo

Rian Cronje

6 minutes

Using your annual tax-free allowances before they reset

The TFSA limit, the capital gains exclusion, the interest exemption and the dividends position are annual allowances that reset each tax year. What each one is, and why the reset date matters.

A single mint bar labelled "R300,000 gain" under the headline "Only part of a gain is taxed at all", splitting into a large mint block "what you keep" and a small coral slice "R41,000 tax".
A single mint bar labelled "R300,000 gain" under the headline "Only part of a gain is taxed at all", splitting into a large mint block "what you keep" and a small coral slice "R41,000 tax".

Rian Cronje, CEO and Founder of Monverdo

Rian Cronje

7 minutes

Capital gains tax for individuals, plainly

Capital gains tax in South Africa is part of income tax, not a separate flat tax. Proceeds, base cost, the annual exclusion, the 40% inclusion rate, and why the effective rate is usually well under 18%.

Four rising tax-bracket bars under the headline "Only the top slice is taxed at the top rate", each a mint bar you keep with a growing coral cap that SARS takes as the rate climbs.
Four rising tax-bracket bars under the headline "Only the top slice is taxed at the top rate", each a mint bar you keep with a growing coral cap that SARS takes as the rate climbs.

Rian Cronje, CEO and Founder of Monverdo

Rian Cronje

6 minutes

How marginal tax actually works, and why your bonus isn't all taxed at 45%

South Africa taxes income on a sliding scale, so a bonus is never all taxed at your top rate. Here is how the brackets actually work, and the difference between your marginal rate and your real one.

Two wrappers taxed at opposite ends under the headline "Taxed at opposite ends": a retirement annuity bar larger from the deduction with a coral tax slice off the top, beside a smaller tax-free savings bar kept whole in mint.
Two wrappers taxed at opposite ends under the headline "Taxed at opposite ends": a retirement annuity bar larger from the deduction with a coral tax slice off the top, beside a smaller tax-free savings bar kept whole in mint.

Rian Cronje, CEO and Founder of Monverdo

Rian Cronje

7 minutes

TFSA or RA first? The honest trade-off, without the sales pitch

A retirement annuity gives a deduction now and taxes you later. A tax-free savings account does the reverse. The factors that decide which suits you, laid out plainly, with no directed answer.