Cases like this are painful to read.
A South African investor turned roughly R97,000 into R1.26 million on US tech shares, and when he sold, SARS took over R200,000 in Capital Gains Tax. He saved, he invested, he was patient, and still handed over a fortune to the taxman.
If you invest through a tax-free account and buy ETFs inside it, that growth is yours to keep. If you invest in a normal account instead, be ready to share your profits with the taxman, because in a system as brutal as this, he is always waiting for his cut.
When this investor started in 2017, the annual limit was around R33,000. From 1 March 2026 it has risen to R46,000 a year, with a R500,000 lifetime cap. It is not a huge amount each year, but over time, growing completely tax-free, it becomes one of the few real advantages South Africans have.
So take advantage of your tax-free account and use it for long term ETF investing. Otherwise SARS will be waiting, as always, for its slice.
This is not financial advice, just something to think about.
Rent. Petrol hike. Talking stages. Electricity hike. 8 liters a day. Ashwaganda. Supplements. Vitamins. Degree. KPIs. 10 000 steps a day. Exercise. Tax free savings. Retirement annuity. Smell good. Therapy. Heal your inner child. Madlanga commission. March and March. Blended families. Baby mama/daddy drama. Levies. Laundry. Kids. Text back. Lunchboxes. Living on a budget. Car insurance. Being a wife. Mom. Dinner preps. Hobbies. Staying in touch with your loved ones. Weekend = saturday only. Church. One book a month. Applying sunscreen. Probiotics. School fees. Kegel exercises. Praying. Meditating. Balanced diet. Vacations. Tax. Interest rates. View once salary. 8 hours of rest. Saxophone is getting louder. Payflex. Pay just now. Living beyond our means. Networking. Multiple streams of income. Travel. Fasting. Build your investment portfolio. Unemployment. Kind regards.
😭👍🏽
Buffett’s advice for new investors:
“You have to have the attitude that you’re buying into a business. You’re not buying something that [just] wiggles around on a chart. And if you buy intelligently into a business, you’re going to make money.”
Warren Buffett said:
"It took Noah 20 years to build an ark. And people said he was being silly because the skies were beautiful. And of course, the whole time, he looked stupid - until it started raining. You can spend a long time building an ark while everybody else is out there enjoying the sun."
Warren Buffett:
“No me importaba si una acción subía o bajaba al día siguiente, ni a la semana, ni al mes, ni siquiera al año siguiente. No tenía ni idea de lo que iba a hacer. Tampoco sabía qué haría el mercado. Pero sí conocía los negocios.”
Warren Buffett: "90% of people who buy stocks don't think of them the right way. They think about them as something they hope goes up next week."
"I think about what the company is going to be worth 10-20 years from now. And I hope it goes down when I buy it b/c I'll buy more."
One day this investing thing on shares that we do will eventually make sense, lord i can't wait the day i get to use my dividends on stuff that i want while my initial money is still growing.🕯️