Dear Private Banking Client

We have reached that time of the year again where many of us take a well-deserved break away from the daily grind.

Ensuring that your valued assets are protected during this period is important. So in this final issue of 2016, we've got some tips on how to secure your household from criminal elements.

We also discuss the convenience of having a facility that allows you to take your money with you when you travel overseas. A prepaid Multi-currency Cash Card will allow you and your family to load up to

four different currencies, enabling you to conveniently make payments when abroad.

And if you're looking at making any resolutions in the New Year, investing any additional income you might receive now, or in the coming months, may be a wise decision depending on the debt you currently have. Read the attached article for some insights on how to make a decision.

Till the next time, best wishes for the holiday season and a prosperous new year.

Kind regards

Happy RalinalaManaging ExecutiveAbsa Private and Wealth Banking

Planning for your bonus

We tend to ask ourselves whether we should invest our bonus or settle our debts, but are often left confused.

While both decisions are admirable and important we do, however, need to be aware of the difference between the two options and what opportunities they present. It is equally important to spend as much time planning for our year-end bonuses, as we spend on planning our holidays.

When you decide to pay off your debt, your financial stress levels will go down, increasing your ability to withstand personal emergencies such as a recession. Paying off your debt will give you peace of mind

that can maximise personal happiness.

It is important that when settling your debt, you look at short-term debt first because this type of debt usually carries the highest interest rates. Paying debt first also means that you are getting a guaranteed "return" by cutting down on interest payments.

When deciding to invest your bonus, it simply means building a reserve that can protect you and your family during times of hardship. It also gives you the opportunity to generate ever-increasing passive income from dividends and interest. Various risks and considerations such as interest rate fluctuations

and monthly budgeting needs make this a sound and logical goal.

With that said, getting a cash lump sum presents great opportunities to start getting the structure of your finances in order. The principle of progressive satisfaction will apply - progressive in the sense that one shouldn’t move forward until the current level is in place and complete.

A suggested hierarchy for progressive satisfaction

So what should you consider?

• Emergency funds should be available on demand, for example invested in a liquid product such as a money market account. Investors have often been caught off guard and forced to liquidate discretionary savings in investments that fluctuate in capital value (realising losses). Emergency savings should not be in investments where there is any chance of the capital fluctuating in value.

• When investing for security funds or wealth creation, three things are important:

◦ Use the most efficient “wrapper” or tax structure for your investment. Investing in a tax-free

savings account allows investors a maximum contribution of R30 000 per annum and all the growth in this account will be tax-free. Once this allowance has been utilised, any balance may be structured in a tax-efficient manner using an endowment policy for investors with high marginal tax rates. A retirement annuity is the most tax-efficient vehicle with no income tax, capital gains tax or estate duty within the fund and furthermore from 1 March 2016 the contribution to tax-deductible retirement savings was increased to 27,5% of taxable income (capped at R350 000 per year). For investors with a marginal tax rate of 41%, for every R10 spent, SARS will refund R4,10.

◦ The longer the investment term, the more concerned investors should be about the corrosive effect of inflation. This can be countered by investing in assets that will outperform inflation.

◦ Choosing a well-diversified investment portfolio across asset classes and geographies. Diversification is really the only free lunch in the investment world. Speak to your financial adviser or wealth manager to find out about the available options of risk-profile adjusted diversified portfolios.

Don’t let the festive spirit and mood cloud your judgement on the priorities of investing and settling your debt. Do the right thing and choose the option that is in line with your future plans and goals.

In conclusion, if you wait to start investing until you have paid off your debt, you will miss out on years of growth on your investment account. The longer you leave the high-interest debt around, the more it will cost you to pay back. Finally, the choice of whether to pay off debts before starting to invest depends on your tolerance for risk and your assessment of the potential rate of return from investments compared to the interest rates on your debt.

Experience offer

Treat yourself and a loved one with these unique experiences from Absa Rewards partner Celestial Gifts.

Helicopter flight, cruise and dinner for two at the V&A WaterfrontLooking for a really special late afternoon date or the perfect setting to propose? Take a sunset helicopter flight from the V&A Waterfront towards Clifton, followed by dinner at one of the Waterfront's top three restaurants.

Set off on a scenic 15-minute helicopter flight along the spectacular Cape coastline, and take in the incredible aerial views of Table Mountain and Lion's Head before heading back to the V&A Waterfront, from where you will board the Spirit of Victoria for your sunset cruise.

The Spirit of Victoria is a 58 ft gaff rigged schooner with red brick sails that offers a laid-back, authentic sailing experience. Your 90-minute cruise will set off in the late afternoon. Sip on a cocktail or a glass of champagne as you enjoy the beautiful sunset so typical of the Cape.

On your return to the docks, you will head to one of the Waterfront's top three restaurants — City Grill, Greek Fisherman or Meloncino — for a superb three-course dinner.

Absa Private Banking clients pay only R3 395* for this popular experience. To make your booking, please send an email to info@celestialgifts.co.za.

Need to know

• Special rate applicable to EFT payments only*

• This package is suitable for two adults only

• Beverages are excluded unless otherwise stated

• All helicopter flights are for 15 minutes and are shared flights

• Flight- and cruise times vary and are based on season

• Book early to avoid disappointment

• All flights and cruises are weather dependent

• Allow a full evening for this experience

• Participation is at your own risk

• Dress for the weather

• Offer valid until 31 January 2017

• Terms and conditions apply

Live music event and an overnight stay for two in Northcliff

Entice your loved one with a touch of old-school romance in true French Provençal style with a night of live entertainment and French bistro dining at the Morrells Manor Hotel in Johannesburg.

The Morrells estate is set amid neatly trimmed gardens in Northcliff and exudes a sense of yesteryear. Each suite in the hotel is meticulously kept and stylishly decorated to create a tasteful and cosy retreat for guests. Vintage charm meets modern luxury, with each lavishly spacious suite equipped with air conditioning and Wi-Fi, a flat-screen TV and mini bar. Beautiful antiques are complemented by extra-length beds and ultrasoft bedding.

Morrells’s boutique estate regularly hosts live entertainment, such as Daniele Pascal, acclaimed actor, playwright and multi-platinum recording artist, as well as Josie Field, Laurie Levine, Digby and the Lullaby, and vintage movie nights throughout the year. Live entertainment is complemented by French bistro-style dinners or picnic baskets filled to the brim with delicacies.

After an evening of top-class entertainment and cuisine, spend the night in the Manor House, and be sure to stop by the Morrells Vintage Shoppe and Luxe Spa.

Indulge in sumptuous luxury with this package, which will transport you to the French countryside, without having to leave Johannesburg. Plan your break today!

Absa Private Banking clients pay only R4 245* for this experience. To make your booking, please send an email to info@celestialgifts.co.za.

Need to know

• Special rate applicable to EFT payments only*

• This package includes overnight accommodation for two (one night only) with tickets to the live music event

• Dinner and beverages are excluded

• Events take place quarterly

• Terms and conditions apply

Introduction to sailing

According to the American Sailing Association, adhering to a few helpful guidelines will ensure that you enjoy your first sailing experience.

Summer is here, and many aspiring sailors will get their first chance to go out on the water. Choose a day with good sailing weather. Good sailing weather means fairly calm seas, sunshine and light winds. It can get cold on the open water, so dress appropriately.

A small responsive craft will ensure that you can feel the way the wind and waves interact with the

boat, and will make it easier to understand the dynamics of sailing.

Watch out for the boom, which is the big, heavy bar at the foot of the main sail. The boom swings across the boat when the boat is manoeuvred, and it can injure you or knock you overboard. A combination of common-sense safety and good sail-handling will keep you and other passengers safe from injury.

Do your research thoroughly, and ensure that you go out on the boat with a properly qualified and experienced instructor. This will make the difference between a frustrating, unfulfilling experience and a

safe, fun, highly educational outing.

Learning basic sailing terms such as tack and gybe, the difference between port and starboard, and the points of sail will enhance your first sailing experience, and will make it easier for you to contribute to the sailing of the boat on the day.

While you are preparing for your first sail, invest in an instructional book or download an app, such as Sailing Lessons for Beginners: Tips and Tutorial, from iTunes or the App Store.

There are sailing clubs where you can get involved in the sport of sailing in just about every region of South Africa. Booking a lesson with a training centre can be the first step in opening a whole new world of fun and excitement, so browse through www.sailing.org.za and chart a new course!

Securing your home

You can take a number of practical and simple steps to secure your home and belongings while you are away on holiday.

Advise your security companyYour security company can arrange for additional security if you let them know that your home is going to be unoccupied for a period. Provide them with an alternative contact in case of an incident, as you may not be available.

Don’t advertise that you are going on holiday

Social media can be dangerous, as criminal elements could learn exactly when and for how long your home will be unoccupied. Try to park your car away from prying eyes, out of sight of the road, when packing for your trip.

Ask a friend for assistanceAsk a friend or neighbour to visit your house regularly to check for any problems. Ask them to collect your mail from your mailbox, open and close your curtains and take out your trash on collection days, to create the illusion that someone is home. Cancelling your newspaper and magazine subscriptions will assist in these items not stacking up in your mailbox or lying unopened on your doorstep.

Installing timer switches to switch your lights on and off at the relevant times will further enhance the illusion that the house is occupied. Closing all your windows and blinds will alert criminals that no one is home.

Use a sitterAlthough having someone staying in your home while you are away will alleviate most of the stresses involved in leaving your home unoccupied, it is still a good idea to have a reliable person check on the house from time to time, especially if you have pets.

Make sure that your valuables are safely locked away, and set out the rules, responsibilities and obligations of your house sitter clearly and in writing. Pay particular attention to activities that may compromise your insurance cover, such as not arming the alarm when leaving the house.

Great reads

For some excellent gift ideas in time for the festive season, we highlight the six finalists of the 2016 Man Booker Prize.

The Sellout (Paul Beatty, published by Oneworld)

Born in the ‘agrarian ghetto’ of Dickens in Los Angeles and raised by a single father, the narrator spent his childhood as the subject of racially charged psychological studies. He is led to believe his sociologist father’s pioneering work will result in a memoir that will solve his family's financial woes. When his

father is killed in a police shoot-out, he realises there never was a memoir.

Fuelled by this deceit and the general disrepair of his hometown, the narrator sets out to right another wrong: Dickens was literally removed from the map to save California from further embarrassment. Enlisting the help of the town’s most famous resident, he initiates the most outrageous action conceivable: reinstating slavery and segregating the local high school, which lands him in the Supreme Court.

What follows is a remarkable journey that challenges the sacred tenets of the United States

Constitution, urban life, the civil rights movement and the holy grail of racial equality — the black Chinese restaurant.

Hot Milk (Deborah Levy, published by Hamish Hamilton)

Two strangers arrive in a small Spanish fishing village. The older woman is suffering from mysterious paralysis, driven to seek a cure beyond the bounds of conventional medicine. Her daughter Sofia has spent years playing the reluctant detective in this mystery, struggling to understand her mother's illness.

Surrounded by the oppressive desert heat, searching for a cure to a defiant and quite possibly imagined disease, Sofia is forced to confront her difficult relationship with her mother. Examining female rage and sexuality, Deborah Levy explores the strange and monstrous nature of motherhood, testing the bonds of parent and child to breaking point.

His Bloody Project (Graeme Macrae Burnet, published by Contraband)

In 1869, the case of Roderick Macrae gripped the British public: newspapers slavishly followed his trial,

and ‘penny dreadfuls’ gleefully described the gory details of the brutal slaying of three people in a remote crofting community.

In His Bloody Project, author Graeme Macrae Burnet recounts the story of the murders and the subsequent trial. Brought together, the documents relating to the case of Roderick Macrae reveal much about a merciless triple murder that shocked the nation. But do they reveal just why a young man would commit these atrocious acts of violence?

Eileen (Ottessa Moshfegh, published by Jonathan Cape)

The Christmas season offers little cheer for Eileen Dunlop, an unassuming yet disturbed young woman trapped between her role as her alcoholic father’s carer in his squalid home and her day job as a secretary at the boys’ prison. Consumed by resentment and self-loathing, Eileen tempers her dreary days with perverse fantasies and dreams of escaping to the big city. In the meantime, she fills her nights and weekends with shoplifting, stalking a handsome prison guard named Randy, and cleaning up her increasingly deranged father’s mess.

When the beautiful, charismatic Rebecca Saint John arrives on the scene as the new counsellor at the

prison, Eileen is enchanted and unable to resist what appears to be a miraculously budding friendship. In a Hitchcockian twist, her affection for Rebecca pulls her into complicity in a crime that surpasses her wildest imaginings.

All That Man Is (David Szalay, published by Jonathan Cape)

Nine men. Each of them at a different stage of life, each of them away from home, and each of them striving to understand just what it means to be alive, here and now.

Tracing an arc from the spring of youth to the winter of old age, All That Man Is brings these separate lives together to show us men as they are — ludicrous and inarticulate, shocking and despicable; vital, pitiable, hilarious, and full of heartfelt longing. As the weather gets colder and the men get older, the stakes become bewilderingly high.

Do Not Say We Have Nothing (Madeleine Thien, published by Granta Books)

In Canada, in 1991, ten-year-old Marie and her mother invite a guest into their home: a young woman

called Ai-Ming, who has fled China in the aftermath of the Tiananmen Square protests.

Ai-Ming tells Marie the story of her family in Revolutionary China. It is a story of revolutionary idealism, music, and silence, in which three musicians struggle during China’s relentless Cultural Revolution to remain loyal to one another and to the music to which they have devoted their lives. Forced to re-imagine their artistic and private selves, their fates reverberate through the years, with deep and lasting consequences for Ai-Ming — and for Marie.

Excellent travel tips

Are you keen to protect yourself against the possibility of the rand depreciating while you are on holiday?

Would you like to travel carefree with a prepaid travel card that allows you and your family to load up to four currencies onto one easy-to-use card? The PIN-protected Multi-currency Cash Passport is a prepaid travel money card that is a convenient and cost-effective option.

With the option to add foreign banknotes, it is the start to a perfect holiday where you do not need to concern yourself with fluctuating foreign exchange rates. Absolute peace of mind!

And there is great news for existing cardholders. Reload your card and earn 2% of the total value of the reloaded amount in Absa Rewards until 15 April 2017. That’s up to R3 000 cash back. Undoubtedly an unexpected windfall to bump up your holiday travelling a little more. Just imagine treating yourself to that bag or watch you've been eyeing with the additional cash.

Load US dollars, British pound, euros and Australian dollar, in whatever combination you wish, onto one piece of plastic. This reloadable card, which offers the loading of funds in advance, protects against currency fluctuations. Also, you can use the card for internet transactions in the currency of the wallet you've loaded. Use at locations or withdraw local currency from ATMs globally where the MasterCard® acceptance mark is displayed. No need to worry about bank operating hours or lengthy queues to access funds.

This innovative card is a market leader, flexible, convenient and a trusted solution to carrying foreign currency safely and securely. Another great feature is that should you run out of a currency, the card

will automatically convert to the next available currency, provided there are sufficient funds to cover the withdrawal or payment. You can also reload via your private banker at any time.

For even more peace of mind there is 24/7 emergency assistance for lost, stolen or damaged cards and the replacement card carries no additional cost.

Want further peace of mind to stay on top of your spending? Keep track online via the secure ‘My Account’ or with the fantastically handy mobile app, which can be downloaded from SA Apple and Google Play stores by searching for “Cash Passport”. The integrated app supercharges the holiday

experience to simplify budgeting and take another headache away. And here’s more: many shops overseas have free Wi-Fi so consider using it in stores to track your spend and not worry about data charges.

The app helps with:

• viewing balances and transactions

• finding the nearest ATM

• moving money between currencies

We change how you travel.

Benefits

• Fix your rate before you travel

• Four currencies on one card

• Make budgeting simple

• Ideal for use and reuse, whether once-off or a regular traveller

• Make online purchaces

Don't forget, we also offer special fee and exchange rates to Private Bank Exceller and Marhaba accountholders.

What better companion to have with you on your global travels!

Reserve Bank rules on exchange control and T&C apply.

Planning for your bonus

We tend to ask ourselves whether we should invest our bonus or settle our debts, but are often left

confused.

Read More

Experience offer

Treat yourself and a loved one with these unique experiences from Absa Rewards partner Celestial

Gifts.

Read More

Introduction to sailing

According to the American Sailing Association,

adhering to a few helpful guidelines will ensure that

you enjoy your first sailing experience.

Read More

Securing your home

You can take a number of practical and simple steps

to secure your home and belongings while you are

away on holiday.

Read More

Great reads

For some excellent gift ideas in time for the festive season, we highlight the six finalists of the 2016

Man Booker Prize.

Read More

Excellent travel tips

Are you keen to protect yourself against the possibility of the rand depreciating while you are on

holiday?

Read More

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