Skip to content

Financial education

Personal finance basics

A budget is a list of what comes in and what must go out. No percentage of income is the right answer for every household.

Reviewed 29 October 2026 by the WiT Money editorial team. This is general information, not a recommendation from a named adviser.

Key points

  • Start with rent or the bond, food, transport, school fees, medical aid and debt. Everything else is a choice.
  • A payslip's net pay is what reaches the bank. PAYE and UIF are not optional.
  • Compare the total you will pay, not the advertised rate.

Write one month in rand: salary or drawings, then rent or the bond, rates and levies, electricity, water, transport, groceries, school fees, medical aid, funeral cover, insurance and debt. What is left is the room for saving and for everything else. If nothing is left, the problem is the list, not a budgeting app.

Needs are the costs that keep the household going. Wants are the rest. The line moves. A family with school fees has a need a student does not. A pensioner's medical aid can be the largest line. Do not copy a percentage from a foreign article and call it a plan.

A payslip

Gross pay is before deductions. PAYE is employees' tax. UIF is the unemployment insurance contribution. The salary calculator shows the employee share at 1%, capped at the R17 712 monthly ceiling SARS still publishes. Retirement-fund and medical-scheme amounts may also be deducted. Net pay is what is left. The salary calculator illustrates the 2027 tax year. It is not your IRP5.

Irregular income and a low income

If pay arrives unevenly, budget the essential month from the quiet months, and save a slice of the busy ones. If the essentials already exceed income, a new loan is rarely the fix. Look at the debt-review guide before you borrow to pay borrow.

The total cost

A bank fee, a fund fee, an initiation fee and an insurance excess are all prices. Add them for a normal year before you decide a product is cheap. The guides on loans, savings and insurance show where each price hides.

Questions readers ask

Is there a correct savings rate?

No. An emergency fund of a few months of essentials is a starting point, not a rule. The emergency-fund calculator multiplies the months you choose.

Related

Sources

Page updated 29 October 2026. A source date is the day WiT Money checked that page, not a promise the institution has not changed it since.