MaxWealth - Design 9: Newspaper BroadsheetHome pageTool pageBack to gallery
— Screen A: Home page —
Today’s weatherPrime steady. Two-pot showers clearing by evening.
“All the sums that are fit to print”
Price: FreeNo subscription. No sign-up. No salesman.
The MaxWealth Times
Vol. I · No. 1Johannesburg, Thursday 1 October 2026maxwealth.co.za
Household finance · Exclusive

Free Tools Tell South Africans the Truth About Their Money

Budget, retirement and SARS tax calculators deliver one plain verdict per household — and the single step that would change it.

By the MaxWealth Desk · No products named, no commission taken
A Johannesburg household checks its retirement score over the weekend paper. Illustration: MaxWealth.

JOHANNESBURG — A new set of free calculators launched this week promises to do something most money tools do not: tell a household, in one sentence, whether it is on track. No sign-up is required; a guest session opens the moment a reader arrives.

Each tool opens on an executive summary — a single score or verdict, a handful of figures with a line explaining each, and one recommended next step. “The number should be honest even when it is uncomfortable,” the desk said.

Readers enter their income, debts and savings once, into a single household profile that every tool shares. Budget, retirement and SARS income tax are live; four more tools follow in the next edition.

The service calculates only. It does not recommend or name any financial product, and earns no commission. Continued on the Retirement page →

Inside this edition

Budget: Where Did the Month Go?

R2,850typical monthly surplus uncovered

Income, spending, a 12-month projection and a debit-order watch, all from one profile.

Read the Budget page →

Retirement: Behind, But Fixable

62/100example household score

Am I on track — plus what a two-pot withdrawal really costs you at 65.

Read the Retirement page →

Tax: Is SARS Taking the Right Amount?

31.4%example marginal rate

Income tax and PAYE for 2026/27, checked line by line against your payslip.

Read the Tax page →
Next edition

Four More Tools On the Press

  • TFSA — using the R46,000 a year
  • Bond affordability at prime
  • Debt payoff, smallest or dearest first
  • Emergency fund, in months
Reserve your copy →

Notice to readers: how it works

I.

No sign-up

Open any tool as a guest. Your figures are kept in your browser until you choose to save them.

II.

One household profile

Enter income, debts and savings once. Every tool — budget, retirement, tax — reads the same profile.

III.

One verdict

Each tool prints a score, the figures behind it, and the single next step that would change it.

Photographs from inside the product

maxwealth.co.za/retirement
Product screenshot
Plate 1. Retirement executive summary. Placeholder.
Product
screenshot
Plate 2. Budget, mobile.
maxwealth.co.za/tax
Product screenshot
Plate 3. PAYE checker. Placeholder.
— Screen B: Tool page —
The MaxWealth Times Retirement Section Household edition: Thandi & Neo
Thursday 1 October 2026 · Guest session
Retirement · Am I on track? · Executive summary

Behind, But Fixable: Household Scores 62 Out of 100

On today’s course the pot replaces just over half of final salary. An extra R4,200 a month would close the gap by 65.

050100 62
Behind, but fixable13 points short of “On track” (75)
The figures
Projected pot at 65
R3.1m

What savings grow to, in today’s money.

Income replacement
54% of 75%

Share of final salary the pot can pay.

Monthly gap
R4,200

Extra saving a month to reach 75%.

Years of runway
17 yrs

Money lasts until age 82.

Two-pot savings
R38k

Withdrawable; costs ~R290k at 65.

To be completed
Partner’s pot
R1.4m

Demo figure. Add Neo’s fund.

What this means

The household is heading for 54% of final salary, short of the roughly 75% most families need to keep their way of life in retirement.

R4,200 more a month closes the gap by 65. Alternatively, working until 68 recovers most of the shortfall without a larger contribution.

The money runs out at 82 at the target income — while many South Africans who reach 65 will live beyond that age.

The R38k savings pot is best left alone. Withdrawn today, it costs roughly R290k of retirement money after tax and lost growth.

Fig. 1 — The pot, and the pot required
Projected potRequired for 75% incomeGap at 65: R1.5m
R0R1mR2mR3mR4mR5m 35404550556065 Age of the elder earner R4.6m requiredR3.1m projected Age 50R1.48m vs R2.05m Age 60R2.52m vs R3.70m
Source: MaxWealth household model; real returns after inflation. Shaded area: the shortfall.

Continued on page R2: the R4,200 top-up

See how the score moves if the household saves more, retires later, or both.

Model my top-up →