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The Money Maze TMM Nº 031

How Much Do You Need to Start Investing in SA?

6 min

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How much do you need to start investing in SA? Less than a Wimpy milkshake. Fractional shares, monthly debit orders, the new R46,000 TFSA limit and fees.

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“How much money do I need to start investing?” Spoiler: not R10,000. Not even the price of a braai pack. Less than you’d spend on a double-thick milkshake at Wimpy.

By The Money Maze | Listen to the episode: Spotify

This is the question we get most. And the honest answer is that the amount matters far less than the habit.

The “big money” myth

There’s an idea that investing is for people who already have serious cash: the oke with a golf handicap, a holiday home in Ballito and a Land Cruiser in the driveway.

Not true. South African online platforms let you start with very small amounts, in some cases a few rand. That’s a Bar One. “I’ll start investing once I have money” is an excuse, not a plan. If you can buy a fancy coffee, you can buy a slice of a share.

Fractional shares: a slice, not the whole cake

How does a few rand buy into a company whose shares cost thousands? Fractional shares. You don’t need the whole cake. You can buy a slice, like ordering one slice of pepperoni instead of the family box.

It means the size of your wallet no longer decides whether you’re allowed in the game.

A practical example: R500 a month

Say you invest R500 a month. That’s roughly a TV subscription, except instead of watching your team lose, you’re watching your money compound.

Here’s an illustration, not a promise. If R500 a month earned 10% a year on average, after ten years you’d have put in R60,000 and the pot would be worth roughly R100,000. The extra R40,000 is growth on your growth. Real markets don’t deliver neat average returns every year, some years go backwards, and inflation eats part of it. But the maths of time is hard to argue with.

Compounding is like gym. Nothing happens after the first session. Stick with it long enough and people start asking what you’ve been eating.

Lump sum vs monthly debit order

Some people start with a lump sum: a bonus, a tax refund, or the money from selling the hatchback before the balloon payment flattened them. That’s a valid way to begin.

Others prefer a monthly debit order, like a subscription. For most beginners, that’s the most powerful approach, because it builds consistency and removes the temptation to wait for the “perfect” moment. It turns investing into a bill that pays you later.

Platforms also let you invest offshore in dollars, pounds or euros. Useful, but don’t sprint overseas before you can crawl at home. Start simple, then expand.

The tax-free savings account

One of the best entry points is a tax-free savings account (TFSA). In the 2026 Budget, the annual limit went up for the first time in years, from R36,000 to R46,000 a tax year, from 1 March 2026. The lifetime limit stays at R500,000. Inside a TFSA you pay no tax on interest, dividends or capital gains.

Two warnings. Go over the annual or lifetime limit and SARS charges a 40% penalty on the excess. And withdrawals don’t reset your limit. It’s like eating half your wors roll and finding out you don’t get a second one.

Small amounts, sensible homes

With small amounts, simplicity helps. One broad, low-cost ETF inside a TFSA, topped up by debit order, is how plenty of people get going. It spreads your money across many companies instead of betting the lot on one share your mate swears by. Picking individual shares can come later, once you’ve learned how a results announcement works and how it feels to watch a share drop 20% in a week.

What matters most at the start isn’t finding the perfect product. It’s building the habit, keeping costs low and not touching the money every time the market sulks. That’s not a recommendation for any particular product. It’s just the order in which most investors learn the hard lessons, with cheaper tuition.

Watch the fees

Fees are where providers make their money, and on small amounts they matter a lot. A flat fee of R100 on a R500 investment is a 20% haircut before you’ve started. Look for low percentage-based brokerage, check the admin and custody fees, and compare total costs before you commit. It’s like checking the drinks menu at a Sandton restaurant before ordering a Castle.

Behaviour beats rands

The hardest part of investing isn’t finding the money. It’s behaviour. It’s not panicking when your shares drop like Steinhoff did when the accounting scandal broke.

Investing is about time in the market, not timing the market. You don’t get compound growth if you keep jumping in and out like you’re testing the water at Clifton.

Start small. Stay consistent. Increase your contribution when you get a raise. That’s the whole cheat code.

Stokvel Starter Pack

  • Minimum to start: often just a few rand on online platforms.
  • Fractional shares: own a slice of an expensive share.
  • Debit order investing: consistency on autopilot.
  • TFSA: R46,000 a year from March 2026, R500,000 lifetime, 40% penalty if you overdo it.
  • Fees: watch them like petrol prices.
  • Compounding: growth on growth. Needs time more than money.

Takeaway: The amount you start with matters much less than starting, and sticking with it. Start where you are, use what you have, and grow from there.

Want the full braai version? Listen on Spotify. And if you’d like the Maze in your inbox, join the free Maze Mail list.

More from The Money Maze

Sources

  1. Tax free investments, South African Revenue Service, updated Mar 2026.
  2. Godongwana lifts annual TFSA limit, Moneyweb, 25 Feb 2026.
  3. What the higher tax-free investment adjustment means for individuals, Forvis Mazars, 27 Mar 2026.

This is not financial advice.

Transcript

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0:00 Welcome back to another episode of The Money Minus the podcast for South African retail. Investors want to stop feeling like they're drowning in jargon but navigating the market like someone actually knows what they're doing. I'm your host, Jay, and today we're taking a question I get all the time. How much money do I actually need to start investing? Well, spoiler alert, it's not 10,000. It's not even the price of a bride pack. It's less than what you would blow on a double thick milkshake at Wimpy.

0:27 So the big money illusion there is this idea floating around that investing is for people who already have serious cash lying around. You know the Oak was a golf handicap or holiday home in Ballito and the 200 series Landcruiser parked in the driveway. But here's the truth. You don't need to be the CEO of a mining company to get into the markets. Platforms like Easy Equities let you invest for as little as 5 Rand. Yep, 5 Rand.

0:53 That's less than what you would pay for a bar, one that's a packet of knickknacks and maybe a chappie if you dig deep into your couch. The whole I will start investing once I have money excuses. Just that, an excuse. If you can afford to buy a coffee from Vida, you can afford to buy a slice of a share. And that's where we get to fractional shares, owning a piece of the pie.

1:17 So how does this work? Fractional shares mean you don't need to buy a whole cake. Want a share of Naspers, which trades in the thousands per share? You don't need to cough up the full amount. You can buy a slice, just like ordering a single slice of pepperoni pizza instead of the whole family box. It's democratised investing, and it means the size of your wallet doesn't decide whether you can be in the game or not.

1:42 Let's use a practical example. 500 Rand versus the couch. Let's say you start with 500 Rand a month. That's the price of a Dstv Compact subscription cost. Except instead of watching Kaiser Chiefs lose another game, you're watching your portfolio slowly compound. If you keep that 500 Rand in a savings account you'd maybe get 6 or 7 send interest before Sarah's take state cut.

2:06 But put it into an ETF tracking the JSE Top 40 and historically you're looking at an average of 10 to 12% over the long term. Now it doesn't sound like much but let me put it this way. After 10 years you'll 500 Rand a month. Habit could be worth more than 100,000 Rand. And that's assuming you never increase the contribution. That's the power of compounding. It's like going to the gym.

2:31 Nothing happens after the first session. But if you stick with it long enough, people suddenly start asking. You've been eating your Wheaties. Let's look at the different entry points. Lump sum versus a drip feed. Now some people prefer lump sums. Got a bonus from work tax refund? Or maybe you sold your Golf GTI because the balloon payment was about to flatten you. Dropping in a once off lump sum is a valid way to start. Others like the monthly debit or divide like a financial subscription service.

2:59 Personally, that's the best way to build consistency. It forces you to treat investing like a bull. Except this actually pays you later. And then there's the international angle, as long as that you open USD, GBP and Euro accounts. So if you want to buy shares in Apple, Disney or cheeky bit of alliance in Germany, you can. That's it. Don't Sprint overseas before you can call it home.

3:24 Start simple, start local, then expand. Let's talk TFSA, your investment starter pack. One of the best entry points for South Africans is the tax free savings account. You can invest up to 36,000 and a year, that's 3000 Rand a month and you won't pay tax on dividends or capital gains. Think of it as source saying we'll look the other way for now.

3:46 But beware, if you withdraw from your TFSA, that limit doesn't reset slightly. Taking a half divorce roll at the BRA and then realising you don't get a second one. So let's look at the cost questioner, the fees, because that's where brokers make their money. Easy Equities charges at 20 percentage per trade, usually less than one Rand. 100 grand by traditional banks.

4:09 Bell take 100 Rand just for saying hello. Always check brokerage and admin fees before committing. It's like checking the drinks menu recent and the restaurant before you order a castle. You don't want to be surprised. Now behaviour beats rands. Here's the kicker. The hardest part of investing isn't finding the money. It's the behaviour. It's the consistency. Not panicking when your shares the black.

4:32 Steinhoff after Marcus used to play to hide the balance sheet game. This thing is less about timing market and more about time in the market. You don't get compound growth if you keep jumping in and out like you're testing the water. Clifton Beach. Start small, stay consistent, increase overtime. That's it. That's the whole cheat code. So let's look at your start fill stock pack for this how to start sessions. One, you don't need thousands 5 renders enough to get a start. Fractional shares let you own a slice of the pie. 500 Rand a month compounds into serious slash overtime. Lump sums are great but consistency is better. TFSA is your best friend.

5:15 Don't cheat the system. Watch fees like you watch petrol prices. Time in the market, beat timing the market thought where you are, use what you have and grow from there. And that's it for today's maize run. While my jokes may be cheaper than a black label court at the local shebeen, remember this is not financial advice. Please do your own research and speak to a licensed advisor. Catch you next time.

5:40 Same place, same sarcasm.

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