SAMANTHA ENSLIN-PAYNE: One eye on a discount and one on a downgrade
When we hit the stores on Black Friday it may be better to put our money away, because who knows where we'll be in 2019
Where did the time go, was the slogan on a T-shirt a colleague was wearing this week. It's almost the end of a fraught 2017, but, in two years' time, will we remember what happened this year? Hard to think we wouldn't. Yet as we faced scandal after scandal this year, what happened in 2016 has become a bit of a blur. Last year, we were in the thick of concerted efforts to get rid of the then finance minister, Pravin Gordhan. At the time, we had no idea what was to come, and we now have even less faith in our prospects for the years ahead. And if we can't predict our personal and the political and economic fortunes of the country with a degree of confidence, how, then, do we plan? Should you buy a new fridge or wait to see if interest rates spike following what is assumed will be further downgrades by credit-ratings agencies? Would the extra cash (if you have any) spent now on a modest refurbishment project on your home be better kept to service higher repayments on a loan if interest...
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