Honest numbers for South Africa's biggest financial decisions
GuideStation helps South Africans understand the real numbers behind important financial decisions, before you make them and while you're living with them. Whether you're buying a car, taking on a home loan, checking your salary after tax, planning for retirement or choosing health cover, we give you clear numbers so you can weigh the decision yourself.
The real cost of a financial decision is usually hidden. The sticker price on a car doesn't include finance charges or what it costs to run. A home loan isn't just the monthly repayment: there's transfer duty, attorney fees and bond registration. The salary on an offer letter isn't what lands in your account. We make those costs visible, and explain the trade-offs behind them, so you're deciding with real numbers instead of guesses.
- Car — vehicle finance repayments, what you can afford, and the total cost of owning a car
- Property — bond repayments including transfer duty, registration and attorney fees, and how much house you can afford
- Money — your salary after tax on the SARS 2026/27 tax tables, the tax benefit of a retirement annuity, and whether your retirement savings are on track
- Health — what medical aid and pet cover could cost your household
Why you can trust the numbers
Our calculators use South African rates and rules where they apply: SARS tax tables, South African interest rates, SARS transfer duty and the rules for medical schemes. Where we have to make an assumption, such as a typical interest rate or how fast savings grow, we say so on the tool.
Our Sources & methodology page lists where each figure comes from, when it took effect, when we last checked it, and which numbers are our own estimates.
GuideStation gives you decision support, not financial advice. The tools produce estimates to help you weigh a decision; they aren't a recommendation about what to do with your money, and your bank, insurer or adviser may quote different figures.
What GuideStation doesn't do
- There's no sign-up, and we don't ask for your name or contact details.
- We don't record the exact amounts you type into a calculator. Our analytics only sees broad ranges.
- We don't currently rank or recommend financial providers, or sell financial products.
- We don't pass your calculator results to banks, insurers or other providers.
The calculators are built to help you understand the decision first. If GuideStation ever works with sponsors or partners, we'll label it clearly.
GuideStation inside the articles you read
GuideStation calculators can also appear inside publisher articles, so you can work through the numbers without leaving the story. They carry the GuideStation name and use the same calculations and sources as this site. See how publishers use them.
Got a tool idea, spotted an error, or want to use GuideStation tools on your own site? Get in touch →
Built in South Africa, for South Africans.
Our calculations use local rates and local rules: SARS tax tables, SARB-linked interest rates, South African transfer duty, and the rules for medical schemes registered with the CMS.