A planning tool built for South Africans
Plainview covers your full financial independence journey — from TFSA projections and tax optimisation through to retirement income. Your data lives in your account and is available on any device, any browser.
The tool is designed around one principle: honest numbers over flattering ones. Projections default to conservative assumptions, worst-case scenarios are shown prominently, and you are always told when a number is an estimate.
A planning and scenario-modelling tool. Use it to understand your trajectory, stress-test your assumptions, and make more informed decisions.
Financial advice. The calculator cannot account for your full personal and tax situation. Consult a qualified financial adviser before acting on projections.
Your account
Plainview requires a subscription account at R99/month. This gives you access to all six planning tools from any device.
Signing up
- Create your account Visit plain-view.co.za and click Get started. Enter your email address and choose a password. You will receive a verification email — click the link to activate your account.
- Subscribe After verifying your email, you will be prompted to subscribe via PayFast. Plainview costs R99/month, billed monthly. You may cancel at any time.
- Log in Once subscribed, log in at plain-view.co.za. Your account syncs your data across all devices automatically.
Logging in on a new device
Open plain-view.co.za and sign in. All your saved data restores automatically — no re-entry required.
Forgotten password
Click Forgot password on the login screen. Enter your email and you will receive a reset link. The link expires after 24 hours.
Cancelling your subscription
Go to Account settings and click Cancel subscription. Access continues until the end of the current billing period. Your data is retained for 12 months after cancellation in case you return, then permanently deleted in accordance with our POPIA obligations.
If capacity is reached, new sign-ups join a waitlist. Existing subscribers are not affected.
First-run setup
When you log in for the first time, a short setup screen appears. It takes about 30 seconds and routes you to the most relevant tab.
The three setup questions
- Where are you on your journey? Choose from Building wealth, Getting close (within 5–10 years of retirement), or In retirement. This determines which tab you land on after setup.
- How old are you? A broad age range — pre-populates your age field. You can change the exact value in each tab at any time.
- What is your main focus? TFSA, FI number, tax reduction, or retirement income. All six tabs remain available regardless of your answer.
Go to Account settings and click Redo setup. The setup screen will reappear immediately. This does not affect any saved data.
Example data
After setup, you can opt in to load an example profile — a fictional 38-year-old with a mix of accounts. All example values are clearly labelled and can be cleared at any time from the top of the calculator.
How your data saves
Your calculator state is saved to your Plainview account. It is available on any device you log in to and restores automatically each session.
Save behaviour
- Data saves automatically when you switch between tabs.
- You can save manually at any time using the Save button. The last-saved timestamp is shown alongside it.
- Each tab saves its state independently. Two fields — age and expected annual return — are shared across tabs.
If you close the browser before an auto-save triggers, changes made since the last save may be lost. Use the Save button before closing if you have made significant changes.
Multi-device access
Log in on any device — desktop, tablet, or phone. Your last saved state is restored automatically. No sync step is required.
Data retention
Your data is retained for as long as your subscription is active, plus 12 months after cancellation. Download a PDF from the Summary tab if you want a permanent offline record.
Only your name and email address are held for account management. Your calculator data is encrypted at rest and in transit. Plainview does not sell or share your data. See the Privacy Policy for full details.
TFSA Calculator
Projects the growth of your Tax-Free Savings Account based on your real TFSA data and a portfolio you build from actual South African ETFs.
Step 1 — Enter your TFSA details
- Current account balance What your TFSA is worth today. Check your platform (EasyEquities, Satrix, etc.) for the current value. If you hold TFSAs across multiple institutions, enter your combined total balance — but note that forward projections only model the ETFs you select in the calculator. Holdings at other institutions are not modelled.
- Total historical contributions The total amount you have put in since opening your TFSA — not including growth. This counts towards your R500,000 lifetime limit. If your account is worth R95,000 but you deposited R80,000, enter R80,000.
- Total withdrawals to date If you have ever taken money out of your TFSA, enter the total here. Leave blank or enter 0 if you have not.
- Contribution plan Enter either a monthly or annual contribution amount. The calculator converts automatically.
- Age and target age Your current age and the age at which you want to see the projection end.
Check your annual tax certificate (IT3b) or investment statement — usually labelled "Total Contributions" or "Contributions to Date".
Step 2 — Choose a contribution pattern
- Monthly — end-of-year compounding. The default and the more conservative assumption.
- Lump sum, early (March–May) — start-of-year compounding, accurate for early tax-year deposits.
- Lump sum, late (Dec–Feb) — end-of-year compounding.
Step 3 — Build your ETF portfolio
Search and select from real South African ETFs. For each, assign a percentage allocation. Allocations must total exactly 100% before the portfolio return can be used. Split Equally divides 100% evenly across selected ETFs.
Step 4 — Apply the portfolio return
Once your portfolio totals 100%, an Apply to Projection button appears with a pulsing purple glow. Click it to copy the calculated return into your projection settings.
Building a portfolio does not automatically update your projection. You must click Apply to Projection. Until you do, the projection uses whatever return is in the Expected Annual Return field (default 10%).
How returns are adjusted
Before applying a portfolio return, the calculator subtracts the fund's annual fee (TER) and blends the historical return toward the long-run SA equity average (~10%) for projections extending beyond the fund's data history. This prevents short-term outperformance being extrapolated across decades.
Step 5 — Add planned withdrawals (optional)
Enter the year and amount for any planned TFSA withdrawal. The calculator models the impact on your balance and remaining lifetime contribution room.
The R500,000 lifetime contribution limit is not restored when you withdraw. If you withdraw R100,000, your maximum future contributions drop to R400,000. This space cannot be recovered.
Step 6 — Calculate
Click Calculate Projection. Results show your projected final balance, total contributions, total tax-free growth, and a year-by-year table.
The R46,000 annual contribution limit applies per tax year, not per calendar year. Example: the 2025/26 tax year runs 1 March 2025 to 28 February 2026.
Tax & RA
Shows the tax impact of retirement annuity (RA) and pension contributions on your take-home pay and tax liability.
What to enter
- Gross income — total annual income before tax or deductions.
- Other income — rental, freelance, or other taxable income not in gross salary.
- RA contribution — annual contribution to a retirement annuity.
- Pension contribution — annual employee contribution to a workplace pension or provident fund.
- Medical aid members — number of dependants including yourself.
- Age — affects age-based tax rebates.
Understanding the results
After clicking Calculate Tax Impact, the results area shows two panels side by side.
Tax breakdown table — left panel
Three columns compare what you pay without any retirement contributions, what you pay with them, and the rand difference on each line. The bold rows — Income tax payable and Net monthly take-home — are the most directly relevant figures. Rows for rebates, UIF, and medical credits provide context.
The tax bracket bar below the table shows which of SARS's seven brackets applies to your taxable income after the deduction. This is informational — it shows where you currently sit, not where you should aim to be.
Key Insights panel — right panel
The right panel translates the table into plain figures:
- Total tax saving — the rand reduction in annual tax liability from all retirement contributions entered.
- Monthly take-home impact — how much less your take-home is compared to not contributing. This is smaller than the contribution amount because the tax saving offsets part of it.
- Medical aid tax credit — a flat SARS credit per member that reduces your tax bill directly. It is shown separately because it is unaffected by retirement contributions.
- Compounding illustration — a mathematical model showing what the RA tax saving would grow to if reinvested at your FI return rate over 5, 10, and 20 years. This is an illustrative calculation only, not financial advice or a recommendation to invest in any particular vehicle.
What-if slider
Below the results, the slider lets you model different RA amounts without re-running the full calculation. The four cards — RA tax saving, monthly take-home, change vs current, and effective rate — update as you drag. Use this to understand the relationship between contribution levels and tax outcomes for your specific inputs.
Results are estimates based solely on the inputs you provide and the current SARS tables loaded in the calculator. They do not account for your full tax situation, prior-year losses, carry-forward deductions, or any other personal factors. Consult a registered tax practitioner before making decisions about retirement contributions.
SARS allows a deduction of up to 27.5% of the greater of taxable income or remuneration, capped at a flat statutory ceiling each year (R430,000 for 2026/27). Whichever of the two is lower is your actual personal limit — contributions above it aren't deductible this tax year, though the excess can be carried forward to a future one.
Worked through for the R560,000 / R96,000 example above:
Notice the 27.5% figure (R154,000) wins here, well short of the flat R430,000 ceiling — this is the common trap: your personal limit is usually the 27.5% figure, not the flat cap. Only very high earners are ever constrained by the statutory ceiling itself.
RA, pension, provident and employer RA/pension/provident contributions all share this one limit — they aren't separate allowances. The calculator has an input for each, and employer contributions are treated by SARS as a taxable fringe benefit to you that simultaneously counts as your own contribution towards the deduction. The "Your deduction limit" panel on the RA Tax Benefit Calculator runs this same waterfall live against your own numbers.
Below that, an RA vs brokerage comparison lays out the tax, liquidity, access and flexibility trade-offs of putting extra money into an RA versus a brokerage account. It's descriptive only — it doesn't recommend maximising your RA contribution, since that depends on your own circumstances and goals.
RA and pension values entered here do not flow into the FI Tracker. If you have an RA, enter it in both tabs separately.
FI Tracker
Your full financial independence picture across all accounts — TFSA, RA, pension, brokerage, preservation fund, and cash savings.
How gears work
Each account type is a "gear" with fields for current value, annual contribution, and target value.
| Gear | Notes |
|---|---|
| TFSA | Pulls from your TFSA tab calculation, or enter manually. |
| RA | Subject to the two-thirds annuity rule at retirement. |
| Pension / Provident Fund | Includes employer contribution field. End-of-year compounding (payroll contributions). |
| Preservation Fund | Growth-only — no ongoing contributions. Same retirement rules as RA/pension. |
| Brokerage | Taxable account — Capital Gains Tax (CGT) applies on withdrawals. |
| Cash / Emergency Fund | Target is calculated to keep interest within the SARS annual exemption — earning tax-free interest. |
| Custom goals | Add your own goals (property, business, offshore). Each can have its own return rate. |
Adding a custom gear
Click Add custom goal to track any account or asset not covered by the standard gears. Custom gears come in two types, chosen when you create the gear:
| Type | Use it for | How it grows |
|---|---|---|
| Savings / Investment | Unit trusts, offshore ETF portfolios, house deposit funds, side savings accounts | Current value + ongoing contributions + investment return |
| Asset Appreciation | A property you own, a business interest, a lump sum already invested that you do not add to | Current value + investment return only — no contribution field |
Each gear also has an Include in Full FI ring checkbox. When checked, the gear's value counts towards your FI progress. When unchecked, the gear is tracked separately with its own progress ring but does not affect your FI date — useful for assets you do not intend to draw on at retirement.
Adding a custom gear
Click Add custom goal to track any account or asset not covered by the standard gears. You choose the type when you create it:
| Type | Use it for | How it grows |
|---|---|---|
| Savings / Investment | Unit trusts, offshore ETF portfolios, house deposit funds, side savings accounts | Current value + annual contribution + return |
| Asset Appreciation | A property you own, business equity, a lump sum already invested that you don't add to | Current value + return only — no contribution field |
Each gear also has an Include in Full FI ring checkbox. When checked, the gear's projected value contributes to your FI progress and affects your FI date. When unchecked, the gear is tracked independently with its own ring — useful for assets you don't plan to draw on at retirement.
FI number and multiplier
- 33× (default) — 3% withdrawal rate. Conservative and appropriate for SA conditions including higher inflation.
- 25× — the classic 4% rule. Less conservative for longer retirements.
Both are shown side by side. The 33× figure is the conservative default — either can be changed manually.
Today's money toggle
Toggle Show in today's money to see all projections in current purchasing power, adjusted for inflation. Useful for understanding what a large future balance actually means in today's terms.
Adding a custom goal
Click Add custom goal. Enter a name, target amount, and optionally a per-goal return rate. Custom goals show a "custom" badge and can be deleted at any time.
When adding a custom goal, Enter moves you to the next field and confirms on the final field — no need to reach for the mouse.
Annual Review
A once-a-year check-in, best done each March after the tax year closes. Record your actual account balances and compare them to what was projected.
When to use it
Open this tab in March each year with your final statements. Enter the closing balances for each FI Tracker gear for the year just ended.
What you get
- Net return — contribution-adjusted, so you see actual investment performance, not the mechanical effect of deposits.
- Actual vs projected — whether your portfolio grew faster or slower than the projection.
- Multi-year view — each year is a collapsible card showing year, contributions, growth, and net return at a glance.
Each March review anchors the projection to your real balances. Without this step, projections drift further from reality the longer you use the tool.
Drawdown
Models your retirement income from two sources: a liquid portfolio (TFSA and brokerage) and your retirement fund converted to an annuity.
Shared assumptions
At the top of the tab, you set parameters that apply to both sections. These represent your retirement context, not your current situation:
- Retirement age — when you stop contributing and start drawing. SA allows RA access from age 55.
- Post-retirement investment return — portfolio growth rate in retirement. Should be lower than your accumulation-phase return. 7%–8% is a conservative starting point.
- Inflation rate — used to increase withdrawals each year to preserve spending power. SA's long-run average is around 5%–6%.
- Drawdown projection horizon — how many years to model income after retirement. If you retire at 60 and want to plan to age 90, enter 30.
- Annual fees and costs — TER, platform and adviser fees combined. Deducted from your return before projecting.
- Brokerage CGT cost base — the percentage of each brokerage withdrawal that is a capital gain. Default 30% is conservative. TFSA withdrawals are always tax-free and unaffected by this setting.
Section 1 — Flexible drawdown (liquid portfolio)
Portfolio values are projected to your retirement age using your FI Tracker balances. Set your annual withdrawal amount and withdrawal rate — the two fields are linked. Toggle Inflation-adjust withdrawals to increase the rand withdrawal each year with inflation.
TFSA withdrawals are tax-free. Brokerage withdrawals are subject to CGT on the gain component, estimated using your cost base setting.
Section 2 — Annuity income estimator
Your RA, pension, and preservation fund are governed by SARS retirement rules. At least two-thirds must be annuitised at retirement. You may take up to one-third as a cash lump sum.
Lump sum
The first R550,000 of lifetime retirement lump sums is tax-free. Amounts above that are taxed at 18%–36%. This threshold is lifetime — any prior retirement fund withdrawals (resignation, retrenchment) count against it.
If you withdrew R200,000 when you resigned previously, only R350,000 of your retirement lump sum is now tax-free.
Annuity type
Choose between a living annuity and a life annuity. This choice is permanent and irreversible at retirement.
- Living annuity — capital stays invested. Drawdown is regulated by the FSCA between 2.5% and 17.5% per year. The fund can run out. Remainder passes to beneficiaries.
- Life annuity — capital is handed to an insurer permanently for a guaranteed income for life. The insurer retains the remainder on death.
The after-tax income estimate uses the current year's SARS tables and assumes retirement income is your only source. It is not tax advice. Consult a registered tax practitioner before making retirement income decisions.
Summary
A read-only overview of your full picture, pulled from all five other tabs. Use it to sense-check your inputs before downloading a report.
What it shows
- TFSA projected balance and remaining lifetime contribution room
- FI Tracker totals — combined portfolio value against your FI number
- Tax & RA snapshot — current tax liability and RA benefit in rand
- Drawdown snapshot — estimated monthly income and worst-case duration
- A verification check that flags incomplete or inconsistent inputs
Downloading your PDF report
Click Download PDF Report. The report is generated in your browser and downloaded immediately — it is never stored on our servers. The filename is generated automatically:
The PDF includes all input values, your ETF portfolio, the TFSA projection table, and drawdown estimates. It is a portable snapshot you can save, print, or share with a financial adviser.
The PDF reflects whatever is currently displayed. If you have changed inputs since your last calculation, run the relevant tabs before generating the report.
Entering numbers
All currency fields accept standard South African number format.
46,000
46,000.50
R46,000 (R symbol is stripped automatically)
36 000 (space as separator)
forty-six thousand
Currency symbols, letters, and special characters are stripped automatically. You can paste values directly from a bank statement or spreadsheet.
Validation limits
| Field | Limit | Reason |
|---|---|---|
| TFSA current value | Warning at R10m, max R100m | TFSAs began March 2015. R10m+ is implausible given contribution limits. |
| Historical contributions | Max R500,000 | Lifetime TFSA contribution limit. |
| Annual contribution | Warning at R46,000 | SARS levies a 40% penalty on contributions above R46,000 per tax year. |
Key South African rules
The calculator applies these rules automatically.
TFSA
- Annual contribution limit: R46,000 per tax year (2025/2026)
- Lifetime contribution limit: R500,000
- Penalty for excess: 40% tax on the amount over the annual limit
- Withdrawals do not restore contribution room
- All growth and withdrawals are tax-free
Retirement funds (RA / Pension / Preservation)
- RA deduction: up to 27.5% of the greater of taxable income or remuneration, capped at R430,000/year
- At retirement: up to one-third as a lump sum; the rest must be annuitised
- Retirement lump sum: first R550,000 tax-free (lifetime, across all retirement fund withdrawals)
- Living annuity drawdown: 2.5%–17.5% of fund value per year (FSCA regulated)
Tax years
South African tax years run 1 March to 28/29 February. Contribution limits reset on 1 March. The calculator automatically switches to the correct tax year on 1 March each year.
SARS tax brackets, TFSA limits, RA caps, and retirement lump sum thresholds are updated in the calculator after each February Budget Speech. No action required — the update is applied automatically on next login.
Disclaimer & legal notices
Not financial advice
Plainview is provided for planning and educational purposes only. It does not constitute financial, tax, investment, or legal advice. Projections are estimates based solely on the inputs you provide and the assumptions described in this guide. No guarantee is made as to accuracy, completeness, or suitability for your personal circumstances.
Past ETF performance does not guarantee future results. Consult a qualified financial adviser (FSP licensed under the FAIS Act, 37 of 2002) and a registered tax practitioner before making material decisions about retirement, annuities, or investment contributions.
Nature of the service
Plainview is operated by an independent private party. The operator is not a registered financial adviser, financial institution, or investment company and holds no licence under the FAIS Act, 37 of 2002. This service is provided for educational and informational purposes only.
Privacy (POPIA)
Plainview processes personal information in accordance with the Protection of Personal Information Act, 4 of 2013 (POPIA). Calculator data is encrypted at rest and in transit and is never sold or shared with third parties. See the Privacy Policy for full details.
Intellectual property
All financial logic, calculation methodology, projection algorithms, user interface design, and code are the exclusive intellectual property of the developer and protected under applicable South African copyright law.
The following are strictly prohibited without prior written consent:
- Extracting, copying, or reproducing any calculation logic, formula, or algorithm
- Reverse-engineering, decompiling, or disassembling any part of the code
- Using any portion of the methodology in a competing or derivative product
- Redistributing, sublicensing, or reselling access to this tool or its outputs
- Scraping or automated extraction of data, results, or interface content
Limitation of liability
To the maximum extent permitted by applicable law, the developer accepts no liability for financial decisions made in reliance on projections produced by this tool. Use of this tool constitutes acceptance of these terms.
All projections are mathematical estimates based solely on the inputs you provide. They do not account for tax events, life changes, market volatility beyond the assumed rate, or any other factor not explicitly modelled. Treat all outputs as a starting point for professional conversations, not a basis for independent financial decisions.
Full terms at plain-view.co.za/terms-of-service.
Before you begin
You can return to this guide at any time from the calculator.