Hive Club is a financial management platform for freelancers and professional contractors such as (but not limited to) project managers, IT-developers, health professionals, creatives, etc. that don't require a license to operate. 




Hive Club is ideal for freelancers who 

• just started and/or currently invoice in their personal capacity, look to improve their tax- and financial management
• have been in the game for a while, invoice through their own entity (e.g. PTY Ltd. or Sole Proprietor) but are looking to improve their financial management and reduce their cost of doing business




Hive Club is not open to people in employment, nor to small businesses that sell goods.

Contact us and we call you back for a consultation. Once you've gone through all the information and you're happy, you become a prospective member (free). Depending on availability and fit, Hive Club invites you to full membership (paid).

Remain free: keep your freedom as a freelancer

As a freelancer, you are responsible for your own jobs, clients and revenue. Hive Club does not match you with jobs.





Do less: use Hive Club's shared services


To invoice your clients, get tax-breaks and manage your money efficiently, you need a business. Instead of setting up your own legal entity (e.g. PTY Ltd.), your own business processes, your own IT, your own accounting, tax returns, financial planning and more to invoice your clients and manage your income, you get to own your own business with all the necessary services already in place: much less admin for you.




Become a business owner

Hive Club let's you own your own business. You get to hold actual, legally defined ownership of your business and it's revenue, without having to do any of the work that comes with setting up your own business. Your ownership is expressed in the amount of revenue you generate through your business (rather than in shares).




Be in control: you control your revenue

You invoice through Hive Club, either under the Hive Club brand or under your own business name. Your client pays your business. Your business pays you. Because you own your business, you own your revenue. Whatever you invoice, is what you own and control.




You control your revenue, because you instruct Hive Club to pay your money out to you the way you want to within the rules and regulations as set out by the legislator as well as the Hive Club platform. You can change your instruction at any time. If you'd ever decide to leave the Club, you take your revenue with you.




Grow strong: Improve your financial health

Hive Club helps you manage your finances, they way you want to. You state your goals, Hive Club calculates your taxes and automatically pays your revenue towards your goals, as per your instruction. 




Besides your personal goals, Hive Club pays specific attention to your financial security (so you have money on hand when you are facing some setbacks) and financial freedom (so you can choose to work because you want to, not because you have to). So, if these are important concerns to you, you have found the right place.

1. Your membership is free of charge.
   
2. For administration purposes, Hive Club charges 2,5% of your monthly revenue (ex. VAT), starting at R750/month.
3. Taxes, deductions and expenses are processed monthly. 
4. If you take out 3rd party products such as insurance, Hive Club receives commissions. In that case, Hive Club will always inform you of the commission it receives.
5. To some Hive Club benefits, specific fees apply. When you consider taking up such a benefit, Hive Club will always be transparent about the fee you pay. 
   

Hive Club calculated its fees based on the following principles:

1. The fees cover the cost to Hive Club of running the administration, consulting experts in tax and financial legislation, building automation and so on.
2. If you earn less revenue, you pay lower fees. This way, Hive Club is accessible to all income groups. 
3. Your fees are less than what you would normally pay for running your business yourself, based on common market rates for accountants, lawyers, and so on. Therefore you are usually better off joining Hive Club than running your own business.
4. Your fees are usually less than your tax benefit (depending on your final configuration). In other words, by joining as a member, you usually get more money out than what you would if you'd continue to work in your individual capacity.

When you receive your salary or fees, the Club makes reservations for taxes. When you spend less and save and invest more in your business, your tax goes down. With every saving and investment you pay less tax, which enables you to use the money saved to reach your goals, faster. 




How do I get more money out?

You save taxes on your business expenses (not on your personal expenses). This means you get more money out when you invest money within Hive Club or incur expenses for your business related to IT, telephony, consultants, advertising, travel, meals & entertainment, office.




Calculation example

• Nhlanhla earned R 90 000 in revenue this month
• From this amount, he is paid a gross salary of R 40 000, leaving R 50 000 for other expenses.
• Out of the R 50 000, Hive Club reserves R 19 799 for PAYE for in case Nhlanhla decides to spend the full amount on personal expenses 
• This leaves Nhlanhla with R 30 201 to spend, out of which Nhlanhla decides to spend R 7 960 on business expenses 
• By doing so, he effectively reduced tax reservations and got R 2 322 more out

If you are earning a salary through your Hive Club business, you are required to save up for paid leave. You determine how many leave days you want, with a minimum of 15 per year (as required by law). 




How much you save, is calculated as follows: (number of leave days per year/number of working days per year)*hourly rate. This means you will be saving a percentage of your earnings as per the table below:

Calculation example

Nhlanhla earns R 400/hr (ex. VAT). He agreed with Hive Club to have 20 leave days per year. By the end of the month of August, he bills 160 hours. This means he gets paid R 64 000 ex. VAT, out of which Hive Club allocates R 5 120 (8%) to his leave savings account.

When Nhlanhla takes up leave, he gets a pay out from his leave fund, which is added to his revenue, out of which expenses, including his salary, are being paid.

Continue to receive a salary and expense budget when in between contracts, for up to 6 months. (The first month is for your own account.)




As a member, you can choose to join the Unemployment Cover, which is a group savings scheme. When you decide to join, you join a group of 20-50 peers you know and trust. Each of you saves a fixed amount every month. When you have reached your personal savings target, the surplus is returned to you.




Whenever one of your group members is in between contracts, he or she covers the first month that he or she is without income. After that, this group member receives a pay out from the group's savings for each month that he or she is in between contracts, up to a maximum of 5 months. 




The more you save per month, the higher the amount you receive when in between contracts.




For whom?

This cover is available for contractors with contracts of 6 months or longer from the moment they join the cover.




How do I know I don't get scammed?

The unemployment cover is based on trust, anchored in the group structure and controls. Members can join on-invitation-only (or start their own group) and groups cannot take on more than 50 members to ensure that all members know and trust each other on a personal basis. 




Each group is headed by a committee of 3 group members, elected and audited by the group. The committee accepts and decides on applications for pay outs. If the committee finds a member to defraud the group, the committee can decide to expel the fraudulent member without compensation. The savings accumulated by the fraudulent group member will be distributed to the rest of the group. The administration of savings and pay outs is carried out by Hive Club, on the instruction of the group committee.




A similar concept has been tried and tested in the Netherlands for almost 20 years, across more than 300 groups and almost 20 000 members. None of the groups have ever been unable to cover its members. 

Keep earning an income while you are on maternity leave. For mums and dads.




The more you save each month, the more you are paid out when on maternity leave. You can choose the amount and duration of your leave. Once you have reached your savings target, the surplus is returned to you.

Save up by yourself or with your peers to buy your home, cash. Save hundreds of thousands of Rands and years of payments compared to a bank loan.




You simply put a portion of your income aside for your home, after tax, every month. Your savings go into a trust account at one of the large financial institutions. The account is governed by the institution, in accordance with the rules of the trust. The institution will only transfer or pay out monies in the account after all trustees have signed. Trustees are all members that save towards the account, plus a Hive Club representative. If you save up by yourself, the trustees are yourself and the Hive Club representative.




Save up by yourself

When you save up by yourself, you reach your savings goal after 8 years.




Save up as a group

Each group is registered as a trust under Hive Club. Each trust has 8 members. All members pay in an equal amount each month and will be able to buy one property each year, as a group. Each member has the right to choose and occupy a property. The order of occupation is decided by the luck of the draw. After 8 years, the group will have acquired 8 properties, cash. The group then decides whether to dissolve itself or carry on.




Members occupying a property pay occupational rent to the group (i.e. partly to themselves) for the duration that the group is in existence. This way, there is no unfair disadvantage to members who get to occupy a property only after several years, until which time they are required to pay rent towards a third party.




What is the benefit?

Normally, when paying for a home through a mortgage, at an 11% annual interest rate, a R1.45m property equates to R1.9m in interest and 20 years of payments. In addition, income tax of around R1.34m is payable before payments can be made towards the bank loan. 




In comparison, savings towards the property fund are made before taxes (save around R1m on income tax on the interest portion) for only 8 years, without paying interest (R1.9m). When you save up as a group, you have the additional benefit of up to R0.5m in rental income (before tax) as well. 




The total benefit therefore equates to R2.9m in savings, and - as a group - R0.5m in additional gross income. You also save 12 years of making payments.




What's the catch?

The property fund requires a member to save up money while paying rent at the same time. Therefore, a member must have sufficient cash flow for 8 years to do both.




Because of property fund's structure, capital gains tax is payable on any profits that might be made after selling a property. However, compared to the amount of income tax and transfer duties that would otherwise be payable, the total tax liability is in fact much lower as compared to a normal mortgage-backed property.




How can I trust that I don't loose money?

All savings are governed by the property fund's constitution and held in a trust account at one of the large financial instution. The institution sees to it that money is only paid out after all trustees (members that saved towards the account as well as a Hive Club representative) have signed for the release.




The group is structured as a trusts with its own (standard) constitution and rules set, administered by Hive Club and independently audited on a yearly basis. Members can join a group on invitation only to ensure trust, unless they choose to join an 'anonymous' group. All monies remain within the group until such time that all members savings goals and rules have been met. Savings can only be spent after sign off by all group members. 




If one of the members defaults on his or her contributions, his or her contributions to date will befall on the group. Members are protected from defaulting by creating a limited buffer to ensure that payment obligations are met, even under temporary circumstances of reduced income. Because of this buffer, the risk of loosing a property and the invested funds through the property fund is much less as compared to bank loans. 




Properties are held in the name of the trust as long as savings are made. This means that, if an individual member defaults on his commitments, the property is under the control of the remaining members. This ensures that all individuals stay committed to making payments until all members have a home of their own.




Can I join if I'm already paying a mortgage?

Yes you can. In this case you would save up individually and your savings would be paid into your bond account, to save money paid on interest.




Is there additional cost involved?

Yes. Hive Club charges 5% administration fees on contributions to a property fund. In the example of a R1.45m property this would equate to a total fee of R 72 500, as compared to around R1.93m in fees and interest that would be associated with a bond.




Saving up to pay off your mortgage is exempt from this cost.

Part of the Hive Club Money Programme® is to save up for emergencies. First R 10 000, then 3 months of revenue.




Emergency savings are a personal savings scheme, which means you allocate a portion of your revenue to your emergency savings fund which is exclusively controlled and used by you. You can use your emergency savings for business expenses or personal expenses. When you use your savings for business expenses, you get cash back. 




How much you save, you determine during the consultation with your Hive Club consultant.

As a member, you can save up a portion of your revenue for a 13th month during December. This means that, if your salary is for example R 40 000, you save up R 3 333/month. Come December, you get paid out your salary, and an additional R40 000. 




You can join at anytime. Whatever you save up, you get paid out. For example, if you join on 1 July, you get paid out 6*R 3 333 = R 20 000 over December.




If you remain a member but leave the scheme before December, you get paid out whatever you saved in December. For example, if you leave on 31 July, you get paid 7*R 3 333 = R 23 333 over December.




If you leave as a member, you get paid out whatever you have saved up by the end of the last month of being a member.

As an employee, you can take up insurance and retirement to become financially secure. All insurance and retirement products are 3rd party products. You can choose from the following products:

• Income protection in case of illness
• Life insurance
• Medical aid & Gap cover
• Dread disease
• Car insurance
• Retirement




All products and their premiums will be calculated based on your income. 




All members are required to be insured for all of the above, resp. pay towards their retirement. However, members are not required to take up products made available to you through Hive Club. In other words, if you have Income protection already, you can choose to stay on your current plan.

Hive Club allocates a portion of your revenue to a travel allowance. You receive this allowance to cover the cost you incur when driving your car for business. 




The allowance is around R 2 500/month, tax free.

Do you have bouncing debit orders on the regular and a bad credit record as a result?




Let Hive Club set up a bank account for all your debit orders. Every month, the Club automatically transfers sufficient money into your debit order account to ensure there is enough to never have a bouncing debit order again.