How I advised my mother-in-law on her search for income

“Where can I get some income from nowadays?” she quizzed. I knew that my standard line – “sorry, I cannot give financial advice” – would not work in this situation. I took a long gulp, and set about establishing the ground rules. Only a few questions were needed: the result of some share sales and dividend payments meant that they had a tidy sum sitting in a high street bank account gaining a full 0.25% interest rate a year – and quite possibly she was paying tax on that as well as the words R85 meant nothing to her at all. First things first, I advised, what do you need the money for...