“Gold is the universal language understood by all nations.” (George Herbert) Just a few weeks ago, the gold price climbed above $2,500 per ounce for the first time in history. This has once again got South Africans talking about the attractiveness (or otherwise) of gold as an investment. Gold is probably one of the easiest…
New beginnings After working for forty years, the time has come to make really important decisions about how you’ll manage your retirement funds to ensure that your golden years are all you’d hoped for. When you retire, you must transfer two-thirds of your retirement funds to a Life Annuity or Living Annuity. Your retirement funds…
South Africa is set to introduce a significant reform in its retirement funding system with the implementation of the ‘Two-Pot system’1. The Two-Pot system aims to address several key issues within the current retirement savings framework by balancing the need for long-term savings with the need for short-term financial flexibility, addressing both immediate financial pressures…
“If a man is not faithful to his own individuality, he cannot be loyal to anything.” (Claude McKay) Case study 1: Family matters One financial advisor told us about a 68-year-old client who sold his business and worried his children would be ruined by inheriting too much wealth. The advisor created a Family Constitution outlining…
Magnificent Seven come tumbling down The Magnificent Seven stocks (Apple, Amazon, Google-parent Alphabet, Nvidia, Facebook-parent Meta Platforms, Microsoft, and Tesla) have been responsible for the lion’s share of the US bull market in equities since late 2022. So much so that a new term has made its way into market parlance: “bad breadth”. It refers…
GNU 2.0 the best possible outcome for investors South Africa’s second Government of National Unity in three decades heralds good things to come for the country and investors. Financially speaking, it is the best outcome we can hope for in a challenging political environment. Dominated by the ANC and the Democratic Alliance, the GNU 2.0…
“One must learn to give up momentary, uncertain, and destructive pleasure for delayed, restrained, dependable pleasure.” (Sigmund Freud) What is the marshmallow test? The test was devised by Walter Mischel, a Stanford University psychology professor, in the 1960s. While the test has undergone many tweaks over the years, at its essence it is exceedingly simple.…
“Obviously crime pays, or there’d be no crime.” (G. Gordon Liddy) It’s an unfortunate reality that you can’t be too careful with your money these days. For all that modern technology has done to enhance our lives, it has also sadly made it easier for criminals to operate. It’s no longer necessary for the bad…
“Often, when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else.” Fred Rogers Retirement planning 101 If you’re part of a pension or provident fund or have a preservation fund and/or a retirement annuity, you can withdraw up to one-third of your investments to use as you wish. The…
Investors pin their hopes on an investor-friendly outcome The elections have been and gone, and now we wait to hear the nature of the coalition that the ANC will form after not just losing its majority but only managing to muster a 40% share of the votes. A lot has been written about the potential…
Elections often move markets. This year, eight of the world’s 10 most-populous nations – across the Global North and South – go to the polls in the same year for the first time ever. FX markets are often the best way to express views or hedge positions in and around elections, and FX volatility presents…
