As your wheel of life turns, your financial needs, goals and focuses change. When you start working, you’re absorbed by accumulating assets. Later, as you near retirement, your focus shifts to wealth preservation. And eventually, when you’re settled and comfortable in...
Why You Should Keep Your Investment Strategy to Yourself
“There is no pebble so small that it won’t make ripples when tossed into a body of water.” (Charles Peck) In a recent blog post, financial writer Morgan Housel made an interesting observation. He wondered what would happen if people invited public scrutiny of the way...
Three Pot System 101: What You Need to Know Before 1 September
“Change is not a gate we pass through; it is the definition of life.” (Millie Florence) The good Supporters of the change believe that introducing an accessible savings pot can provide salvation for those in financial crises, like the one caused by the Covid pandemic....
Why Emotions and Investing Don’t Always Mix
“Speculation leads you the wrong way. It allows you to put your emotions first, whereas investment gets emotions out of the picture.” (John C. Bogle) It’s tempting to believe we can control our emotions regarding money matters. However, being human means we’re...
Know your capacity for risk
You may have longer than you think, and why it matters. Investors underestimate how long they will be invested. Suppose you consider someone entering the workforce today. In that case, it is reasonable to assume that they have a 70-to-75-year investment time horizon,...
Diversification: Free Lunch or Fool’s Gold?
“Diversification is protection against ignorance. It makes very little sense for those who know what they’re doing.” (Warren Buffett) This is all very well, Warren, but we can’t all afford excessive risk. For this reason, Harry Markowitz coined the phrase that...
Is There Really Much Difference Between Investing and Gambling?
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, a gambler is “a person who risks losing money in the hope of winning a lot more money.” An investor, on the other hand, is defined as “a person who puts money into something in order to make a profit.” Several pots on the boil...
Tax Tip: Must-Do Top Ups in February
RAs: The big one Retirement Annuities (RAs) offer significant tax breaks as contributions to the investments are tax-deductible, and the growth within the funds is tax-free. (No income, dividends or capital gains tax applies.) You can contribute a maximum of 27.5% of...
Should you be an Optimist or a Pessimist With Your Money?
“Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.” (George Bernard Shaw) Cast your mind back to the middle of March 2020, when fears around Covid-19 sent the JSE into a spiral. The All Share Index...
How Will Equity Markets Perform in 2024? – By Joe Wiggins*
It is that time again when many “investment professionals” make “predictions” about how various markets will perform over the coming 12 months. The only purpose seems to be to allow us to look back in a year’s time and comment on how pointless such endeavours are....