Blog

02
Jul

Financial Freedom : from surviving to thriving

· · · · · · · · · | Investment Wisdom

Most South Africans say they are experiencing anxiety (55%) and nearly half are dealing with financial pressure (46%) and/or depression (40%) during the lockdown, according to a recent online survey by the South African Depression and Anxiety Group (SADAG). With the bleak economic forecast and retrenchments or pay cuts on the cards for many South […]

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22
Oct

a lesson from steady investors

· · · · · · · · · · · · · | Investment Wisdom

Women outperform men by 1.8% when it comes to investment performance, according to a 2018 study by the Warwick Business School. The study tracked 2 800 investors’ behaviour and investment returns for three years. It found that women investors not only outperformed the FTSE 100 during that period, they also outshone their male counterparts. While annual […]

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18
Sep

The ins and outs of offshore investing

· · · · · · · · · · · · · | Investment Wisdom

Considering South Africa’s stock market represents only around 1% of the world’s total listed equity market capitalisation, having some offshore equity exposure is a logical choice – otherwise you are missing out on 99% of the available opportunities, and some fantastic ones at that. However, studies have found that investors in both developed and emerging […]

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19
Aug

Basics of Investing

· · · · · · · | Investment Wisdom

“What is a unit trust?” is among the top 10 financially related questions South Africans search on Google. This is according to a recent report released by the global search engine. Simply put – a unit trust is a type of investment product that provides you with easy access to financial markets. Each unit trust […]

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06
May

Markets don’t care about elections. Or do they?

· · · · | Macro Economic Analyses

Like the election itself, South Africa’s markets are in a quandary. The economy is in a poor state, but SA’s stock markets are verging on record levels. That quandary poses a difficult question: What are SA’s markets anticipating — and what will happen if their expectations are dashed? It’s a cliché by now, but if […]

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23
Apr

Knowing your locus of control

· · · · · · · | Investment Wisdom

How you can influence your investment outcomes – After an undeniably tough 2018, the local market staged a turnaround during the first quarter. But the atmosphere in the country is blowing hot and cold: As the general election approaches, and the Eskom crisis rages on, there is an undercurrent of uncertainty and markets are hypersensitive […]

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19
Feb

Your Financial Year Checklist

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · | Investment Wisdom

The current 2018/2019 tax year is ending on 28 February 2019. During this time, it is important to remember to make use of certain benefits for the year such as your annual deductions and exclusions: Contributions to a retirement annuity can be claimed as a tax deduction when filing your annual tax return. These contributions […]

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31
Dec

We take a look back

· · · · · | Salvo Investment Views

In this post, we look back at the year’s performance of the various asset classes and highlight one of the most statistically significant observations (mean reversion) in financial markets and how it can benefit you as a long-term investor. The most important quality for an investor is temperament, not intellect – Warren Buffet Growth Assets Continue […]

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30
Nov

Is Cash King?

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · | Salvo Investment Views

It has been a good few years for cash. As shown in Graph 1, over the past three years cash (i.e. highly liquid assets, like money market funds and fixed-interest assets, such as Treasury bills) has delivered decent returns, when compared to equities and bonds, with significantly less volatility amid ongoing global uncertainty. This has been […]

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09
Apr

Why cash can be the riskiest asset of all

· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · | Investment Wisdom

When you consider the biggest risk to your wealth – Every investor would have heard of equity and listed property referred to as ‘risk assets’. They would also have seen a graph which shows the relative risk of different asset classes, with cash at the bottom as the ‘lowest risk’ and equity at the top […]

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