Financial Advisor
Money Matters is a bi-weekly financial advice column that Mark has been writing for the District Mail, the local newspaper in the Helderberg, since 2001. We see this column as part of our corporate responsibility work as most of the
At gym, the other day a local minister mentioned that he regularly read my article. He questioned me on the difficulty of selecting a new topic each week. His passing words were, “at least you know how we ministers feel
Our love for stories and the ability to share stories widely has been mooted as the key determinant of our success as humankind, but also our potential downfall as investors. We cannot resist a good story, which talks to our
My favourite to despise financial commentator, MH for anonymity reasons, was up to his old tricks this week with another article trashing SA in favour of offshore investing. He is confident and outspoken in his view, which reminds me of
The financial world loves coming up with new buzz words to encapsulate what is trending. Alan Greenspan famously referred to “irrational exuberance” in describing the property bubble of the early 2000’s. “Green-shoots” was used extensively in the aftermath of the
I was in two minds whether to write this article criticising the banks for promoting their tax-free savings products for fear of discouraging the act of saving in a country where the savings rate is negative, which means “we don’t
Following the income thread of my previous article, this week I will cover sustainable income drawdown rules for retirees. Below is the FSCA guidelines for sustainable income drawdown rates for living annuity pensioners. The same drawdown rates would apply to
This week I would like to focus on the term capital income, which is usually used to describe the taxable portion of a capital gain realised. However, the term capital income is also applicable in retirement planning. Let me explain
Allan Gray asset management recently came under fire in an article, in which the author opined their recent poor relative performance. The author, who will remain nameless as I think he may have been looking for publicity, blamed the disappointing
The price of generating real above inflation returns by investing in the share market is accepting the inherent volatility associated with equity investing. Investors must remember that short-term price volatility is not the risk per se. The risk is how you
For 3 years now cash has been masquerading as the King. But I am sad to announce, “the King is dead, long live the King!” The reason I say masquerading is the fact that cash can never rule for long