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
Harry Markowitz developed Modern Portfolio Theory, which theorized that investors could design a portfolio to maximize returns by accepting a quantifiable amount of risk. In other words, investors could reduce risk by diversifying their assets and asset allocation of their investments using
Driving to Cape Town on the N2 last week I witnessed a young lady come to near standstill as she turned her head around to look-in her back window in order to check on approaching traffic before changing lanes. This
The tile of this week’s article sounds more like a tropical storm warning than a warning to investors, which may be appropriate given that TINA can be just as devastating on your wealth as a category five hurricane when making
The recent COVID-19 crisis should be a reminder that sh…t happens and the importance of stress testing your personal finances. The shape of the recovery is best described by the letter K with the upward sloping arm of the K
As it turns out my crystal ball really works. Unfortunately, I only realise that now after going through all my articles written in 2013 when the crystal ball correctly predicted the lousy returns of the last 5 years. Of course,
Guru investor Terry Smith, founder of the phenomenally successful Fundsmith in the UK, has a remarkably simple investment philosophy based on three investment rules: Invest in a good business Pay a fair price for the business Do nothing! I will
“Never let a good crisis go to waste”. Winston Churchill Have you ever stood on a cliff and felt the way your mind and body respond to the threat of being one step away from sure death? It is a
Value style managers have struggled on a relative basis to keep up with broad market indices, which have been driven higher by a handful of mega-cap quality / growth companies mainly listed in the US. Value managers have been underweighting
I would much rather be writing about something other than Covid-19, but this is clearly the only story in town. I use the word story purposely not to make light of the pandemic, but as a play on the word
The investment industry uses some very descriptive words in describing investor behaviour and one of these is capitulation, this is the point when investors throw in the towel. Throwing in the towel is boxing speak for give-up. Picture the towel