Investors always want to know the reason for why the market and / or currency went up or down. If we can explain it then we think we can control it, which makes us feel a lot better than the
No rational decision behind buying, selling
Synthesise the noise rationally
I received an email from a client titled “Panic Attack”. The gist of the concern being land expropriation and more specifically news flow iro land invasions in Randburg in which several farms were supposedly taken by force. When I googled
What does money really mean to you?
Establishing if you have enough for retirement is a fairly simple exercise of determining how much income you need to fund your lifestyle and then calculating how much capital is required to provide for this income using an assumed rate
This is just the darkest hour before dawn
Our politicians will do well to remember that economics drives politics and not the other way around, unless of course you are a dictatorship. Just ask Marie Antoinette what happens when you run out of bread or was it cake….
Think before changing proven strategies
The most important factor in successful investment is your behaviour and it’s the hardest thing to manage, because it is usually driven by irrational thinking and the failure to learn from past mistakes. No matter how much evidence is provided
A more sustainable provision for retirement
Living Annuities are currently under the spotlight and likely to be blamed for poor retirement outcomes. However, this is like blaming traffic fatalities on the invention of the motor vehicle. Taking a step back living annuities have all but replaced
Assess investment risk in retirement planning
The three risks underlying retirement planning is longevity, inflation and investment risk. As a retiree you have no control over your longevity and the inflation risk. If only we knew when our time was up planning would be easy. Just
Inflation within target, but be cautious
Why does nobody believe the published inflation rate? I will attempt to answer this question by explaining how inflation is calculated. The inflation rate refers to the annual average rate of increase in prices represented by a basket
Thinking long-term pays dividends
If you are disappointed with returns from your investment portfolio over the last quarter, then that probably means you have a well-diversified strategy with plenty of exposure offshore. If that’s the case, then you shouldn’t worry too much about the
Price mustn’t be confused with value
The strength of a countries currency can be viewed as a proxy for the price of the country. Just like with any investment you must differentiate between price and value. Price is what you pay and value if what you