As 2013 draws to a close we would like to remind you why saving sooner is such an important principle to apply to your own life and to instil in those around you. The two important factors that we would like to highlight here are how soon you invest and in which assets you invest. [...]
If the above Telly Duck (From the hit game show Telly Fun Quiz) stirs some nostalgic strings in the deepest gullies of your cerebral cortex, odds are that you have lived to see at least one major market correction. With the South African stock market behaving the way it has over the last 5 years, [...]
A recent CNBC poll found that more Americans opposed ObamaCare than the Affordable Care Act. In addition more Americans supported Obamacare than the Affordable Care Act. This contradiction is further confusing when you consider that ObamaCare and the Affordable Care Act are one and the same Act. The reasons for these strange findings can [...]
On September 18th and 19th two announcements were made. Both the United States and South Africa’s monetary policy decision makers kept their respective interest rate levels unchanged. While these announcements were expected they do need to be highlighted and the expected direction of the interest rates discussed. Below the interest rate history since 2000 is [...]
It may be prudent to recap what we have experienced in the markets since the start of the year. The graph below indicates the performance of the main South African Asset Classes: Equities, Bonds, Listed Property and Money Market. Two aspects of the performance are notable. The first is the dive which Bond and Listed [...]
The investment landscape has been ROUGH over the past few years. Even though the markets have been characterised by uncertainty returns have been kind. This has been due in large part to the easy monetary policy implemented by the central banks of the developed world. A question which now plagues the minds of investment professionals, [...]
The markets certainly have not been a pleasant destination during June. At the time of writing June has produced the following: Indices Return Global Shares MSCI The World Index USD -4.82% Global Bonds J.P. Morgan Global(USD) -0.03% Listed Property FTSE/JSE Africa SA List Prop (SAPY) J253T -5.66% South African Equities FTSE/JSE Africa All Share J203 [...]
The topic on most investor’s lips is the recent steep depreciation of the Rand. On Monday the 27th of May the Rand was trading at R9.61 to the Dollar and by Friday the 31st of May the Rand touched R 10.28. While these levels against the Dollar were not entirely unexpected it was the severity [...]
US Job Market Since the start of the April 2013 we have witnessed the South African All Share Index lose 3.43%. This dip started when the US job market only added 88 000 new jobs in March after February had a 268 000 payrolls gain. The reaction to this news at the start of April [...]
The practice of investing has two major functions: protecting capital in real terms and growing capital in real terms. The qualification “in real terms” refers to the result after inflation has been taken into account. To continue our discussion let us first define inflation: “The rate at which the general level of prices for goods [...]