The podcast to this newsletter can be listened to here Dawn was Michael Avery’s stand-in on Fine Music Radio last week, and had some interesting interviews, including one with Jeremy Sampson, The Brandfather and an interesting discussion with Johan Steyn around AI. Your summary with links if you’d like to pick and choose… ⚡️ Energy: Renewables vs Fossil […]
Government debt, especially in the US and France is front and centre of the issues at hand, what can be done to fix it? The USA doesn’t care about Taiwan, they just want the chips from the TSMC – once they have it, then what? Why has it taken so long for the massive wastage […]
Anyone who has been an entrepreneur or a manager, has personal experience of the journey from doing everything yourself, to gradually delegating your tasks so you can focus on what you’re good at, some with more success than others. We’ve all come across micromanagers at some time in our lives (and yes, sorry, they’re insufferable). […]
The podcast to this newsletter can be listened to here Global Roundup USA: Latest Market and Economy * U.S. stock markets set new record highs over the last week, with the S&P 500 closing above 6,700 and the Nasdaq and Dow also reaching unprecedented levels despite a federal government shutdown that began on October 1, […]
Dawn and Cobie have an in-depth discussion this week around the Gold bonanza that has been lifting the JSE. The Rand is at its strongest it has been for a while – can these greenshoots last? The US shutdown is an ideal opportunity for the US to bring down its debt burden, extra points if […]
The podcast to this newsletter can be listened to here Global Roundup South Africa* The South African Reserve Bank kept interest rates unchanged the week before last, disappointing those hoping for lower loan repayments and signalling ongoing caution in monetary policy. * Consumer prices for food eased to 5.2% year-on-year in August, attributed to lower food inflation […]
Dawn and Cobie drill down into some of the valuations, especially in the US, and ask – is this a good time to buy or are we topping out… We also look at Argentina, and closer to home, the local JHB Mayor elections, and some of the issues facing the new incumbent.
This week, Jonathan Brummer and Dawn Ridler chat about the interest rate cuts and the independence of the Fed. We also have a deeper dive into the Chinese economy, which is cooling, and the prospect of increased dumping of manufactured goods. This podcast is backed by our weekly free newsletter. Sign up at www.rexsolom.co.za
The podcast to this newsletter can be listened to here. Market and Economic Roundup Of course. Here are 5 key topics on the economy and markets for South Africa (RSA), the United States (USA), and the globe, specifically focused on the last week. South Africa * The South African Reserve Bank held interest rates steady […]
Helping investors protect and growth their wealth is the most enjoyable aspect of being a wealth advisor – it is gratifying both for the client and I to go back into the records and watch how the ‘plan’ has come together, not unlike a fitness coach watching their client complete a marathon. We can see […]
This week, Dawn and Jonathan discuss the buoyant markets, including the surprise bump from Oracle. Is 3% the new normal for inflation in the West, and with the 25 bps drop in interest rates backed in, might we see 50bps?
The podcast to this newsletter can be listened to here. Market and Economic RoundupSouth Africa: Real GDP growth of 0.8% in Q2 2025, driven by manufacturing, mining, and trade sectors. This is still very low, but at least it is positive. Headline inflation rose to 3.5% in July, the highest since September 2024, mainly impacted by […]
The podcast to this newsletter can be listened to here. Market and Economic Roundup Week 36 Year-on-year, the JSE is still showing returns well above average. South Africa 1. Job Losses Deepen: South Africa lost 291,000 jobs recently as major companies exit and retrench, worsening the already high unemployment rate. 2. The B20 Summit in […]
Every day we investors have yet more investment choices piled onto our already overloaded buffet plate – we know that we’re not going to be able to eat them all, and have to make some choices – so what do we do? Put a little bit of each on our plate and hope for the […]
The podcast to the newsletter can be found here. Market and Economic Roundup South Africa South Africa’s currency is on track for its biggest August gain in two decades, with stocks not far behind, as a weakening dollar spurs demand for high-yielding assets outside the US. The rand is up 3% against the greenback this […]
I understand the pushback on advisors that insist on doing you a plan, only to give you some CRM cookie-cutter report, heavy on where you need to spend more, but light on real insight – it’s a great way to justify parting you from your money into grudge purchases, right? Absolutely, that is what they […]
The podcast to this newsletter can be listened to here. Market and Economic roundup RSA Over the past week, the South African markets have demonstrated resilience amid mixed economic trends. * The FTSE/JSE All Shares Index reached 101,750 points on August 21, 2025, marking a 0.69% daily increase and a robust 2.44% gain for the month, […]
This newsletter is also available in podcast format. It can be found here Markets and Economics RSA US Tariff on SA Exports: The US’s new 30% tariff is impacting South African exports, leading the government to respond with strategic trade initiatives and negotiations. The move is expected to weigh on export volumes and local growth. […]
For most of us during our working lives the question that is usually top of mind, and most often asked when first embarking on formal retirement savings, is ‘when’ are you going to retire – that ‘event’ date. Retirement today is not what it was for our parents, and not even what it was a decade or two ago. […]
The podcast to this newsletter can be listened to here Markets and Economics RSA: US Tariffs Threaten South African Exports: The United States has announced new 30% import tariffs that pose significant risks to South Africa’s economy, particularly industries reliant on US trade. This could hurt key export sectors and worsen the trade deficit. Despite […]
The podcast to this newsletter can be listened to here. Markets and Economics The JSE. The JSE All Share Index (SAALL, more commonly still called the ALSI – despite the change taking place in 2002) fell to 98,520 points by July 31, 2025. Despite this weekly dip, the index is up about 1.66% for the […]
Globally the trend is lower interest rates, and South Africa is is on that train, even to the extent that the SARB dropped our rates before the Fed did. (A move often called ‘front running’ The Fed, not usually a good idea for a minnow like us to do, but the US have a unique […]
The newsletter podcast can be listened to here Market View , The JSE The JSE hit a major milestone last week – it finally breached the 100,000 mark. The FTSE/JSE All Share Index reached a historic milestone of about 100,000 points around July 23, 2025, marking a significant landmark for the market. This was a milestone reflecting 65 years of […]
This year, so far, has one common theme – massive market volatility, the sort of volatility we haven’t seen since the pandemic. Most of that volatility has come from Trump’s Tariff tantrums, but locally there was also a brief wobble around the budget. Source: Sharedata.co.za Watching an investment go through wild swings can be highly […]
The podcast to this newsletter can be found here. Market View , The JSE This week, the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) continued its strong performance, with the All Share Index (ALSI) sustaining levels above 91,000 points, reflecting an advance of over 8% for the year to date, 21,8% y-o-y Banking, retail, and property stocks were buoyed by […]
The podcast to this newsletter can be found here Market View This week on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE), market activity has been quiet with , typical for this time of year as global markets transition into the Northern Hemisphere summer. The JSE Top 40 index has experienced moderate trading volumes, reflecting cautious investor sentiment […]
The podcast to this newsletter can be found here. Market View Markets around the world seem to be shrugging off the upcoming tariff uncertainty and keep on hitting record highs. S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit fresh all-time highs. Nvidia, Microsoft, and Meta led the tech surge. The Dow Jones broke 40,000 again, its best week […]
The podcast to this newsletter, can be listened to here Market View Like most markets around the world, the JSE had a bit of a wobble during the heat of the Iran/Israel/US attacks last week, but that was short lived. The Nasdaq has been the first US bourse to get back to business, and is […]
If you’ve done your retirement planning based on assumptions made in 2005 (no, I can’t believe it’s twenty years ago either, in my head 20 years ago is 1980) – then unless it has been regularly reviewed, your retirement plan might not be on track. Back in the noughties it was still considered appropriate to […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike and what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Market View Thanks to the tensions in the Middle East and the new Iran/Israel ‘front’, emerging markets like […]
There are several pivotal times in your life where you’re going to have to have difficult financial conversations – some related to your income, others to your consumption. While many of us are tempted to avoid these conversations and hope everything will come right in the end (let’s face it, they often do) you could […]
The podcast to this newsletter, can be found here Market View Wall Street seems to have regained some of the confidence it lost over the last few months with the Trump shenanigans. The TACO Trump idea seems to prevail—in other words, he will inevitably backtrack, so keep calm and carry on. The JSE continues to […]
The podcast to the newsletter is available here. Market View The JSE continues to shine, with most sectors in the green. While Wall Street has recovered from the ‘Liberation Day” shock, and has become desensitised to TACO diplomacy, it still can’t seem to get back to the highs we saw in January. RSA GDP South […]
The podcast for this newsletter is available here Market View The JSE continues to find new highs, unlike the US, while recovering from ‘Liquidation day’ on the 2nd of April, is still shy of the highs seen in January. Trump’s ‘Mood shifts’ Trying to decipher market movements is all about trying to predict the […]
The podcast to this newsletter can be listened to here. Market View On the back of the fairly favourable reception that Team RSA got at the White House, the All Share continues to hit new highs. Moody’s downgrade of US Blink and you missed it. The historic downgrade of US sovereign debt announced Friday […]
The podcast to this newsletter is available here. Market View The JSE hasn’t stopped hitting new highs if you do a bit of deeper dive into the sectors, the one stand out is the industrial sector: And here is the individual category performance: Budget Deficit update Just when you thought the tariff de-escalation was […]
The podcast to this newsletter, is available here Market View Although the JSE eased off slightly last week, it is still holding its own on a year-on-year basis. The bleats heard around the world. Which economist would have thought that a day would come where a major FOMC announcement would barely register, but a Bleat/Tweet/Chirp […]
I know you might think this topic strange coming from a financial planner – why would I outsource my job and encourage clients to do it on their own? Look, this probably isn’t going to make me popular with my fellow planners and advisors, but unless you have significant investable assets that the planner can […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike and what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Market View Last week, the JSE hit another all-time high of 92,331, and the good […]
Perhaps because of all my years’ experience on this planet, but I have cartloads of stories to tell about clients’ philosophies around legacies and retirement – and yes, they run the full spectrum from… “Make sure my last cent is buried with me” to “I don’t care if I have to sacrifice my retirement, I […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike and what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Market View The graphs below, one of the JSE, the other of Wall Street, are […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike and what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Market View Markets across the world have had a rocky week, but the JSE seems to […]
In the last month, and picking up speed last week, my clients are very worried about their portfolios, especially when they are in, or approaching retirement. Let’s take a breath for a second and get some perspective. Sure, thanks to Trump’s bazooka approach to trying to solve decades of US problems in his first 100 […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike and what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Market View Before we get going with the newsletter, let me just reassure everyone out there […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike and what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Dawn will be running Michael Avery’s Classic Business show on Fine Music Radio at 6pm next week […]
There is a podcast available for this newsletter. Market View The JSE continues to give good returns, while the US markets slump. Other international markets, like Germany (below) and China however are showing much better growth – thanks in the main, from the ‘decoupling’ of US from everyone. FED holds rate drop The […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike and what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Market View Despite the sharp sell-off in the US in the last week, the JSE has […]
If you’ve been following my posts, you’ll know that I talk extensively about that ‘event’ called retirement – which is changing in its time frame and duration all the time. These changes started over two decades ago when pensions, in the main, stopped being ‘defined benefit’ (DB) and turned into ‘defined contribution’ (DC) funds. In […]
Budget 2025 v 2 The full budget speech, the summary, the (invaluable) tax booklet is available HERE Well, finally the budget went ahead. It is interesting to watch the potential parallels between what is happening in the US and here. Like the States, our government separately needs to cut back on spending, not just expect […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike and what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
One of the ongoing challenges of being a financial advisor is managing a client’s expectations – and the only way I have found to do that is by communicating, doing skills transfer and understanding the human psyche when it comes to wealth. Financial behaviour is a whole hornet’s nest to itself, and often other aspects […]
Welcome back to our Newsletter and podcast – We hope you had a great break and looking forward to a happy, healthy and above all, prosperous 2025. Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more […]
Welcome back to our Newsletter and podcast – We hope you had a great break and looking forward to a happy, healthy and above all, prosperous 2025. Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more […]
Behavioral finance is a relatively new facet of investing, and two of the key drivers that came out of the body of research done on the subject are the roles of fear and greed, and they are not mutually exclusive. You can see this behavior on a macro level in markets – with fear fueling […]
Welcome back to our Newsletter and podcast – We hope you had a great break and looking forward to a happy, healthy and above all, prosperous 2025. Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more […]
Welcome back to our Newsletter and podcast – We hope you had a great break and looking forward to a happy, healthy and above all, prosperous 2025. Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more […]
We’re coming to that time in January where New Year’s resolutions are coming under strain, if not completely abandoned. Many of us do resolutions because it gives us a great feeling that this year will be different and better and leave us in a better, happier, wealthier place than when we started. Unfortunately, as soon […]
This is a single blog of the 3 posts that were published on Moneyweb (and picked up by the Citizen newspaper) on Wills and Estates. If you’d like a copy of the Will checklist (or Redfile template), kindly send us an email. Why You Need a Will At this time of the year, I get a […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
In my last blog I talked about pre-retirement, and how to use those crucial accumulation years to fatten the pot and give you the retirement you expect. Once you have reached that ‘event’ and now that pot of money has to be converted from accumulating for retirement, to producing you an income you have reached […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
The years in the run-up to retirement, probably from the age of 55, are probably going to be the most important in terms of what your eventual retirement looks like. You at least have some wiggle room to improve the outcome. It’s also the time to do some serious adulting – risk and gambling have […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
Self-insurance – does it work? Everyone, including me, hates the grudge purchases. The medical aid when you’re never sick and probably cross-subsidizing old folks and hypochondriacs. Short term insurance on house, car, contents, valuables when you never claim. Life insurance that goes up in double digits but with minimal benefit increases and your kids are grown. […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
When we look back on it, life seems to happen along a nice, neat timeline, but we all know it is never that simple. “Life” happens along the way, sometimes pushing us forward – in our career, relationships, health and wealth – but sometimes settling us back years. Nothing ever stays the same, and if […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
Biomes and Ecosystems grow naturally – but not quickly, and certainly take way longer than a human working lifetime – because unlike your wealth, they do not have a manager. Left to their own devices an ecosystem will take a very meandering route to maturity – and many don’t make it. A cycle of droughts […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
On the first of September (called T-day) the long awaited two pot retirement system came into effect (it was announced and promulgated on 1/3/2021) and it is still difficult for the man on the street to decipher exactly how this will affect them. There are some good visuals, videos and calculators around to take you […]
Cobie and I like to keep this newsletter and our podcast evolving. We’d love to hear from you about what you like or dislike, what you’d like more or less of – both in the newsletter and podcasts. Do you have topics you’d like to hear a blog on? Do other people’s wealth journeys interest […]
THE PODCAST RELATED TO THIS BLOG IS AVAILABLE HERE One of the so-called sensible decisions most of us make when we start a family or buy a house is to take out ‘Life cover’. I know this is a grudge purchase – but think of it like this – it’s one way of ensuring that your […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Many of our clients come from referrals from our existing clients, often through the forwarding of this newsletter – so if there is anyone […]
THE PODCAST RELATED TO THIS BLOG IS AVAILABLE HERE Having spent decades building up your wealth ecosystem so that it can sustain you in your old age – whether that’s by the way of traditional investments, a property portfolio or building a company so that it has valuable shares that can derive a sustainable dividend […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Many of our clients come from referrals from our existing clients, often through the forwarding of this newsletter – so if there is anyone […]
In nature, weather is one of the volatile elements that ecosystems, concrete jungles and ordinary humans all must deal with daily. One of the reasons that humans have survived to become the dominant species over millennia is their ability to adapt the environment to suit themselves. They grow their food and don’t have to forage […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market Watch Despite global markets going into a bit of a panic Monday following the global sell-off – which will be discussed – the […]
The podcast on this post is available HERE Pruning plants is a task most of us gardeners are very familiar with, especially at this time of the year. A good pruning leads to better fruit, and flowers in the next season. Pruning is often done during the growing period too – it’s called “pinching out”. […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. From this week we are going to be publishing a second podcast on Thursday mornings based on Dawn’s Wealth Ecology posts (which can be […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market Watch The JSE has reverted to its factory settings for the moment and is tracking sideways but has hung onto the gains we […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market Watch The JSE has managed to hang onto those post-election gains and is taking a breather. The Nasdaq has retreated off its recent […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market Watch The JSE has recovered somewhat after the GNU jitters settled down and hopefully, everyone in government gets on with the job we […]
Over the last few weeks markets and exchange rates have been exceptionally volatile as the horse-trading and negotiations around the GNU go on behind the scenes. While the ministerial positions have now been announced, this volatility is probably going to continue until everyone carves out their niches – and the ‘official opposition’ is not going […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market Watch The JSE has recovered from the previous week’s wobble while the GNU was being thrashed out and now looks like it’s sustaining […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market Watch Uncertainty has crept back into the market thanks to the delays and public horse-trading around cabinet seats – remember, this is […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market Watch The markets last week gave the new political dispensation a resounding round of applause. The JSE is now up 6.6% year on […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Dawn is going to be hosting Michael Avery’s Classic Business Radio show on Fine Music radio next week. You can stream it off the […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market watch As expected, the turmoil around the direction of the government has created turbulence in the markets which have retreated over the week, […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market watch The JSE All Share softened over the week, probably more in line with the US markets softening than the local elections. On the […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market watch The last month has seen a good runup in the JSE as you can see from the graph below – a 9.3% […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market watch: The US markets have been on a tear, making new highs (more about that later) but the JSE is also seeing a […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market watch: The JSE has shown a marked improvement over the last 3 months – double the growth in Wall Street over the same […]
In nature one of the signs of a robust ecosystem is biodiversity – not only is it common sense, there are plenty of lessons we can learn from that and adapt to managing our wealth. By having that diversity, one event – even a small event cannot destroy the entire ecosystem. We often see the […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market watch:The graphs below, over a 3-month period, are a cautionary tale of cherry-picking intervals to distort your perception of statistics. Over the last […]
It isn’t easy to find a financial advisor who is sufficiently qualified and experienced to both look after your wealth portfolio and care about your risk-mitigation portfolio but they are inextricably linked.Why is important to look at your wealth holistically? Essentially, your wealth is an ecosystem. No, I am not using that term […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market watch: The JSE continues to tread water as the US markets slide. There are some signs that China is starting to buy commodities […]
I am sure most of you have experienced that sickening feeling when an investment goes wrong – instead of beating yourself up for being stupid, it might help to understand some of the entrenched emotions and biases that led you to make the bad decision in the first place. Behavioural Finance is a new-ish field […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market watch: Markets around the world have come off the boil somewhat in the last 10 days or so. While it is much too early […]
Occasionally I am asked straight out what the value of a financial advisor is, and why they should be paying for the advice. It’s not an unreasonable question given the experiences of some, especially those who had a product sold to them or where fees are still being collected from an investment product despite a […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market watch: Middle East tensions and the fear that inflation may return to the US continue to impact on markets across the world. The fear […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market watch: The JSE has been on a more positive trajectory recently, but still trading in that band between 70,000 and 75,000 that it’s been […]
There has been plenty of press over the years on how high fees can impact on your investment – and has led to the trend toward ETFs, Trackers and DIY stock portfolios. It’s interesting to look back at the way the average person invests and how that has evolved over the decades. Before 1965 in […]
Market watch: The JSE continues to amble sideways, which is unsurprising as we do not have the AI companies that are driving the offshore markets and commodities are out of favour – for now. The Russell 2000, which is much more broad-based than the Nasdaq, for example, while not showing the same growth in the […]
Market watch: The JSE has returned to it’s factory settings – crawling along sideways only to make sudden movements up or down, just when you don’t expect it. This is somewhat different to the US markets which just keep on going up – with some indications that investors are looking through all the AI froth […]
I am not a fearmonger, and actually abhor people who play on people’s fears to bolster their popularity or business – but the National Health Insurance Bill (NHI) which is about to be promulgated is different.I have been covering news around the NHI for decades. This is not a new concept but was first touted in 2007 with […]
Market watch: For a change I have used the graph below to show the last 3 months returns and not over a year or more as is usually shown – but it still doesn’t show a pretty picture for the JSE. To be fair we just don’t have those AI-focused stocks that are driving the […]
The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market watch: Although the base effects from this time last year is working out of the year-on-year stats the US surge at the end of […]
Have you ever looked back and remembered what your parents or grandparents were like at your age? While we might not have noticed it while it was happening, we humans are slowly evolving and changing. We just have to look back at our parents or grandparents and what their ‘retirement’ looked like to see how […]
We hope you have all had a great start to the new year. The podcast of the newsletter is available and you can download it HERE. We welcome all your input so please don’t hesitate to contact us if you’ve got any queries or suggestions. Market watch: The markets and currencies did not treat us kindly following […]
The general consensus is that global interest rates are going to start declining this year, after a longer-than-expected run of higher interest rates. Those interest rates started rising when central banks, especially in the US, woke up to the fact that inflation was not ‘transient’ after all and was, in fact, getting out of control. […]