How to Give Meaningful Gifts This Festive Season
“We are living in a material world, and I am a material girl.” (Madonna) Why not take this festive season as an opportunity to begin a tradition of truly meaningful gifting in your family? In today’s world, more and more people are realising that things bring only fleeting joy – it’s experiences that really matter. […]
Should you be an Optimist or a Pessimist With Your Money?
“Both optimists and pessimists contribute to society. The optimist invents the aeroplane, the pessimist the parachute.” (George Bernard Shaw) Cast your mind back to the middle of March 2020, when fears around Covid-19 sent the JSE into a spiral. The All Share Index dropped more than 25% in just a few days. Pessimism about how […]
The Differences Between Life and Living Annuities
New beginnings After working for forty years, the time has come to make really important decisions about how you’ll manage your retirement funds to ensure that your golden years are all you’d hoped for. When you retire, you must transfer two-thirds of your retirement funds to a Life Annuity or Living Annuity. Your retirement funds […]
Stock Markets Break Three-Month Losing Streak
November was a bumper month for financial markets as equity market increases gained momentum into month end, resulting in the most significant stock market gains in over a year. Added to that, US government bonds – a temperature gauge for what investors expect from central banks – gained ground on more optimistic interest rate expectations. […]
Retiring Well is About More Than Money
“The most terrible poverty is loneliness.” (Mother Theresa) Loneliness is a subject that researchers and even politicians have started to think about a lot more in recent years. In 2017, former US Surgeon General Vivek Murthy called loneliness a public health “epidemic”. The following year, the UK appointed a “minister for loneliness” to deal with […]
Retirement Planning: The ins and Outs of Nominating Beneficiaries
“Two main categories of people are needed in your circle; those who give you the necessary support to accomplish your dreams and those who become beneficiaries of what you achieve.” (Unattributed) Pension and provident funds and retirement annuities All retirement funds are governed by the Pension Funds Act, which prioritises financial dependants when distributing death […]
Why do People Invest in Property?
Wealth buckets Property is one of several asset classes, the others being equity (shares or unit trusts), cash-related products (like money market products), and bonds. Here are some of the most important benefits of investing in property: It can provide a passive income that requires relatively limited involvement on your part. What’s more, you can generate a […]
Market Update: The Effects of War, Higher Interest Rates and China on Equities
South Africa’s benchmark stock market index, the JSE All Share Index, fell 2.7% in October, leaving it 4.2% lower for the year to date. That contrasts with developed market stock exchanges, which had a negative month but remained positive for the year to date. The US technology index, the Nasdaq, eased 0.6% during October, while […]
Why do Some People Have a Problem Spending Money?
“To acquire money requires valour; to keep money requires prudence; and to spend money well is an art”. (Berthold Auerbach) Most of the financial advice that you read about spending will talk about the problem of people spending too much. Much less attention is paid to those who have a very different challenge – folks […]
The Stock Market Indices to Watch When Monitoring Equity Performance
As old as the hills Since 1602, investors have been winning and losing their fortunes on the stock market – and today is no different, with many investors betting it all on the latest, greatest thing. In 2000, it was the dot.com bubble when tech shares reached stratospheric highs and fell off a cliff the […]
