5th Aug 2009 The Ovation Curatorship saga continues…the court case that was scheduled for yesterday has been postponed yet again, this time to Sep 3 (but I wont be holding my breath). This is unbelievably frustrating and emotionally draining (I write this as both a financial planner dealing with clients as well as an investor in Ovation). Just so you know, we have been writing to the regulators and curators fairly often but have...

I read with interest the comments from “experts” telling people to resist yesterday’s interest rate by not reducing their bond repayments. This makes a lot of financial sense but the comments from readers of the article clearly shows just how cash-strapped many people are and for many, even this cut will not be sufficient. (Although this is difficult to understand given that we are almost back to where we were just before...

One of the things I enjoy doing is collecting rainfall figures…I have been doing this for over 9 years and have built up a bit of a data base. I know this has nothing to do with financial planning but it is probably a legacy from my student days when meteorology was one of the subjects I studied. Earlier on this year, I posted a blog called “Will it ever rain again in Cape Town ?” This was during one of the driest starts to the year...

On the face of it, the Discovery Credit Card and Pick n Pay tie up is very attractive; pay for my Pick n Pay shopping with my Discovery Card and get cash back from Discovery every month (depending on my Vitality status of course). And it works – for the past year or 2 we have been getting back a few hundred rand each month. I know that Discovery and Pick n Pay have struck some sort of deal and I know that Discovery’s whole aim is to...

The first article in the “financial planning for dummies” series identified the 5 most common risks people face, namely: Dying too soon and leaving debt or dependents. Living too long (insufficient funds on which to retire). Disability (over a short or extended period). Funds for short term emergencies. Debt! This article looks at the first of these risks; Dying too soon! The risk here is that of leaving debt and/or dependents with...