Got an email from friend this week which went something like this…”Just got a mail from Nedbank to say I have 300 000 odd ‘Greenbacks’, their loyalty programme. I can exchange them for until trust investments. Wanted to know your opinion?  I’ll have to put R5000 cash to open an account but can get around R11 000 or so more through the Greenbacks I got sitting in an account.” What a great idea…I...

Just over 10 years ago when I left the corporate world I put my pension fund into a preservation fund…and the R23000 odd that I invested then is worth about R23000 today…what happened? One of the important principles in life (and financial planning) is this: each time you make an important decision write down the reasons that you are making it. This will help you years later when you cant remember why on earth you did what you...

I enjoy using lines from movies when talking to clients about investing and financial planning. For example there is the classic line by Jack Nicolson’s character from “A few good men” when he is on the witness stand and being asked about the truth of an investigation to which he replies…”You want the truth? You cant handle the truth”. Sadly we get to use this when telling clients the truth about being...

I was recenlty approached by someone who was looking to save a bit of money for his newly born nephew…he wanted to put away R100 pm for the next 21 years or so. Not a problem I assured him – a unit trust is the way to go… However, it appears that most unit trust companies are no longer interested in the smaller amounts and now insist on a minimum debit order of at least R500 per month. There are still 1 or 2 companies that...

I have been a huge fan of Fundisa, having written about it often and having encouraged many of my clients to invest in it…however, after initially being a huge fan of the product, I have done some more work on it and as I see it, the big hurdle that Fundisa has is the underlying fund and its potential returns over a 15 year period…so much so, that I am questioning whether or not I can continue to support it. Here is my ...

I need to get this off my chest (again)…been fighting with 3 of the bigger insurance companies re the level of disclosure on their products with respect to fees and more specifically the performance on their portfolios… Suffice to say it is a futile exercise – it appears that even in this highly regulated environment that they can get away with complete nonsense when it comes to answering questions put to them . There is...