I recently watched someone using a leaf blower to clear their pavement. As I watched, it struck me what a pointless exercise it was and it crossed my mind that the leaf blower must be one of the most senseless machines yet invented. You never actuall
A few years ago, during the National Budget Speech, government put a cap of R350k pa on retirement contributions. It appears that no one at treasury has given this much thought as it only really affects the top few % of the population (first world pr
I recently had an interesting discussion with a friend of mine (we don’t do her financial planning). The conversation turned to money and I enquired about her financial planning. The response was surprising. She said that every time she interacted wi
There is this strange phenomenon in SA called Regulation 28 that is applied to retirement funds. It stipulates that retirement fund members may not have more than 75% of their funds in equities and no more than 25% of the fund invested offshoreIronic
I attended a presentation by one of the SA asset managers recently…it was a good job that there were no sharp knives around. It was real slit-your-wrists stuff! Their view is that SA is pretty much stuffed and that unless there is a significant ch
Much has been written about the value of financial advice. There are many people who believe that financial planners offer little value for the fees charged while there are others who believe that the value financial planners add is very significant.
On a recent car trip, my daughter insisted on playing some of her music – 2 of the songs on the “hit list” were “Bear necessities” from the Jungle Book and “Hakuna Matata” from The Lion King. When the music finished there was a follow up question fro
I found myself facing a crisis recently. I have always promised clients that I would only invest their funds where I myself am prepared to invest for myself and my family and yet with the recent shenanigans from our president who saw fit to remove th
I recently had a conversation with someone who told me that when she was on her way (walking) to a very important meeting, a bird pooed on her head and clothes. That meant that she had to turn around, go home and shower and get changed into a fresh o
Regulation 28 has long been a frustration of many retirement fund investors with the Financial Services Board having applied a "one size fits all" approach. That means that within Regulation 28 confines, a 20-year-old investor in a retirement fund is
•Asset Allocation Strategy
•Investment Research and Selection
•Local and Offshore Investing
•Tax Efficient Planning
