Blog

Purchasing Power Parity

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 16:08:57 +0000

How everyday prices show what money Is really worth

Why Relying on the house you live in to fund retirement is a bad idea

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 16:02:08 +0000

Many people mentally add the house they live in as an asset to fund their retirement. This 500 word blog analyses this idea.

Stretching your pension

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 15:39:30 +0000

No Content.

The Upside-Down Income Statement (a planning Tool for small business)

Fri, 30 May 2025 09:04:16 +0000

The benefits of turning an income statement or budget on its head for planning purposes

Marriage the financial implications of a dying Tradition

Fri, 02 May 2025 10:30:15 +0000

The financial consequences of no formal marital contract

The money balloon called inflation

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 09:14:50 +0000

500 Word explainer about inflation

Twin Pots & RA's - From a Good to a Great Investment

Sun, 29 Sep 2024 07:55:00 +0000

Opportunity for independent traders and professionals

Retirement All the Rage

Sat, 13 Feb 2021 11:16:23 +0000

Retirement advice

Fear and Greed – The emotional threat to sound investing

Thu, 06 Sep 2018 12:42:00 +0000

At the very root of behavioural finance are the twinned emotions of fear and its flipside bedfellow, greed.

Ten to dos in financial planning

Wed, 05 Aug 2015 12:00:00 +0000

By law, your registered adviser has to provide you with the most appropriate advice. This is your advice insurance policy.

Fiddling while Rome burns

Fri, 10 Jul 2015 13:06:00 +0000

A better way to mobilize savings would have been to reduce the internal tax rate on the endowments to 18%.

Caveat Intermediator

Sun, 08 Feb 2015 12:00:00 +0000

Loosely translated this means “beware the intermediary”. In the old world of commercial activity the Latin maxim read; “caveat emptor” let the buyer beware. This rule, finely tuned, through millennia of commercial trade and interactions has been thoroughly trashed by the rising tide of consumerism and political expedience.

Financial adviser versus investment manager

Sat, 12 Apr 2014 12:00:00 +0000

Financial advice at one level is ‘assisted shopping’. In a much more complex financial services environment our task is to select the most appropriate financial product or service for our client drawing on our extensive skills and industry experience and naturally avoiding conflicts of interest.

Big Cheeses eating big Macs

Sun, 05 Aug 2012 12:00:00 +0000

This month, I cover two snippets of broad interest, the maximum value for which a cheque can be written and an update on the Big Mac index with a political twist.

ETFs and Hedges, derivatives with other names

Mon, 18 Jun 2012 12:00:00 +0000

We cannot keep mulling over Europe; will Greece leave the Euro? Will it stay? Can Germany fund all of this? What about the Greek Elections? All that can be said is, as best it can, the market has absorbed all of these questions and the underlying factors. So, as the experts say ‘it is already priced in’.

Global issues and Domestic Mandates

Thu, 10 May 2012 15:53:00 +0000

OK, here we go again! As I am writing this the Greek government is unable to manufacture a coalition and the French have, unsurprisingly, moved to elect a President that has promised no/lower austerity measures. Yesterday the world stock markets trended lower by between 1 and 2% as market traders tried to work out the consequences of these developments.

Inter-generational Wealth

Sun, 08 Apr 2012 15:21:00 +0000

Many will know that I serve in a volunteer capacity on the board of the Financial Intermediaries Association (the FIA). I also chair their Financial Planning Sub-committee. The FIA is the trade association which looks after the interests of the financial intermediary community, their interaction with clients, the industry and the authorities in Southern Africa. In this role, the FIA provided contributions to a recent request for input from the Financial Services Board (FSB).

Two stories

Fri, 09 Mar 2012 12:34:00 +0000

Last month, I dedicated this one-pager to the looming dividend tax. What actually hit us at budget time last month was a tax rate 50% higher than what had originally been expected, 15% instead of the expected 10%. Why then is it that the new dividend withholding tax, introduced at 15% in replacement of STC at 10%, is budgeted, by Treasury, to lose R1,9 billion in revenue?

Give yourself Money…and Time

Fri, 26 Aug 2011 13:47:00 +0000

Give yourself plenty of time and money to secure a fulfilled retirement.