Are benchmarks still relevant?

Market indices are becoming increasingly concentrated, raising questions about how much diversification investors really get from the benchmarks used to measure portfolio performance. Benchmarks remain useful for measuring performance, but investors should also consider whether a portfolio is meeting specific objectives rather than simply beating the index. For decades, the

Read More »

The hidden threat of AI to your money

By Malissa Conlin* Yet another shock rippled through the AI industry early in September when a software engineer from AI company Anthropic quit, claiming that the technology could wipe out humanity in the next 10 years. As headlines about AI going rogue grow more frequent, they underscore the need for

Read More »

Signing your own payslip

The month nothing arrives For most of your working life, money moved towards you. Around the 25th of each month, something landed in your account, and the bond, school fees, groceries and savings arranged themselves around that date. Some months may have felt stretched, but you did not have to

Read More »

Cash is a losing game

Cash has an important job in your financial plan, but holding more than you need for near-term expenses can steadily erode your purchasing power. Cash may look safe because its value does not fluctuate, but inflation quietly erodes what it can buy. Since 1994, R100 has lost about 81% of

Read More »

Why your investments must be in global markets

The JSE has delivered strong returns, but the real question isn’t whether South Africa has good investments; it’s whether one small, concentrated market should carry your entire retirement. Investors often ask me why invest offshore when you live in South Africa, earn in rand, and understand the local companies well?

Read More »

Most wills fail because of one bad choice

By Malissa Conlin* You’ve done the right thing. You’ve written a will, listed your assets and named the people you want to benefit. That’s a big step. But there’s one decision that matters just as much as who gets what: who will carry out your wishes? Choosing the right executor is

Read More »

SARS closing retirement lump sum loophole

By Kristin Putter* It’s not uncommon for South Africans to accumulate more than one living annuity over the years – because you changed jobs, moved advisers, or simply never got round to consolidating. If this is you, then changes proposed by SARS earlier this year might affect you. For years,

Read More »

Offshore investment and beneficiaries

While the industry uses ‘endowment’ for two different things, but they have completely different outcomes when someone dies. Here are the four questions I ask before structuring a portfolio. The February Budget doubled the single discretionary allowance to R2 million. Add the R10 million foreign investment allowance and an adult

Read More »
Scroll to Top