Why does nobody believe the published inflation rate? I will attempt to answer this question by explaining how inflation is calculated. The inflation rate refers to the annual average rate of increase in prices represented by a basket
The strength of a countries currency can be viewed as a proxy for the price of the country. Just like with any investment you must differentiate between price and value. Price is what you pay and value if what you
At gym the other day a local minister mentioned that he regularly read my article. He questioned me on the difficulty of selecting a new topic each week. His passing words were, “at least you know how we ministers feel
The following is an extract from client feedback written for an offshore client invested in a portfolio of multi-asset global mutual funds, which I feel touches on some important investment points for the current investment environment and investment principles in
For this week’s article I am going to ask you to pretend you are living in a make-believe world, which shouldn’t be too hard, just follow our supreme leaders example by living in denial until you believe your own lies;
It is interesting to see how many people are beginning to look at their home as a retirement asset. There are two reasons for this firstly the average person nearing retirement is under-funded, in some cases their homes are their
I like to use the analogy of a pilot and co-pilot to describe the role / relationship between a financial adviser and the client. I have always considered the client to be the captain and the financial adviser the co-pilot
I was invited to spend a full day with arguably South Africa’s top asset manager; you go there with very high expectations hoping to get all the answers. These are the guys with the enviable track- record of consistently beating
The recent Tax Law Amendment Bill included amongst others, changes to the taxation of zero interest and / or low interest loans to trusts, which will come into effect on 1 March 2017. Zero interest loans and / or loans
The problem with having written this column for 15 years is that you eventually start sounding like a broken record, for millennial readers that is those vinyl black things in a cardboard box in the garage. The thing about successful