Let me be your guide to the wonderful world of Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs). I have a massive backlog of mails since I took a break over the December holidays. While I was answering the mails, I noticed that my answer to 80% of the questions is simply Exchange-Traded Funds. Since there are a shit ton …
What is the JSE? To understand what the JSE all-share index is, we need to start with what the JSE is. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is a company. This company allows companies to list their shares and for investors to buy these shares. So, the JSE and all other stock markets for that matter, …
When investing in shares we are driven by two fears: The fear of getting in at the exactly the wrong time and the fear of missing out. After fighting these fears for months, you make the jump and invest some funds. Then you start staring at your investments like a hawk. If it goes up, …
One of the best videos on Youtube is called the marshmallow test. If you have not seen this yet, do that immediately. They give the kids the option of eating a marshmallow now or waiting a few minutes and receiving a second marshmallow. The kids sit there in sheer agony counting the seconds until she …
What is risk identification? When you invest in assets there is always the chance that things can go wrong. It is necessary for us to know what the potential risk associated with each asset class is. This allows us to analyse and mostly mitigate the risk. This is called risk identification and management. There are …
I had a conversation this week about the performance of Unit Trusts (UTs) in South Africa and how unfathomable it is that Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) could outperform UTs. UTs are actively managed, obviously they should have superior performance over an investment vehicle that simply buys and holds indices. Still, the latest (December 2018) Standard …
There has been a lot of talk about how lenient capital gains tax in South Africa is. Stealthy Wealth wrote a good article about this, called I love capital gains tax. If you must pay tax, pay capital gains tax. There exists an option to reduce the tax payable on your equity investments even further …
I’ve wanted to do an Easy Equities review for a while now since they won the Intellidex Top Stockbroker award. When I started investing, I knew about Easy Equities and their affordable offering, but I still chose to go with a trading platform offered by a bank. It is strange how the mind works sometimes. …
This week I had a look at the best savings interest rates to ensure that you have all the information when you decide on a savings vehicle. When we invest money in cash products at a bank, the bank loans 8 to 13 times that amount to other people. This is either as home loans, …
With the end of the financial year approaching fast, it is time to start optimising your income tax. One way of doing this is by investing in Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) that I discussed in the article should I even bother with a TFSA? This option is geared towards the middle to low-income households. High-income …
