Reconnecting to Reality
At times share prices and even broad stock markets can appear unhinged. Wild swings both positive and negative stir investor appetite to…
SA Corporate Credit – A Bridge Too Far?
As investors, we tend to view the world through a listed equity lens. Not only is it easy to find information on…
There is Always The Next Big Thing
Every December, financial journalists sharpen their pencils and write about the biggest themes that will drive market returns over the next year.…
InvestSense 2023 Wrap Up
We recently interviewed Jeremy Gardiner, director at Ninety One, to review the events of 2023 and discuss what might lie ahead in…
The Fentanyl Crisis
The fentanyl crisis poses one of the greatest challenges to the US today. The drug is responsible for approximately 200 deaths per…
The Growing Threat of Cybercrime
Cybercrime has emerged as a significant threat in today’s digital age, affecting both individuals and corporations on a global scale. In this…
The Demographic Shift
Demographics, the statistical study of human populations, holds a profound influence on societies, economies, and policies worldwide. As our global population undergoes…
The Bear Trap?
The market bear has been stalking South African roads for much of the past decade and prices are uniformly depressed across the…
Heads I win, Tails you lose
For most investors, hedge funds have historically been opaque products where ‘magic’ happens. The domain of the wealthy, with limited access, high…
Behavioural biases: Unravelling our irrational investment habits
In the midst of market volatility, currency fluctuations, and a climate of uncertainty surrounding South Africa’s growth prospects, it becomes increasingly important…
Look both ways before you cross the BRICS Road
The ongoing shift in economic and political influence from the West, represented by the United States and the G7, to the East,…
What language do you dream in?
As technology continues to advance at a breakneck pace, we are witnessing the emergence of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in various industries. While…
Hotel California
By today’s standards, the story of US-listed CRM company Salesforce’s rise and rise is relatively uneventful. Like many Californian startups that went…
What’s in the basket?
The consumer price index (CPI) is a commonly used benchmark to judge the performance of many portfolios and wealth objectives in the…
The Icarus Syndrome
In Greek mythology, Icarus was a relatively minor character. His father, Daedalus was a famous inventor who produced a great maze on…
The Gale of Creative Destruction
We may look back on the year 2022 as the formative period for what drives investment returns over the next decade and…
No Shades of Grey
It is highly likely that South Africa will be “grey listed” by the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in February next year.…
Moonwalk Away
In financial services we focus on investment outcomes, on providing sound investment advice, explanations on what is driving investment markets, and how…
Risky Business
Shopping for a new car, iPhone or laptop is a relatively straightforward affair. You generally know what you are looking for, you…
The Ultimate Bottleneck?
After the Global Financial Crisis, for a period of almost 14 years, funds investing in high growth shares such as Amazon or…
Capital Gains Tax is no small change
Many of us are resistant to change and, in many cases, look for ways to avoid it. In investments, this aversion is…
The Great Rotation?
In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis, and the easy monetary policy and stimulus which followed, it has been a relentless…
The Offshore Opportunity for Retirement Funds
South Africa’s Finance Minister, Enoch Godongwana, surprised the entire savings industry with the announcement that retirement funds could increase their offshore allocation…
Ready Player One: Mapping the Metaverse
“This is the Oasis. It’s a place where the limits of reality are your own imagination. You can do anything, go anywhere.”…
This was South Africa’s best performing unit trust in 2021. You’ll never believe what happened next…
You may not want to know what happens next. Unfortunately, in the investing world, being overly curious and adventurous can be hazardous…
Asset Manager Mergers – Would you rather be a shareholder or a client?
An ongoing trend in the global asset management industry over the recent past has been the consolidation of asset management businesses. If…
The Forecaster’s Dilemma
In the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, the Queen of England famously asked why economists failed to foresee the impending disaster.…
China – An opportunity among growing uncertainty?
Over the last year, Chinese equities have been battered after the Chinese government, directed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), stepped up…
The Race to Space
Late in 2020, NASA led the establishment of what is known as the Artemis Accords. The intention here is to lay the…
Naspers and Prosus – The Discount, Deal and Debate
Recently, Prosus shareholders announced that they had approved a deal with their parent company, Naspers, to effectively change the group’s financial structure.…
The Global Tax Cartel
Benjamin Franklin famously said, “…but in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes.” This quote has…
The Infrastructure Drive
In September 2018, the South African government announced the Infrastructure Fund Initiative that is focused on transforming the country’s infrastructure. The goal…
Make Eskom Great Again
In 2001, Eskom was named as the global power company of the year at the Global Energy Awards hosted by the Financial…
SPAC Attack
SPACs, or ‘Special-Purpose Acquisition Company’, are the latest investment frenzy as investors ranging from hedge funds to everyday investors, rush to access…
The Impact of REIT structures on Listed Property Investing
Listed property was the top performing local asset class over a period of 15 years from 2002 through to the end of…
The story of GameStop, democratic investing and being caught by the mob
This is a story about what the frenzy of crowds can do when sufficiently organized and have little to lose. In January…
Finding the road to recovery
Who would have thought that 2020 would be a strong year for investors? In the depths of the COVID panic the term…
Antitrust – the ‘Big Tech’ Debate
Over the past decade as we have shifted into the digital economy, technology has become more ingrained in our everyday life and…
Cautionary Tales of Offshore Investing
South African businesses have a strong history of successfully expanding their operations offshore and becoming well renowned global businesses. This has been…
Failing to Succeed
For many investors keeping track of their portfolios is an anxious pursuit. Markets seem to behave in a non-sensical way at times,…
The K-shaped Recovery
The recovery of a stock market following a market crash is generally described using a letter of the alphabet. A V-shaped recovery…
My Precious: Gold makes a comeback
An interesting trend has emerged out of the depths of the current crisis: Gold has made a stunning comeback. Recently it surpassed…
Crisis? What Crisis?
While the world around us feels like it is falling apart, you might be forgiven for missing the fact that many investment…
Binary thinking, What-Ifs and why it helps to disagree with yourself
We live in a world of complex problems. Each day we need to make decisions which affect our lives and those of…
Dreaming of a Sovereign Wealth Fund
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced during his State of the Nation address in February 2020 that South Africa intends to establish a Sovereign…
Coronavirus (COVID-19) – Investment decisions in times of stress
With Coronavirus causing turmoil in investment markets globally we have seen significant market moves across asset classes over the past week. With…
Blue Sky Investing
As investors we are trained to be conservative (“there are no free lunches”), to expect less in future (“markets mean revert”) and…
How rental property compares as an asset class
Buy-to-let or rental property plays an important part in many investors’ portfolios, but it is inherently complicated to evaluate the returns and…
The Hardest Problem in Finance
An integral part of the financial adviser’s role is helping retired clients to draw a rising income from their investment portfolios. Most…
Aim Low – a fresh look at inclusive economic growth for South Africa
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has recently put forward a new economic growth plan for South Africa. It comes at a difficult time,…