Why You Should Treat Your Finances Like Your Health
"A good doctor treats the disease, but the great doctor treats the patient who has the disease.” (Unknown) Most of us understand why it’s important to have regular medical check-ups. We also recognise that, as we get older, what we need from them changes too. While...
How Relevant Is The 4% Rule of Thumb These Days?
The basics If you’ve never heard of the 4% rule, now would be a good time to acquaint yourself with it. The rule of thumb states that: If you withdraw 4% from your retirement portfolio annually (adjusted for inflation), your savings will last for 30 years. (Assuming...
Stay Calm When the Bear Prowls
"Courage taught me no matter how bad a crisis gets ... any sound investment will eventually pay off." (Carlos Slim) Hold onto your chips when the market dips When stock markets fall, it’s very natural to want to sell your shares and invest in less risky assets like...
Five Things to Think About as Interest Rates Rise
When people talk about interest rates, they often talk about “cycles”. That is because central banks, like the South African Reserve Bank (SARB), tend to move rates only in one direction – up or down – for extended periods. At the moment, rates are heading up. After...
The Miracle of Investment Debit Orders
"Time is your friend; impulse is your enemy." (John Bogle) Debits orders create savings discipline You know how easy it is to spend money on your credit card because the payment is automatic and the pain deferred? The exact same logic applies to investing via debit...
Financial Products: The Less You Understand, the More You Pay
“Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing.” (Oscar Wilde) Unit trusts are meant to be simple. They should be a straightforward and cost-effective way to invest in financial markets. Unfortunately, however, the...
Quote of the Month: Challenging the Rejection of an Insurance Claim
Mtho Maphumulo at Adams & Adams: 'Insurance policies are generally worded in a complex manner and consist of various legal terminology and principles. This is unsurprising given the fact that these policies are drafted by lawyers. 'Rejection of claims may be based on...
What Amazon and Ford Can Tell Us About Diversification
"Diversification is the only free lunch in investing." (Harry Markowitz) In mid-1999 you could have bought shares in Amazon for $80 each. If you had been astute enough to put $50,000 into the company back then, those shares would be worth $17.4 million today. In...
When Things Don’t Go According To (The Financial) Plan
It’s all about priorities When we talk about disorder, we don’t necessarily mean calamitous events like divorce or family feuds (although these are both excellent examples). Disorder can simply be the realisation that you don’t actually enjoy living in the dream house...
Take These Three Steps to Break the Money Shame Spiral
"Guilt, of course, is feeling bad about one’s actions, but shame is feeling bad about oneself." (Greg Boyle) When we have problems with money, we tend to feel that they are our own fault. Recently, a group of behavioural economists published research that shows just...
Smart Ways to Give: During and After Your Lifetime
This article deals with a topic that should apply to everybody. Giving money to a loved one or a charitable cause that you care passionately about is one of life’s most rewarding acts. Key considerations Before we go into the pros and cons of the various ways of...
Quotes of the Month – The War in Ukraine
Quote #1 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres - "The war in Ukraine not only has a huge impact on the lives of civilians but also has global consequences…Developing countries already in dire situations can simply not afford skyrocketing prices of food, fuel and other...