Category Archives: MARKET

“Financial security and independence are like a three-legged stool resting on savings, insurance and investments.” – Brian Tracy. When it comes to financial planning, many people focus on investing as the key to financial security and independence. However, as Brian Tracy points out, financial security and freedom require a three-legged stool resting on savings, insurance,Continue reading “The three-legged stool”

Thinking, feeling, and acting are interrelated processes that shape our behaviour, and they often become so habitual in our busy lives that we are no longer mindful of them. We lose control of being intentional about the direction our lives are taking – and this often shows up in our finances. Therefore, it is importantContinue reading “Thinking, feeling and acting”

People have a wide range of feelings and perspectives regarding investing. Some view investing as a way to grow wealth and secure a financial future, while others may view it as too risky or complex. Some of us are confident in our investment knowledge and feel comfortable making decisions independently, while others prefer to seekContinue reading “Five tips for investing this year”

Vincent van Gogh is quoted as saying: “Great things are done by a series of small things brought together.” This quote highlights the idea that even the smallest actions or details can contribute to the creation of something significant. Focusing on and taking care of the small things can achieve big results over time. Essentially,Continue reading “Small things achieve big results”

In recent years there has been a considerable amount of economic uncertainty. Many people are unsure of their financial future, concerned that they won’t be able to retire because of financial setbacks related to the pandemic and other global events. Saving for retirement often aligns closely with benefiting from tax advantages, tax-free investing and taxContinue reading “Save on tax, and for life beyond work”

For years, people have said that insurance is sold and not bought. The stigma surrounding the industry and those representing it still hangs thick in our social memory, with old stories of brokers peddling policies purely to earn commission instead of seeking the best needs of their clients. However, in the last decade or so,Continue reading “How are you choosing your financial products?”

“A deep life is a good life.” – Cal Newport, Author of “Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World.” Have you heard of deep work? A term coined by Cal Newport, deep work is a state of distraction-free concentration when your brain works at its maximum potential. As you read this, youContinue reading “Get more out of your productive time”

There are times in the year when we see and engage with more people than usual – through end-of-year functions, annual celebrations, birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, funerals and the like. It can be wonderful – but it can also be stressful. We are quickly reminded that these old friends, colleagues and distant family from far-off shoresContinue reading “And what are the voices saying?”

Religion, politics and money are all connected – and probably always have been! This is because they’re all currency for influence, power and status. These three topics can become highly volatile when we’re in social settings as they’re super subjective. The markets, politics and religion all give us a sense of belonging, purpose and storiesContinue reading “Political influence and the markets”

Holidays should be a time of restoration and relaxation. But for savvy investors, who are seldom able to switch off or turn down the volume on their analytical brain activity, it can be a time of stress and panic. Whether you’re entering your annual time of leave or it’s a sneaky mid-year break, if you’reContinue reading “Holiday-proof your financial plan”

In the previous blog, we looked at how we can help our children with their retirement, or financial independence, as many in our profession are starting to frame it. But the reality is, as the sandwich generation, we can’t only be thinking about our own and our kids’ financial futures; we also need to beContinue reading “Helping your parents with their financial independence”

We spend most of our time having conversations with people who are 40+ about saving for retirement. However, the language and expectations are slowly starting to shift in a powerful and exciting direction. Instead of only talking about retirement, we’re starting to use words like financial independence. And rather than focusing on traditional milestones, likeContinue reading “Helping your kids with their financial independence”

In a recent podcast on the Allan Gray Podcast with Dan Brocklemank, head of Orbis UK, he reflected on how humans are NOT designed to be good investors. Our natural instincts very often pull us in the exact opposite direction to what we need to be doing in order to be good at investing. OurContinue reading “Are old investment truths still relevant?”

So many things have changed in the last four decades, and yet so much has stayed the same. Financial planning has become an entire profession and is no longer just a bunch of salespeople selling insurance. It’s evolved into a profoundly nuanced practice, and those of us who are continually advancing our professional development areContinue reading “Living to 100…”

As 22seven recently published on medium.com, “Always think twice before you buy something on credit or take out a loan.” Here’s the thing to remember with credit – it’s just a nicer way of saying that you’re spending money you don’t have. In other words, you’re using someone else’s money to fund your current lifestyle.Continue reading “The hidden costs of credit”

A balloon payment (also called a residual value) is quite simply an amount of money that is still due after you’ve finished paying your monthly instalments. The goal of structuring a loan with a balloon payment is to make it more affordable on your current cash flow, making it very attractive.  They are ideal forContinue reading “Pop that balloon… or let it go”

Typically, inflation and interest rates are in an “inverse” relationship: When rates are low, inflation tends to rise. And when rates are high, inflation tends to fall. Moneyweb recently wrote “increasing the cost of credit will reduce the demand for it and therefore slow down the pace of ‘new money’ entering the economy via creditContinue reading “Inflation & Interest Rates”

At the end of any retirement planning conversation, we should always end with how our plan is unique to our own situations. But at the beginning, during the exploratory stage, it’s helpful to have some basic guidelines for where we can begin, or how we can craft our own benchmarks. In the same way thatContinue reading “Rewriting retirement rules of thumb”

Here’s the thing about financial planning: we don’t plan out of fear; we plan so that we can extend our peace of mind. This is why wills form such a key role in our planning. However, engaging in this process can be clumsy, confusing, and a little hairy, and as Ricky Gervais once said, whereContinue reading “Ready and Willing”

No one likes to plan for a time when we might not have enough money to make ends meet. Often, when we plan or make financial decisions, we assume that our future self will have enough money to pay for the decisions we make today. Sometimes this turns out to be accurate, but sometimes itContinue reading “Cruise through a cost-of-living crisis”

We often think of things like stocks, bonds, mutual funds, annuities and assets as investments. But, investments are a broad area. According to Investopedia, an investment involves putting capital to use today to increase its value over time. An investment requires putting capital to work, in the form of time, money, effort, etc., in hopesContinue reading “From bags to riches”

When the purse strings are pulled tight, it’s challenging to look at your statement and see monthly amounts deducted for insurance payments. Whether the risk policies are for health care, income protection or the protection of assets, seeing them come off your account can be painful. As a result, many of us cut these policiesContinue reading “Want to avoid a lapsed policy?”

Whilst it’s good to have someone on your team (your financial adviser) who knows what’s happening in the markets, it’s not always helpful to relay all that information to you and have you make decisions about it. We can’t control the markets, but we can control our conversations about money. That’s why it’s not alwaysContinue reading “What’s happening in the markets?… is not always the best question”

“Genuine travellers travel not to overcome distance but to discover distance.” James P Carse Investing money is always a paradox: it’s simple, complex, straightforward, challenging, mathematical, and unpredictable. It’s because of our emotional influence that plays a significant role in every decision we make. When investing in the markets, many have said it’s all aboutContinue reading “When the markets have you second-guessing”

When the effects of inflation are being felt more than ever, and global economies are stuck in a state of recovery, it’s common for us to sit down and review our monthly expenses in a fervent drive to reduce our expenses. As we scroll through our bank statements or budgeting apps, we will start toContinue reading “Car insurance and your financial portfolio”

One of the frustrations that we often experience is the feeling of being stuck. We repeat the same patterns, day in and day out, forming habits that we seem unable to shake. From unhealthy eating, exercise and money choices to self-sabotaging social media, phone and relationship habits, it’s easy to find ourselves living a lifeContinue reading “We can only change what we can observe”

Most people don’t enjoy financial planning. It’s a practice filled with stigmas of confusing concepts, complicated products, and expensive choices. But the fact is that none of us can live without it costing us money. Even if we simply want to go for a walk, we need to buy the time to do that. WeContinue reading “A bird’s eye-view of your financial plan”

When life gets a little out of hand, we might say that things are blowing up! Sometimes it comes out of the blue, and other times we can see it coming, but generally, when we look back at how events unfolded, there were signs of a crisis looming. Inflation is much the same; it’s happeningContinue reading “Don’t under-inflate the effects of inflation”

We need to be strategic about growth and not just hope it will happen organically. Through a recent interaction with business coach Grant Newland, the importance of this was brought to the fore of our conversation. But it is not just about growing businesses; it’s about developing people, families, and communities. It’s easy to thinkContinue reading “Articulate and action”

“Do as I say… not as I do.” This has been a popular phrase for many, many years. In fact, it was first recorded in John Selden’s Table-Talk in the 17th century. Possibly, for as long as we’ve had structured societies, we’ve noticed a disconnect between what we say and what we do. In theContinue reading “Do as I say”

Diversification is not just an approach to adopt during market volatility; it’s generally good practice. And, if you want to create a portfolio that mitigates risk and beats inflation, diversification offers one of the best ways to increase your portfolio growth and amplify your savings. There’s no single “correct” way to diversify your investment portfolio.Continue reading “Diversify. Amplify.”

“The only way to find permanent joy is by embracing the fact that nothing is permanent.” – Martha Beck. Over the last few decades, investment strategies have developed and evolved to move away from market-related benchmarks toward personal goals and outcomes. Modern investors are now creating plans that are more personalised and unique than everContinue reading “When the goalposts keep moving”

People often joke about the weather in Cape Town, saying that you can experience all four seasons in one day. And, if you speak to a local, you’ll know that regardless of how warm it is, they’ll always pack a sweater in case the weather turns. Still, as a top tourist destination, the weather doesn’tContinue reading “Dollar-cost-averaging”

Financial planning is a complex and integrated activity that is often simplified in an attempt to make it more accessible. When we look at it as a lifestyle rather than an annual exercise, it’s easier to begin to engage with our financial plan in a more meaningful level. Saving and investing are two disciplines thatContinue reading “Saving vs investing”

As our world becomes increasingly digitised, personal skills will become more valuable. Many salespeople call these the soft-skills and realise that the old-school hard-sell-skills are no longer as effective. People are less likely to be blown away by some widget and far more likely to remember the way that you’ve made them feel. It doesn’tContinue reading “Become a better networker”

Regardless of what words we want to put to our journey with our money, there are a few realities that we need to face. First – everything we do is linked to money, whether we pay for it ourselves or rely on a benefactor. Second – some of our wealth-generation depends on luck and circumstance,Continue reading “Planning vs Coaching”

It’s easy to think about a financial plan and consider the elements that typically go into it. For instance, we could picture a plan that consists of a retirement savings product, life and health insurance, investment portfolios, and maybe a few things like trusts, wills and estate plans. Or, we could think about what aContinue reading “What a better financial plan could look like”

In the next few years, we are likely to see a significant increase in small businesses, from home enterprises to startups. Many people have had to create sideline income or recover from losing their jobs in a shrinking job market. Jobs seeing the fastest decline are in production or administration support, primarily due to automationContinue reading “Marketing yourself beyond 2022”

They say that getting old happens slowly, and then all at once. Most of the change around us occurs so gradually that we barely notice it; ageing, losing or gaining our fitness, losing or gaining weight, intimacy in relationships, and debt and investing. These are some of the areas of incrementally-unnoticeable change with which we’reContinue reading “Just one more”

‘Your mind will take the shape of what you frequently hold in thought,’ Marcus Aurelius. How we engage with our money reflects what’s going on inside our heads, which is an extension of what’s going on inside our hearts. They’re all connected. Our feelings affect our thoughts, which in turn direct our actions – butContinue reading “Feelings – thoughts – actions”

We all know that the only two certainties in life are death and taxes. Even after we’ve gone, taxes are still levied against our estate. The more money we make, the more money the taxman looks to take. Tax can be a serious stumbling block in our financial mindset, especially when we think about allContinue reading “Don’t let tax get you down”

“Remember the past, plan for the future, but live for today, because yesterday is gone and tomorrow may never come.” The best time to live is in the present. It’s easy to get lost in a daydream of how life could have been different or how good life used to be. It’s equally easy toContinue reading “The best time to live”

As financial planning conversations deepen and explore more value, we find ourselves moving from the empirical to the emotional, from processes to perceptions and from products to people. It’s an enlightening journey that takes us away from numbers and allows us to reflect and reconstruct our future planning approach. But, it’s also extremely challenging asContinue reading “Ask yourself these questions BEFORE switching funds”

“If I had a penny for every time I put something off until tomorrow, and never got to it… I’d put them all in a sock and hit myself with it.” Unknown In our digital age, it has become increasingly easy to create lists of things to do and remember. We can just call outContinue reading “Making goals easier to achieve”

As we build businesses and seek to create various income opportunities, we are always confronted with the challenge of pricing. It’s a challenge because all of our situations are different. Those with qualifications and experience often charge more for their time. But it’s not a sure way to work out billing and costs; sometimes peopleContinue reading “How much time is your money worth?”

Whilst intentional reflection may happen at the end or beginning of a year or personal growth journey, unintentional reflection happens all the time. And, we barely notice it, most of the time. But, several times a week, if not several times a day, we measure ourselves against something or someone; we’re either measuring ourselves againstContinue reading “Setting benchmarks”

“As you slide down the bannister of life, may the splinters never point the wrong way.” Irish Blessing When everything is going right, we often feel that something is about to go horribly wrong. Sometimes, it’s helpful to smile at our human traits and do all we can to avoid derailing our plans! It’s soContinue reading “Don’t derail your finances”

One of the biggest challenges with change is that it can be overwhelming. There are many reasons why we might be averse to constant change, but when it is just simply too much all at once, we will find ourselves overwhelmed and in this space, our ability to make healthy decisions is seriously hampered. TheContinue reading “Avoid being overwhelmed by change”

In a recent article from Morningstar, they raised two excellent points about measuring financial success. Like so many of us, Morningstar believes that great investing advice means understanding our hopes, dreams, and ideals to determine what really matters. It doesn’t just focus on the finish line — it focuses on the journey. Great advice canContinue reading “How do you measure financial success?”

Have you ever heard someone say that you need to make your money work for you? It seems like an impossible achievement for many of us because we immediately think we need a stack of dollar bills to leverage this strategy. And, that’s not entirely incorrect. We do need a large sum invested, but weContinue reading “What’s an annuity?”