So often we meet clients who tell us that they cannot afford to save because ‘school fees are really expensive’ and ‘looking after family members is derailing their savings goal’….and the list of reasons is endless. If we are really honest, life has changed dramatically in the past year and a bit. Things are not as black and white as they have been, and we cannot continue living as if death and financial insecurity is not […]
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Financial advice in a crisis
The past year was dreadful, to say the least. What has made it even more difficult is that it was collective as the whole world suffered immensely in many ways in the past year. Amy Underwood, a Behavioural Economist, spoke at a recent webinar about trauma and how we, as humans deal with it. She mentioned that, generally, we tend to go through it at different times, allowing us to call on our network of friends […]
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Women, do something for yourself for a change
Women are known to think more of and do more for others than themselves, in the process sacrificing their careers, money and general wellbeing. In this women’s month, think about this: There is a very high likelihood that you, as a woman, will have to parent alone, will not save enough money to cater for your needs and will ultimately die poor and alone. Study upon study shows the odds are stacked against women. According to […]
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Keep those you support in the loop on your finances
South Africans are more than familiar with the joys and the strain of having to look after extended family. Stretching the rand further than what is considered humanly possible is a lot of people’s lived experiences. This is commendable and something that should be celebrated, if only it didn’t come at such a big cost. With impending job losses and an extended lockdown, the strain is going to be more pronounced. We’re all under pressure to […]
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Investing in happiness
The beginning of a new year is a time for reflection, planning and new beginnings for many. Many personal finance writers have been giving extensive and very valuable tips regarding budgeting, saving and investing to kick-start the year. These are important lessons to learn and not having money is devastating on many levels. It is, however, equally important to note that money cannot give you all the happiness you require. Jonathan Clements, an acclaimed personal finance […]
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The effect of your emotions
“DALBAR’s Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behaviour Study (“QAIB”) has been analysing investor returns since 1994 and has consistently found that the average investor earns much less than market indices would suggest. “ This has everything to do with emotions – investors, with the best of intentions are their own worst enemies when it comes to managing money. they get excited when the markets are positive, greed kicks in and there is an expectation that markets will […]
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Goal setting
In the past two blog posts, we dealt with budgeting and risk-profiling – two very important initial steps to take when formulating a financial plan. Goal setting is the third vital step. During this process, it’s important to figure out what you need and what you want and to prioritize the former over the latter. Often, the lines are blurred, and clients need to be reminded of the difference. ‘I need that sports car’, a client […]
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Risk profiling
We’re spring cleaning our finances this month. Once your budgeting process is sorted, you need to consider getting profiled in terms of risk. A client’s risk profile is one of the first and most important things we try to understand during the financial planning process. There are many methods and as many outcomes to risk profiling but the ultimate point of it is the following: To try and understand how an investor feels about risk To […]
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Financial implication of relationships on women
Women do not accumulate sufficient funds in their retirement as men do and one of the factors affecting this is relationships. Motherhood If a woman chooses to have children during her lifetime, this has been seen to negatively impact the growth of future earnings. We already know about the gender pay gap but what is even more worrying are the findings in a study conducted by Joya Misra, Professor of Sociology & Public Policy, University of […]
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My biggest financial mistake was an investment property
I know so many people who romanticize the idea of having an investment property. It’s always a sure bet – buy a second property, fix it up and watch the money roll in. In theory, this is a great idea and I know so many people who’ve been so successful at this. I used to hold this view until a few years ago. I bought, what I thought, was a great investment property in a well-kept […]
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