The Best Balanced Fund in South Africa:? It Depends When You Ask
We interviewed David Hansford when Long Beach ran the top balanced fund in South Africa. Nine months on, the table looks very different — here’s what that teaches us about building a portfolio.
The Art of Execution: It’s Not What You Buy, But What You Do Next
The world’s best investors are wrong about half the time and still make fortunes. What Lee Freeman-Shor’s study of their actual trades — and his five “tribes” of investors — teaches about why execution beats stock selection.
Active vs Passive Investing in South Africa: The Honest Answer
Active or passive? For South African investors the honest answer is a cost question answered segment by segment. What the SPIVA evidence says, why the JSE’s concentration complicates pure indexing, and where each approach earns its place.
Most Retirement Mistakes Aren’t About Saving Too Little
The biggest retirement planning mistakes South Africans make aren’t about saving too little — they’re about planning around numbers that don’t hold up. Here are the ten that cost the most, and what to do instead.
They Built It Themselves: Retiring the Same Way.
David and Elaine retired from their consulting business with R30 million and no employer pension to fall back on. Here’s how we structured their retirement income across a life annuity, living annuity, and USD offshore portfolio — and what drove each decision.
The 10-Year US Treasury: The Most Important Number You’re Not Watching
The 10-year US Treasury yield is the most important number in global finance — the risk-free rate that anchors the price of nearly everything else. What it is, how it ripples into shares, bonds, the dollar and the rand, and why South African investors should understand it.
The 10 Investment Mistakes: That Quietly Cost You the Most
The biggest threats to your returns aren’t bad markets — they’re avoidable mistakes. The ten costliest errors South African investors make, from market timing and fee drag to home bias and chasing winners, and the discipline that prevents each.
Secular Bear Markets: The Lost Decade No One Talks About
Markets sometimes grind sideways or down for a decade or more. What secular bear markets are, what drives them, why timing them is a fool’s errand — and why every serious investor should have a Plan B built on resilience rather than prediction.
Property vs Shares: What the Decade’s Numbers Actually Say
Property or shares? An honest, after-cost comparison for South African investors — what the real returns say, where each genuinely wins, and why the more important question is whether your wealth is diversified globally.
The Psychology of Wealth and Investing: Why Smart Investors Make Bad Decisions
Most investors don’t lose money from bad funds — they lose it from good funds at bad times. Understanding the psychology behind investment decisions is one of the most practical steps toward better long-term outcome
DIY Investing: The Honest Lessons That Humbled Me
DIY investing is more rewarding, and more humbling, than it looks. A financial advisor’s honest lessons on what it really takes to invest well on your own — and where outside help genuinely earns its keep (rarely, it turns out, in picking shares).
Financial Advisor vs CFP: Why the Title on the Card Tells You the Least
“Financial advisor”, “planner”, “wealth manager” — the titles get used interchangeably, but they mean different things. What each one is, how they differ, and how to choose the right one.