A budget is often treated as a financial punishment because many believe it is a list of things you are no longer allowed to spend money on and that is probably why so many budgets last about as long as a New Year’s resolution. A useful budget is not really about cutting everything back ,but […]

SA Company News: The Johannesburg Stock Exchange All-Share Index closed 1.63% lower at the 107 104 level, as investors continued to navigate a challenging global environment marked by elevated oil prices and heightened geopolitical tensions in the Middle East. The Resources sector was the worst performer, dropping 2.32%, as weakness in mining shares weighed heavily […]

The bond market rarely gets the same attention as the share market, yet the bond market is one of the clearest windows into what investors think is happening in an economy, and it has a much more direct bearing on our finances than many people realise. In this week’s article we will look at how […]

One of the most common questions facing young professionals is whether they should focus on paying off debt before they start investing, and unfortunately the answer is not as simple as choosing one over the other. Debt and investments operate on opposite sides of the financial equation, where debt creates a contractual cost that you […]

For a young investor, one of the first decisions to make is not simply which investment to buy, but what type of investment structure makes the most sense. ETFs, unit trusts and individual shares all play a role in a long-term portfolio, but they work in very different ways and involve different levels of risk, […]

One of the most common misconceptions about building healthy financial habits is that it requires sacrificing the lifestyle you enjoy. Many young adults believe that saving money means declining every dinner invitation, skipping weekends away and avoiding social events altogether. While reducing unnecessary spending is an important part of financial planning, a sustainable approach to […]

For many first-time investors, the hardest part is not deciding to invest, but rather knowing where to begin. The sheer volume of financial information available today makes it easy to become overwhelmed, while social media, online investment forums and constant market commentary often encourage short-term thinking rather than sound investment principles. Successful investing is rarely […]

When investing, fees are one of the most discussed and often misunderstood aspects of an investment fund. Many investors naturally focus on fees because they have a direct impact on the amount of money that remains invested and compounds over time. A difference of even a small percentage in annual fees can have a meaningful […]

In the previous articles in this series, we explored why the Minimum Disclosure Document (MDD) is an important tool for investors and how to interpret the performance table in relation to the set benchmark. The next step in becoming a more informed investor is understanding what the fund actually invests in and what the risk […]

When investors first start reading Minimum Disclosure Documents (MDD), most of the attention usually goes toward the performance table because naturally people want to know how much a fund has grown. However, financial advisers often know that the performance section means very little if it is not understood together with the benchmark. These two areas […]