MARKET

It’s not always easy to see, but there are unexpected positives in South Africa’s current financial situation. Of all the […]

When it comes to coffee-shop conversations, little is said about the long game in the investment space – it’s often

South Africans (and many others) sometimes suffer from an unbalanced bias when it comes to the United States: we assume

South Africa is an enterprising and entrepreneurial nation… which is why it’s interesting that it can be so tough to

There is a lot of good financial advice out there which goes something like this: ‘you know that money you don’t use every month? Well, take R50,000 and invest it in X now, and you’’ be happy later.’

Sound familiar?

It’s Women’s Month, and we’ve been thinking lately about all the ways in which women are wonderful in matters of money.

Women as investors don’t get praised often enough – there’s been an unfortunate stereotype in the past that keeps finances in ‘man territory’. Today, we’d like to honour the ladies in our stock markets and on our shareholders’ boards and count the ways in which they rock and the things male investors can learn from them.

If there were a set of commandments for investing, the first commandment may well be this: know your seasons.

Just like a surfer or fisherman know the tides of their favourite spots, prudent investors know the market cycles.

A well-balanced, diversified portfolio is a joy for all seasons, giving something no matter what various markets or asset classes are doing. An overly concentrated portfolio is the opposite, a ticking time bomb volatile to fluctuations in macroeconomics and other influencers of the share price.

There are always bills to pay and money needed for something or another, and few things seem as boring and unnecessary than an emergency fund. While you can enjoy the rewards of spending on, say, a good winter coat, or can see the benefits of saving for something like university for the kids, emergency funds are, by nature, never seen.

A well-balanced, diversified portfolio is a joy for all seasons, giving something no matter what various markets or asset classes are doing. An overly concentrated portfolio is the opposite, a ticking time bomb volatile to fluctuations in macroeconomics and other influencers of the share price.