2024 can be marked as a year of geopolitical turmoil. From Donald Trump’s re-election as president, the UK’s choice of the Labour party, the ousting of France and Germany’s leaders, a GNU formed in South Africa, to the terrible wars in the Middle East and Ukraine. Yet, investment markets continue to hit record highs globally and locally. So, are these political changes positive for investors or are other significant factors driving market attractiveness?

The tradition of a year-end bonus is no longer a certainty, with changing work environments and global financial challenges altering the norm. For those fortunate enough to receive a 13th cheque or bonus, it’s critical to use this windfall wisely to enhance financial stability and security.

Here are eight ways you can make the most of your year-end bonus.

Retirement can be a challenging journey without a comprehensive plan and a clear roadmap. Failing to plan adequately for this phase of life often leads to financial uncertainty and the inability to maintain your desired lifestyle.

In this newsletter, we discuss four common retirement planning mistakes to avoid and how to address them.

In a previous newsletter, we discussed how inflation affects the buying power of your money. To keep up with or beat inflation, it’s essential to invest in growth assets.

When building your investment portfolio, it’s important to understand how much risk you are taking on. Are you putting money into shares, property, cash, bonds, or offshore and how much risk does each one carry?  

The right combination will help you generate the returns necessary with the appropriate amount of risk to meet your investment goals.

Key global investment market drivers remain the speed at which interest rates will decline, the strength of the Chinese economy and in SA, gaining confidence in the effectiveness of the GNU. The ongoing wars in the Middle East and the Ukraine still do not appear to be major market issues, but will if material escalations take place.

We remain positive on Emerging Markets and SA Equities, but we are cautious on US Markets.

We celebrate the Prosperity Fund’s 10-year anniversary. It’s generated superb average compound returns of 10% per annum.

The fund is uniquely managed to maximise returns with minimal risk. It is best suited to investors with a moderate risk profile who require a balanced local and global investment exposure with a conservative bias and capital preservation.

See the fund’s recent opportunities and how it is positioned.

According to Stats SA, annual consumer price inflation decreased to 4.6% in July. This marks the lowest inflation rate in three years, matching the 4.6% recorded in July 2021. But how does this match your personal inflation rate?

In this article, we emphasize that relying on cash or income-yielding investments is not a sustainable strategy for long-term investing to outperform inflation and protect your purchasing power.

We are pleased to share the recording and slides from our recent Estate Planning webinar. This session provided an in-depth look at estate planning, covering key considerations applicable to winding up your estate.

Having comprehensive short- and long-term insurance, along with effective risk management strategies, is essential to safeguarding your future and ensuring financial stability.

Numerous financial products and structures can be implemented to protect yourself and your loved ones in the event of an accident, theft, natural disaster, or death.

Please see a checklist of the protections you can put in place.

With increasing global geopolitical risks and a more favourable South African political landscape, one of the most crucial strategies we recommend to investors is ensuring that their asset base is properly diversified. Diversification is a key element in reducing risk and optimising returns by spreading investments strategically across various geographies, sectors and different asset classes.