How much do I need to retire? This has always been the burning question. Some experts say it simply comes down to basic maths using these magic numbers: “5, 15 and 75”. But we believe there is a lot more to determine in order to ensure you will have the retirement income you desire.

Investing can be difficult. It is often counter intuitive. Buy low when everything looks bad and Sell high when all looks fantastic. We have summarised a recent Allan Gray article showing how frequently strong returns have followed periods of low returns such as the market has experienced over the last five years.

The current 2018/19 tax year is drawing to a close on 28 February 2019. During this time, it’s important to remember to make use of certain deductions and exclusions for the year such as topping up your retirement annuities and tax-free investment, and utilising your annual capital gains tax exclusion.

We have also summarised five ways that investors benefit from contributing to retirement funds (annuity, pension, provident) and how excess contributions to these funds can still provide significant advantages in future years or during future events.

The Prosperity Worldwide Flexible Fund of Funds, which I co-manage, continues to produce solid, steady performance despite the prevailing volatile markets. The Fund is ranked 3rd out of 47 funds in its Morningstar category. In an exceptionally difficult market environment, Prosperity has produced a steady 7.64% per annum return since its inception in September 2014.

2019 offers good investment opportunities, but key is where to look. With some critical local and international changes, sector allocation will be crucial: local vs offshore, developed vs emerging markets, large vs small companies and different sectors. It will be a stock picker’s market resulting in big differences in investment fund performances. See our views.