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.

Effective 1 September 2024, retirement fund legislation will introduce a new two-pot system. For the first time, retirement annuity investors will be allowed to access a portion of their retirement savings before reaching the age of 55 or retirement.

In this newsletter, we simplify the two-pot retirement system and highlight the costs and tax implications of making early withdrawals from your retirement funds.

The Cabinet and a New Dawn for South Africa

The much-anticipated cabinet has been announced. While not perfect, it’s a relief that it appears reasonable. Negotiating and balancing these positions must have been tough, especially getting the ANC to relinquish power they’ve held for years.

The new cabinet is large, with 32 ministers and 43 deputy ministers. This initial bloated cabinet is a compromise to include most parties in the Government of National Unity (GNU). While it leans towards the ANC, a more representative and less powerful ANC is preferable to the previous dysfunctional cabinet. Of the 32 cabinet positions, the ANC has 21, the DA 6, and smaller parties take up the remaining 5. This is not in proportion to the GNU members and election outcome.

South Africa could be celebrating! Firstly, we’ve triumphed with a peaceful election and a result that was realistically near perfect. For now, forming a GNU is the best path with Ramaphosa remaining as President, whilst the DA must engage constructively.

A humiliated and wounded ANC has one last chance to regain support by delivering jobs and basic services, which can only take place with strong economic growth.

Our recent Living Annuities webinar generated great interest – unpacking how they work, their benefits, and the role they play in financial planning. We provided an example of how future Living Annuity income is impacted when reaching the 17.5% income ceiling, which highlights the importance of appropriate retirement planning.

Finding true financial planning clarity amidst the fog of uncertainty and a whirlpool of financial strategies can be challenging.

In this article, we look at the advantages of restructuring your investments with the guidance of a skilled financial planning professional.