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2016 in hindsight…a cause for meaningful reflection

18 January 2017 | General

In his book Deep South, Paul Theroux contrasts his travels through the deep south of the USA with his previous, more exotic travels, and details how getting from point A to point B is half one’s story. Unlike his earlier expeditions, the roads in the US are wide and well maintained, and it is easy for a traveller to get around, so he had to adjust his narrative and focus more on the people he met as opposed to the actual journey. I believe that, regarding this statement, there are quite a number of analogies that can be drawn between this and 2016. One is certainly that 2016 has been all about the journey - quite a tumultuous one at that. We lost cultural icons including David Bowie, Prince, Muhammad Ali, Mandoza, Leonard Cohen and George Michael. We lived through mass shootings, terrorist attacks and we still have the situation in Syria. We saw natural disasters - such as the earthquakes in both Italy and Indonesia, as well as Hurricane Matthew in the US.

Investing : Talk to your 80-year-old self

18 January 2017 | General

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting started yesterday in Davos, Switzerland and gives everyone interested in investing an opportunity to carefully consider the macro themes we should be paying attention to in our portfolios.

How much is enough to hold offshore in 2017

18 January 2017 | General

Representing less than one percent of the global economy and expecting less than 2% growth in GDP per annum over the next two years, the South African economy appears unlikely to offer local investors the chance of decent returns, which remains hindered by socio-political and economic factors. To mitigate the risk of over-concentrating assets domestically and increase their potential for greater and diversified returns, high net worth investors are increasingly taking advantage of their R 11 million allowance to invest outside of South Africa.