How Much is Enough
How much is enough? There’s a pattern to how most people answer this question. Enough never seems to be where the person is; rather, it’s always just beyond the horizon. What do I mean by this? The Wall Street Journal recently ran a survey on how much people say they need to […]
Are we ready for a Market Crash?
I’ve written about the US market being at all-time highs before. I write about the US because that’s where all the growth of the past 10 years has come from. We like to be negative about South Africa’s low growth rate. I had a look at my Eskom app and see we haven’t had […]
Compounding in Practise
I am writing this story with permission from the client in question. I have been working with a client for almost a year now, planning out her retirement. It’s this year that she takes the plunge to live solely off the proceeds of her portfolio. As is standard, I do a lot of […]
History Rhymes
The Magnificent 7 continues to dominate stock market performance. Have a look at the relative stock market performance of this group vs the S&P 500 (the largest 500 companies in the US) for 2023. Chart: The Bloomberg Magnificent Seven – 2023 Performance vs the MSCI World Index Source: Ninety One The Magnificent […]
A look at Property Prices in South Africa
As early newsletter readers may know, soon after I left Johannesburg for Knysna in December 2022, I put my Joburg flat on the market. Well, it still hasn’t sold. And I’ve just signed a lease agreement with the second set of tenants. I purchased the place back in 2017 for R1.15m, and with bond registration […]
Shoe Dog
I recently read ‘Shoe Dog’ by Philip Knight. He recounts the fascinating story of the founding of Nike. Nike is named after the Greek winged goddess of victory. His story is the typical ‘Great American Tale’ – an underdog from humble beginnings has an idea and takes on the world (Puma and Adidas at […]
More All Time Highs
Once again, markets are at all-time highs. I’ve written about this before, where the data shows all times high are usually followed by more all times highs. Of course, I am talking about US markets. In this past decade, we’ve only seen growth from a small group of technology companies based in the US. […]
The 5th Richest Man in South Africa
Kenneth Makate is set to become South Africa’s 5th richest person. He is currently in about 20 millionth place (if we were to rank individual South Africans from richest to poorest). This may seem improbable – how can someone go from 20 million in the rich list to number 5? Well, it turns out Makate […]
The Ride of a Lifetime
I spent a few days over Christmas reading ‘The ride of a lifetime’ by Robert Iger. I’d highly recommend it. Iger became CEO of the Walt Disney Company in 2005, which was a difficult time for the company. Competition was more intense than ever, and technology was changing faster than any time in the company’s […]
Markets at All Time Highs Tend to Move Higher
It’s been a tremendous start to the year for US markets. The S&P 500 index, which tracks the largest 500 companies in the US, is already up 5.3%. Over the past 5 years, the S&P 500 has increased by almost 85%. That’s an annualized return of 13.1% in USD just for sitting in an index. […]
