Recent Posts - page 2
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A day in the life
Over the past two decades, the professional standards of the South African financial planning industry have continued to rise through the efforts of a number of niche fee-based practices. Together with the Financial Planning Institute of Southern African (FPI), a… Read More ›
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Fear, panic and ignorance
Fear, panic and ignorance can affect human ability to make rational and logical decisions in times of crises – and this phenomenon is not limited to investment markets, as the Cape Town water crisis has taught us. Whether a severe… Read More ›
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Consumed
In his book, “Consumed: How markets corrupt children, infantilise adults and swallow citizens whole”, Benjamin Barber notes that capitalism requires us to ‘need’ all that it produces in order to survive. In doing so, capitalism has morphed from its origins… Read More ›
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Don’t bank on it
Done correctly, retirement planning is a client-specific blend of finances, lifestyle goals, health status, life expectancy and investment assumptions. The retirement planning industry is rife with generalisations and rules-of-thumb which, if too quickly accepted as fact, can have dire consequences… Read More ›
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The ride of your life
When planning our first expedition to the Okavango Delta and Caprivi Strip, our initial step was to consult the experts. Analysing the long and dusty route, understanding the costs and logistics, and knowing what to pack for the trip were… Read More ›
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What we repeatedly do
It was Samuel Johnson who once said that ‘the chains of habit are too weak to be felt until they are too strong to be broken’, and although bad financial habits may be difficult to exorcise, implementing a set of… Read More ›
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Saving by the bucket-load
As devastating as the drought in the Western Cape is, there is no doubt that it has resulted in fundamentally changed human behaviour which has, in many instances, positively impacted the water management of private citizens. There is nothing quite… Read More ›
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Financial advice to my 22-year old self
Twenty-four years since graduating from university, it is a somewhat challenging task to look back at my twenty-two year old self and dispense financial advice to the woman I was then. Standing on the precipice of a legal career, the… Read More ›
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How women give away their financial power
Just over a century since the suffragettes’ movement during which the female empowerment initiative first gained traction, women are today more empowered than ever before. Although no one argues that institutional sexism and pervasive discrimination against women still exists in… Read More ›
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The unique financial planning needs of women
Women face unique financial obstacles during their lifetime that require special consideration in the financial planning process. The gender pay gap, women’s role as child-bearers and carers, and the fact that women generally tend to live longer than men, are… Read More ›