What the Experts say

Matthew Lester looks at ways to cut retirement income requirements so that less tax is payable to SARS. In times gone by the universal approach adopted when retiring or withdrawing from a retirement fund (pension, provident or retirement annuity fund) was ‘take one-third of the capital in cash and the rest as an annuity. When dealing with provident funds, […]

Let us consider what Dawie Roodt has to say here about “Confessions of an unreconstructed neo-liberal fundamentalist” and follow his views in the next four editions of his newsletter which will be “dedicated to his plan for the economy”.  This should make for both interesting and thought provoking reading – which, coming from Dawie, is

Prof. Matthew Lester addresses a topic here which, over a number of years, has become a taboo subject matter for many investors and would-be investors.  I can fully understand why, but I would hasten to caution that you re-evaluate your personal standpoint on this important matter against the backdrop of – past and present –

Back in 1696 the then Bank of England was facing financial strain. To rectify the situation, King William III instituted a Window Tax. Under the new tax, each house would pay tax based on the number of windows that it had. In theory this tax was well conceived. It was easy to assess (counting the

In my practice I am regularly asked by some clients to give my views on the direction of the Rand relative to their investments or those portions of their investments that are exposed to other geographic regions and currencies of the world.  This, of course, calls for extreme caution on my part as I am

According to Arthur Kamp, Investment Economist, Sanlam Investment Management  “……the surge in the domestic equity market from its recession induced low in 2009 has helped underpin a bounce in household net wealth, thus further supporting the recovery in household consumption.  Indeed, real consumer spending surprised consensus expectations to the upside through 2010, advancing, on average,

  Executive Summary Last week was an amazing week for our stock market and offshore markets. In the midst of concerns about a correction and Egypt, the market promptly jumped 4.3% in rands (3.4% in dollars, not shabby) to another post-crash high as the US market gained 2.7% in dollars and the MSCI World Index

(by Group Advisory Services, Stanlib) Market Comment September was a great month for markets, with the JSE gaining 8.7% (15.2% in dollars), while the MSCI World Index gained 9.4% and the MSCI Emerging Markets Index gained 11.1%, both in dollars. With the rand gaining 5.9% in September against the dollar, these two returns were 3.4%

Economic variables released during the course of the past week gave an indication of South African international trade, demand for credit and money supply in the economy. These variables are very important to look at as they give an indication of consumer demand (demand for credit) and foreign demand for South African produced goods. Read

Market Comment STANLIB’s economist, Kevin Lings, continues to believe (even after recent weak numbers) that there is only a 20-30% risk of a “double-dip” recession in the near term, meaning that there is a 70-80% probability of continued, albeit slower, global growth.  Many top analysts/economists agree with this view, saying that it is quite normal

In today’s newsletter we look at the importance of time. Today the focus has been the release of Nelson Mandela 20 years ago. It has been a privilege to share such an exciting time in South Africa’s history. Each generation has their moment of text book copy that they share in – sometimes it is

In today’s newsletter we take a look at the ever present topic of the global recovery and what we could expect in 2010. The recession hit everyone hard – at mostly the same time. But the recovery from that recession is significantly different across the globe. Key to how well you recover from this recession

The unfolding recovery in the global economy, the concomitant increase in South Africa’s terms of trade over the past year and the marked decline in household debt servicing costs through 2009 are supportive of a recovery in economic growth in the year ahead. Read more ….

Market Comment The JSE rose this Monday morning to a new 2009 high of over 27,000. The last time it was at this level was in early September 2008, before the Lehman Bros collapse. As usual, our market follows offshore trends. Record low interest rates offshore (and low inflation) coupled with a change in the