Personal Finance Articles

We have written numerous articles for magazines, newspapers and websites in an attempt to provide some insights into different aspects of money management. The articles were aimed at the average private individual and were designed for people who are not experts in the field. We have adapted these articles and are continuously adding to them for the benefit of our clients.

If you click on the links below they will take you to the pages that cover the topics in the links in more detail.

• Property: you don't have to own it... ever
  We South Africans have a fixation on property. We are all told from a young age that we have to own property when we grow up. So when we start work we duly find a home and a mortgage and embark on our lifelong property adventure. As we grow older, we require more space and therefore a bigger house and mortgage. This carries on until we retire and decide to look for a smaller home - hopefully this time without the need for a mortgage. Many of us never stop to think whether this is the right way to manage our lives - we do it because that is the way things are done. Perhaps it is time we considered our alternatives

• Women have special financial needs
  Women have different financial needs to men. Women are more prone to financial shocks - usually through divorce and/or the death of a life partner. In the USA and UK, men own more financial products than women and married men are twice as likely to own a pension as women. In addition, women typically earn less income and have shorter careers than men, resulting in lower pension benefits at retirement. This problem is exaggerated because women live longer than men, which means their financial position could be more precarious as they get older.

• Entrepreneurs
  Why would any sensible entrepreneur particularly a business owner invest capital outside of his or her own business? By definition an entrepreneur is a business person who is willing to take risks and back herself to make a profit. The concept of risk management and diversification will run contrary to the nature of most risk-prone individuals especially when they have been rewarded over a period of time for taking risks. Successful entrepreneurs will point out that they get great investment returns from their own business and fail to understand why they should invest their money elsewhere.

• Property: Why buy-to-let when you can buy listed property?
  When you consider the transaction costs and investment risks of purchasing residential property on a buy-to-let basis I am always amazed that more people don't buy listed property companies instead. The yields, investment risks and transactions costs make this a considerably better prospect than residential property. If you were to compare the costs and potential returns of these two investments in the same way one would compare any two normal investments - you might begin to reconsider residential property as a viable investment.

• Retirement and your second career
  Are you retiring in the near future and are you concerned that you may not have sufficient capital to retire? We often read that the majority of South Africans will not have enough money to retire. This means that they either have to keep on working or they have to change their lifestyle dramatically and live more frugally than planned. For many people, this may seem like a major setback. People who find themselves in this position often compound their situation through poor financial decisions after retirement. If you are in this position, what should you do? How does one make the best of a difficult situation?

• What to expect from your advisor
  Understand that your advisor is there to help you manage your finances properly. A good advisor is someone who will educate you and coach you about your finances. The reason all professional sports stars have coaches is that they need someone to help them refine their techniques and motivate them when times are tough. Similarly a financial advisor should fulfil the role of a financial coach. The coach will help you formulate your plan and help you stick to your plan when times are tough. Most likely you will be tempted to make some rash decisions through your lifetime and it is during these times that your advisor should add the most value to you.