Whoever writes the Stats SA GDP report wasn’t messing around this week. Reminiscent of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s rather colourful Twitter feed, the report opened with the following line: “The punch in the gut was severe.” When a governmental statistics agency writes with such emotive language, you know things are rough. The report immediately goes on to note that “perhaps …
View PostWhoever writes the Stats SA GDP report wasn’t messing around this week. Reminiscent of Finance Minister Tito Mboweni’s rather colourful Twitter feed, the report opened with the following line: “The punch in the gut was severe.” When a governmental statistics agency writes with such emotive language, you know things are rough. The report immediately goes on to note that “perhaps …
View PostIn my second appearance on the Honest Money podcast, I get personal about money. Some of the topics covered include: The real cost of having a baby Using debt to buy shares A discussion on good vs. bad debt in general A framework for tracking your financial progress This is real-world stuff and I really hope you find it interesting …
View PostThis may sound like a fairytale, but it could have an unhappy ending. Robinhood is the US stockbroking app that has driven an influx of literally millions of (particularly younger) investors who have bought American stocks on a fractional ownership basis. Fractional ownership is the same principle that Easy Equities uses locally, which allows people to invest a specific amount …
View PostThis may sound like a fairytale, but it could have an unhappy ending. Robinhood is the US stockbroking app that has driven an influx of literally millions of (particularly younger) investors who have bought American stocks on a fractional ownership basis. Fractional ownership is the same principle that Easy Equities uses locally, which allows people to invest a specific amount …
View PostThe JSE requires companies to make certain disclosures. These range from reporting results through to alerting the market when directors and their associates buy or sell shares. There is also a need to disclose any resignations of directors. This year, there has been another interesting development: an allowance by the JSE for companies to defer the release of financial results. …
View PostThe JSE requires companies to make certain disclosures. These range from reporting results through to alerting the market when directors and their associates buy or sell shares. There is also a need to disclose any resignations of directors. This year, there has been another interesting development: an allowance by the JSE for companies to defer the release of financial results. …
View PostOne of the core principles in designing a great racecar is to achieve a low centre of gravity. Start-ups should learn something from this. Top-heavy cars don’t handle well. The weight is all in the wrong place. At an extreme, they can topple over. There’s a reason Formula 1 cars aren’t shaped like toasters. The same principle applies to start-ups, …
View PostIn case you haven’t noticed, the economy has opened up considerably. Restaurants are busy and people are finally doing things with their lives (and money) again. It’s worth touching on a couple of economic health barometers: new vehicle sales and manufacturing sentiment. New vehicle sales: do consumers have money? Bearing in mind that interest rates in South Africa are at …
View PostBalwin Properties is one of the more interesting property companies on the JSE. Instead of being a typical property fund that owns a variety of shopping malls or office properties, Balwin develops residential estates and sells off the units. It’s primarily a gross profit model, not a rental model, although Balwin isn’t shy to rent out properties either. They’ve been …
View Post