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SA Foie Gras

AfrAsia’s latest South Africa Wealth Report found that wealthy South Africans have 83% of their assets invested locally. According to the report, their asset class breakdown between South Africa and the rest of the world is: Let’s exclude properties, businesses and alternatives, which tend to be illiquid and might correlate with where you live or […]

Consistent Profitability

Return = Yield + Growth + Revaluation = Sustainable Return + Revaluation This understanding of return is central to our investment philosophy and process. We’ve written about this on numerous occasions. Those who have followed our writing will recall that revaluation, though dominant in the short-term, tends to cancel itself out over long periods of […]

Don’t let the Rand dictate your portfolio

For many South African investors, the Rand exchange rate is the single most important variable they consider when deciding whether to invest money offshore. It crowds out every other consideration. We think this is a mistake. If you’re thinking about investing globally, but you’re worried about timing the Rand, ask yourself the following questions: 1) […]

Investors should Ignore Annual Predictions

After reaching new all-time highs in September, the S&P 500 lost nearly 13.5% in the fourth quarter of 2018, while MSCI World ex-USA declined by 11.4%. Equity markets have recovered somewhat from their December lows – the S&P 500 came within a hair’s breadth of official bear market territory (-20%) on 24 December, before rallying […]

Global Diversification: Are you doing it right?

Most investors would agree that diversification is a good thing, but how many of us really understand what it means? All too often, South African investors think about global diversification as fleeing risk. Diversification is about managing risk. It is not about avoiding or eliminating risk, which cannot be done without sacrificing investment goals. It […]

Get the Most out of your Global Equity Exposure

Investors who ignore offshore opportunities deny themselves the significant benefit of exposure to a far wider range of stocks. While more South African high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) are investing globally, many are still missing out on the opportunity of including direct offshore investing in their financial plan. Purchasing foreign equities is a great starting point for […]

Why wealthy South Africans are investing in Global Equity

A recent report found that South African High Net Worth Individuals (HNWIs) substantially increased the share of their assets allocated to equities from 23% in 2007 to 28% in 2017, with the majority of this growth in equity exposure having been through increased foreign equity allocations. Although local political uncertainty likely played a role in […]

Investment Case: Netflix

Over the last decade, Netflix, the world’s largest online TV subscription service, has grown its revenues roughly 10 times, its earnings per share 15 times and its share price nearly 100 times. Netflix has become a household name and an investor favourite, earning its place among the market’s most high-flying tech stocks, the FAANGs. But […]

JSE Rand-Hedges are a Poor Substitute for a Global Portfolio

With local news agendas often dominated by the rand’s dismal performance, GDP woes and an economy slipping into a technical recession – South African investors are increasingly seeking shelter via offshore exposure. But with easy access to foreign markets, investors need to seriously consider the implications of counting on locally listed rand-hedge stocks as a […]

Time to rethink the standard offshore allocation models

Wealthy South Africans have more than 83% of their wealth concentrated locally and many are missing the benefits of being true global investors. South Africa represents less than 1% of the global investment opportunity set, has significant political and currency risks and is subject to capital controls. Most of the nation’s high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) are […]