The Financial Services Industry: Only serving themselves?
John Kay’s critique of the industry, Other People’s Money, looks at the need for reform to avoid another crisis. John Kay is an economist with both academic and corporate experience, and a columnist for the Financial Times. In his latest book, Other People’s Money (R452, Takealot.com http://www.takealot.com/other-people-s-money/PLID34890927), Kay positions himself as a critic of the current incarnation of the financial services industry, suggesting that its usefulness to society has failed to keep pace with its size and the scope of its involvement in the economy. The financial sector serves society and the economy in (at least) four ways. The payments system enables businesses and individuals to pay and receive wages and to buy goods and services. The sector also enables eff
read more
Tapping into your investments as an income
Whether you’re saving to pay for your children’s education, take a break from work, or even to have more spending money in retirement, setting a plan in motion so you can draw an income from your investments could make that goal a reality. What type of funds should you be looking at that will help you generate an income that’s higher than a simple bank deposit over time? “Enhanced income”-type funds are those that aim to deliver a high level of regular income that will beat a cash or money market return over two to three years. How do they do this? These funds invest in a combination of assets that give you both 1) a steady income stream, and 2) some capital growth over time. This comprises a high proportion of assets like cash and bonds for income, as well as a smaller amou
read more
Become an Investment Specialist Today!
Yes you can become an investment specialist today! After going through Asset Classes last week, there is just one quick thing we need to look at before we move on to investing into Unit Trusts. I touched on Asset Allocation briefly in the last post, so in this post I will go through Asset Allocation in a little more detail so that you can build a better understanding and knowledge base. Asset Allocation: Asset Allocation is how you divide your investments between the Asset Classes. So it is deciding how much cash, bonds, property and equity you want in your investment. Asset Allocation is, in my opinion, one of the most important decisions you make when it comes to investing and achieving your investment goals. Before you go ahead and select which bonds, equity etc you want
read more
Making Time Work For You With Investments
Today I am going to give you some handy tips to help you think through investments and financial planning in a simple and basic way. Now that we have touched on Compound Interest and the EFFECTS of Inflation in the last two articles, we can move on to a practical example of how the two work hand in hand with each other and with spending time in the market and not trying to time the market. The example below illustrates not only the importance of compound interest and inflation, but also how to use TIME to your advantage when it comes to investing. I really wish that they taught this to us this in school… Let’s take a basic example and say we have John and Max. John and Max are wanting to invest some money into exactly the same investment that gives a return of 10% and also has
read more
Leave a Reply