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Showing content with the highest reputation since 11/26/2019 in all areas

  1. I'm curious if you've reviewed your rationale recently now that the waters have temporarily calmed. Do you still think you were thinking clearly or do you recognize a little bit of the recency bias and nihilism that drove the choices you made here? I'm speaking with regards to: 1. Cashing out your pension (!) 2. Panic selling from a passively managed portfolio (As an aside, who exactly was "trying to take your money"? 3. Staying invested (due to admin inertia) in the RA while thinking there was no way it could recover (I'm curious to know if it did and if so/not what exactly is your RA invested in and have you looked to tighten up there?) 4. Not wanting to add more to your RA while everything was on sale For the sake of fairness, I'll be transparent that I did nothing during the crash. Literally nothing. Everyone around me was tinkering and saying that I was crazy continuing with business as usual but I just couldn't understand why an investment plan that I made when I was calm and rational, specifically to whether the longterm (a longterm that EXPECTED crashes and "once in a lifetime" global events) needed to suddenly be abandoned. I don't regret that decision. A part of me wishes I'd taken on more shifts so that I could buy more during the dip, but again that wasn't part of my longterm plan so I felt silly even considering it. Even excluding rand weakness, my portfolio is essentially where it was precrash. My RA is shining too... with its 70% local. I think the financial consequences of the last 9 months are far from over but my plan remains the same. If there's anything this storm taught me it's that you have to build a plan that matches your risk tolerance or you'll be prone to making decisions in the heat of the moment that contradict that plan. I'm curious if yours has changed at all with a bit of the tailwinds behind us and a bit more perspective? I think it would be a useful update.
    3 points
  2. So I recently found myself doing a fee comparison between 10x (I am currently with 10x), Outvest, EasyEquities and Sygnia. Results: The cheapest platform depends on your RA value. Outvest is cheapest once you hit +/- R450k Below that Sygnia is typically cheapest. I made my research results freely available in the form of an interactive calculator. Here it is. https://mymoneytree.co.za/calculator/ra/
    3 points
  3. So I have been planning my Tax Free Investment Account portfolio for 2021 and this is what I've decided to buy in the year ahead in terms of my ETF picks: Composition: 70% Offshore Equities 20% Local Equities 10% Local Property My portfolio will then look as follows: Offshore (70%): ASHEQF: 25% STXEMG: 25% STXNDQ: 10% SYG4IR: 10% Local (30%): STX40: 7% NFEMOM: 7% STXQUA: 7% CSPROP: 10% The local picks may seem strange at 7% each, but I cannot decide between the three local equity ETFs. NFEMOM has done very well in terms of local ETFs and will probably continue to shine. STX40 contains the more resilient stocks that are most likely do perform best in difficult times. And STXQUA, well, I just love the composition of shares in the basket. My TFIA already contains ETFs in the composition above, so I'll just continue to buy in the same ratio.
    2 points
  4. It's that time of year again - albeit a very unusual year! So my personal top five stock pics for next year are as follows (in order): #1) DGH (Distell) - This one's share price has been hammered by the lockdowns and stocks are dirt cheap. But drinking never stops and eventually, sales and profits always return. This company is also huge and very resilient. If I had to choose just one stock for the coming year, it would be this one. #2) APN (Aspen) - With an agreement to produce a COVID vaccine, the exposure to this company should be massive once they begin production. #3) PPC (PPC Cement) - This one is tricky, because they have a significant debt problem to solve. If they fix their debt problem, they could be at R6.00 by the end of 2021. If they don't, they could be at 60c. But this year has been fantastic for the company. They have increased profits and reduced debt considerably. If they keep it up, good things are in store for this company. #4) DCP (Dischem) - Dis-Chem has launched it's new innovative Clinic Connect - a nurse-led healthcare system where nurses take your vitals and symptoms etc., and can video-chat a Doctor for a script should one be required, with clinic visits being substantially cheaper than Doctor visits, and you can still get a prescription. If this takes off, this could do wonders for the group. #5) SSS (Store-Age) - Largely unaffected by COVID, because people who rent storage keep renting the storage, even during tough times. With a dividend yield at over 8% and good financials, this one is bread and butter, even through terrible times. Other notable mentions: CML - Coronation L4L - Long4Life CPI - Capitec DSY - Discovery SRE - Sirius
    2 points
  5. ETNs: FirstRand have listed 9 Exchange Traded Notes on large US stocks on the JSE (plus one on MSCI World) Google (Alphabet) Amazon Apple Coke Facebook McDonalds Microsoft Netflix Tesla Each stock has 2 codes: With exposure to the USD/ZAR (C) or without (Q). Note that with an ETN you carry the counter-party risk that the issuer will not fulfill its obligations. With FSR/RMB you should be pretty safe, although their market making is less than desirable. Dividends are not paid out but are reinvested and added to the NAV of the ETN. Source:
    2 points
  6. For cellphones, you can download the free version of the TrueCaller App (from Google Play Store) that has very effective spam and advertising blocking capabilities. I've been using it for a few months now and I hardly get spam calls anymore on my cell phone.
    2 points
  7. Knowing what I know now I would do it again. Make no mistake, it could've ended badly but for some reason I had very little doubt that it will work out in my favour. Still scary. 1. Cashing out pension Still happy I did it. We have plans to cash out my wife's as well. We are planning to move offshore for a bit (permanently?) but even if we didn't I have do not have enough faith in our government and Reg 28 to provide us with a retirement. Retirement is still 30 years away though. I'd rather sort it out myself. I would never suggest to anybody to cash out their pension (it could be the worst mistake you ever make) but personally I have no love for reg 28. 2. Panic selling This wasn't panic selling. I saw an opportunity and took a calculated risk. All the money was reinvested. Yes I took the opportunity to rebalance but I invested in the same "philosophy" - not in SA. Panic selling implies that one has no plan and making rash decisions. *I bought back in over a couple of days but that's the rough idea. When I bought back in I thought we hit bottom already, but obviously not. 3. RA So I moved my RA to Allan Gray in 2018. As a result the fund is split in two exact same funds - one that just sits there and one for new deposits. This is the lump sum with no additional deposits' performance: Since inception: -0.49% 4. Not adding anymore to RA I've stopped all deposits to my RA btw. Investing that money into my own investments. My new portfolio is up 6.59% over the last 6 months which is not spectacular but the investments are diverse and not bound to reg28 constraints.
    2 points
  8. So ASHGEQ will suspend trading on 9 September and the ETF will be replaced with the Ashburton Global 1200 Equity Fund of Funds ETF (ASHEQF) (also launched on 9 September). This is the new feeder fund discussed in the previous post. (Source: ASHGEQ SENS announcement 1 September 2020) We shouldn't notice any immediate difference in our portfolios, I guess, except the change of code from ASHGEQ to ASHEQF.
    2 points
  9. Just a update on ASHGEQ: The proposed restructuring was approved by the majority of shareholders.This means that ASHGEQ will now become a feeder fund (owning the ETFs that make up the index rather than owning the individual companies). So while the index will remain exactly the same, the management costs and TER for ASHGEQ should now come down significantly. The individual constituents comprising the S&P Global 1200 Index are: iShares Core S&P 500 ETF iShares MSCI Europe UCITS ETF EUR Dist iShares S&P/TSX 60 Index ETF iShares Core TOPIX ETF iShares Asia 50 ETF iShares Latin America 40 ETF SPDR S&P/ASX 50 Fund (Source: ASHGEQ SENS announcement 11 August 2020)
    2 points
  10. He's probably right but who cares - it's making me money
    2 points
  11. So let's see: TFSA +28% ETF5IT (42%) ASHGEQ (55%) STXEMG (3%) The growth here was helped by timing the crash and dip earlier this year and time. Portfolio #1 +8% SYGWD (27%) SYG4IR (42%) STXCHN (31%) Portfolio was started after the crash, so gains are partly due to the recovery (maybe?) and the recent growth we've seen over the last week. Portfolio #2 +77% ETFRHO (95%) DCX10 (5%) Ah yes, portfolio 2. Otherwise known as my **** around portfolio. Growth is largely from past performance of ETFRHO and it's been stuck in the +70 range for a while. I reckon the party is over but scared of capital gains.
    2 points
  12. So this year, the markets have gone crazy, but not altogether bad from an ETF point of view. However, the more the markets do wild things, the more I've been inclined to go for vanilla ETFs. I think I've only made one or two big changes since last year, namely selling my Coreshare's SMART ETF in favour of the Satrix Top 40, and then reducing my allocation of property (CSPROP) from 25% to 15% (I didn't sell - I'm just not buying at the moment until it's less than 15% of my total portfolio.) I used the extra 10% allocation from property to buy Satrix Nasdaq (STXNDQ). So at the moment, most ETFs are doing really well, especially the foreign ones. My Tax Free investment portfolio and it's performance (total return) looks as follows: Local ETFs (Total 45%): 10% Satrix Top 40 (STX40) - Performance in my portfolio: +0% 10% Newfunds Momentum (NFEMOM) - Performance: +7% 10% Satrix Quality (STXQUA) - Performance: -10% (Even though this is currently down, I don't want to sell this because I love the shares in this basket and see long term potential.) 15% Coreshares Property (CSPROP) - Performance: -22% (Would be much worse if not for the massive dividends). Foreign ETFs (Total 55%): 25% Ashburton Global 1200 (ASHGEQ) - Performance: +22% 10% Satrix Emerging Markets (STXEMG) - Performance: +27% 10% Satrix Nasdaq (STXNDQ) - Performance: +44% 10% Sygnia 4th Industrial Revolution (SYG4IR) - Performance: +51% ( I know Simon Brown always slams this one as just being popular rather than having actual merit, but it's been my best performing ETF and continues to perform, despite the measly dividends. I don't think I'd be comfortable with it being more than 10% of my portfolio though.) Things that I've noticed that have happened in my portfolio this year: Foreign markets have vastly outperformed local markets this year. Emerging market are outperforming developed markets this year, despite COVID (to be expected in the long term, but surprising given the current pandemic.) Tech ETFs are outperforming everything else by far. Changes that I'm going to make: I'm going to buy some Satrix China (STXCHN) after its launch tomorrow, but I don't think I'll put it in my TFIA, as it would go against my diversification policy within my TFIA. But I'm definitely going to buy a fair amount of this ETF outside of my TFIA.
    2 points
  13. Nothing with regards to their product offering. Biggest mistake I ever made though was "upgrade" to their Private Client suite which is a bunch of bs. Most of the time you have to phone the relevant department anyway. Bigger deposit can potentially mean better interest rate. If we put the interest rate aside, there should be no difference in repayments between having a R1 000 000 bond with R200 000 in an access facility vs a bond with R800 000 outstanding. The fundamental differences (and take it with a pinch of salt): Access facility means just that, you have access to any extra funds you put in your account. Great for an emergency fund, but easy to spend if you are "bad" with money Extra money in the access facility returns at the rate of your home loan interest but tax free. You pay tax on interest you gain but not on interest you save. Down side obviously is that the rate of return is pretty low compared to what equities are returning, so having too much in the access facility is potentially bad given the low interest rates. You cannot fix the interest rate on a bond with an access facility which is something people may want to do in a year or so's time Personally - I took the access facility to keep my options and access to funds open.
    2 points
  14. A market maker pays us to send them an order for shares. In return they guarantee execution at the current best price. The market maker can then use the order to get a competitive edge.
    2 points
  15. Morning all, Which JSE broker offers trading in local bonds for private accounts? What are the costs involved? What are minimum trade sizes? Feedback appreciated.
    2 points
  16. Service/Product Description: Many professions, such as Chiropractors and Physiotherapists are required by their governing bodies (eg. Health Professionals Council as well as the Allied Health Professions Councils) to capture a consent form related to the COVID-19 pandemic when they treat their patients. This will create a mountain of paperwork that can easily get lost. [CUE intense music, cloud of smoke] Enter Online Forms - The solution to keep your consent forms and staff registers on a digital platform where they can't get lost and are safe from prying eyes. Simple capture form that is a "fill in the blanks" or "select an existing patient" and it creates a signed document easily! Location: https://organicode.co.za/onlineforms About us: OrganiCode hopes to build organic, lasting and growing relationships with customers using code. We do custom development, but also have a couple of inhouse products under construction with Online Forms being the first out for public consumption. Links (optional): https://organicode.co.za
    2 points
  17. 1. See my post above. 2. The NFTRACI should be fairly constant over the short term since it consists of mixed term fixed deposits with predetermined interest rates. However, with the costs, it really isn't any better than a money market account. 3. Tyme bank offers excellent interest rates depending on how long you keep your money there: 6% interest from day 1, 7% after 30 days, 9% after 90 days. 10% if you give 10 days' notice after 90 days. (According to their website. I have some savings money there and have received these rates too.)
    2 points
  18. Personal preference. It's more diverse and it pays dividends (STXWDM is total return) which is minimal but to see a couple of bucks just randomly appear in my account every now and again makes me happy A combination of STXWDM and STXEMG can achieve the same or better as just having ASHGEQ but that's too much thinking work. TLDR; no real reason...
    2 points
  19. Here is a helpful interactive calculator which shows the cheapest RAs in SA for different RA values. Calculate here.
    2 points
  20. Greetings Money has been a cause of concern and i really want to do away with all this anxiety it brings to my day to day. Am always worried of running out but well am not here to vent. Moving on. From my research there are a couple of things i have to get right before i can ensure my finance future. Bank account Savings (Emergency Fund usually then merely savings[a quicker and more accessible sum]) investing The list might not be in its best order nor most detailed form but thats what i know for now(for the sake of this post). Would anyone please assist me with either information and or guidance with these three aspects and also help me on the right path. Tyme Bank would have been my go to bank. Its rates seem lovely. I understand that all the figures advertised may come to change sometime soon and what not but as for now and making a pick, the rate are a good enough starting point. Unfortunately i am not a South African citizen and have even considered other online banks but have not been too luckily finding one that is laid back on the fees and requires to open an account. Any ideas ? I have resorted to FNB EasyAccount(PAYU) and Standard bank(Student Achiever)(am currently a student doing my 3rd year and fear i might not be in South Africa for as much longer to build my savings in a South African bank to then take it out and perhaps suffer hefty fees. Am not sure how this all works but thats why i would like to get an international online bank where that concern is cancelled out) I hope to have my an FNB account forever and hope to bank from wherever in the world with then even later on and hence settled for them and my current EasyAccount before an upgrade to an different account. In the event i save with them(hopefully i do), i feel i have reason to foresee a longterm relationship. Investing, i want to use EasyEquities to make all my investments. They were suggested by Platinum Wealth and hey, i like them. I do not know if its better to have all i save and invest with them or not. Assuming there is a manner of saving i can do with tem in a TFSA. i really dont know how the platform works but i am dabbling in and with information to see what and how far we can go together. i trust that i can get some scrutiny here and get some answers as well. Dont take too long i dont have time. I want to spend it all on the market, i hear thats how you earn anything in the long run Regards PS:I understand it depends on what i dash dash dash lol. Please throw me in the deep end and give me a broad response lol assume everything
    2 points
  21. I'm no expert but assuming you are far away from retirement age and as per user name you intend to be financially free by 2029, do you really want your money locked away in an RA? Anyway, what I do is this: Max out TFSA first Contribute a percentage to pension (15%) because I can get this money out if we immigrate. Point is: I'll not be force to by an annuity one day and won't be subject to whatever unknown tax regulation there will be one day I contribute a small amount to an RA every month to 1) offset any monies I might owe SARS come tax season and 2) just in case... Once I leave my current job I'm still in two minds on what I'm planning to do with my pension. Currently I'm leaning towards taking the tax hit, cashing it out and investing it offshore. I trust this SA government and pension/RA money exactly f**ol.
    2 points
  22. Desperately looking for a pair of Galaxy buds. Hauwei Freebuds Lite are on sale but would prefer Galaxy Buds if there is a good deal.
    2 points
  23. 2 points
  24. A thread on the The money challenge #2019MoneyChallenge Here’s how it works Months are assigned a number from 1-12 Jan = 1 Feb= 2 Mar= 3 And so on to Dec = 12 We then have a multiplier lets 2 and an example. how this then works is you multiply the multiplier by the months’s respective value i.e 2 in the case of Feb. So Feb would be 2 * 2, then you multiply the results by Rands you want to start with, could be for now lets use R100. So in total you would have Jan = (1 * 2) * R100= R200 Feb = (2*2) * R100 = R400 Mar = (3*2)* R100 = 600 And so on till Dec = (12*2)*R100= R2400 In total you would then save R15600 over the 12 months Whats cool about this is you can change the “Rands” value and the “multiplier” value to suit your goals and afffordability Examples Multiplier = 0.5 Rands= 50 Jan = (1 * 0.5) *R50 = 25 Feb = (2 * 0.5) *R50 = R50 Mar = (3 * 0.5) * R50 = R75 …… Dec (12 * 0.5) *R50 Total = 1950 Last example Multiplier =3 Rands= 200 Jan = (1 * 3) * R200 = R600 Feb = (2 * 3) * R200 = R1200 Mar = (3 * 3) * R200 = R1800 … Dec = (12 * 3 ) * R200= R7200 So depending on where you are in life financially you can start snow balling into higher savings rate. From small amounts to big amounts.
    2 points
  25. @Njabulo Nsibande @Spreadsheet Ranger @Groovy @SaurusDNA
    2 points
  26. https://www.houseandhome.co.za/cat/Nov19/RSABlackFriday/index.html
    2 points
  27. The 70% equities, 20% property and 10% interest bearing is the classic split. But yes, I suppose 10% dividends would make it 80% equities. But there's certainly nothing wrong with 80% equities! I'm torn between STX40 and SMART. I really like a 50/50 split between these two. PTXTEN is now merging with PTXSPY to create a new ETF (tentatively coming into effect from end July 2019). The new one is pretty much the same index as the Satrix STXPRO. Coreshares has promised to lower the relatively high TER with the merge (probably to compete with STXPRO). But you may as well flip a coin here between PTXTEN or STXPRO or watch the TERs once the new Coreshares ETF has settled in. For the dividend ETF, both DIVTRX and STXDIV are decent choices. DIVTRX targets more consistent yields in the longer term whereas STXDIV targets higher yields in the shorter term. And then again, although STXQUA is not strictly a dividend ETF, it's dividends are usually excellent. In my opinion, STXEMG has the most long term potential (although high risk), possibly even more so than tech shares. If you have a bit of appetite for risk, why not do 10% STXEMG, and then leave the ASHGEQ and go for STXWDM and/or S&P500. GLODIV has been doing really well lately and is likely to continue. Not so great in a TFIA though as the unpleasantly high foreign withholding tax on dividends negates a large chunk of the tax benefits though, but it still does have excellent capital gains, so maybe still even worth having in a TFIA. I personally like having a bit of a mix in my ETF portfolio. If I were you, I'd mix it up a little and make it a bit more exciting. What about something like: Local equities: 20% STX40 and 20% SMART Local property: 20% PTXTEN Emerging markets: 10% STXEMG Offshore: 15% CSP500 and 15% STXWDM (or alternatively 10% CSP500, 10% STXWDM and 10% GLODIV) Or if you don't like STXEMG but prefer slightly less emerging markets exposure, but still want some: Local equities: 20% STX40 and 20% SMART Local property: 20% PTXTEN Local dividends: 10% DIVTRX Offshore: 30% ASHGEQ
    2 points
  28. Haven’t seen a post under here for a while nor have I said anything for a while... Anyways- I’ve decided to give my ETFs some serious thought and this is what I’ve come up with (I’m open to all suggestions). I want my overall exposure to be 70% local and 30% offshore. Then, under both local and international holdings I was thinking about having 70% equities, 20% property and 10% dividends. Or not including the dividends because most of these would be under equities anyways and then having maybe a 80/20 split? For local: Satrix Top 40 and maybe the Coreshares Smart (equally weighted) - I know these are basically the same, but I don’t want over exposure to one share nor do I just want equally weighted, so I thought that mixing the two would give a bit of a better mix. Then for local property Coreshares PropTrax10 And if dividends perhaps Coreshares Aristocrats? International I’m a bit confused about because I’d still like a bit of emerging markets as well. So maybe: 1) Ashburton global 1200 2) Sygnia S&P 500 (I know Ashburton would have quite a few American companies in it already) For international property I’m thinking about Coreshares S&P Global And dividends would be Coreshares again or maybe an ETF from Satrix. Is this too complicated of a mix and should I rather just aim for 1 or 2 ETFs for local and international? I am trying to keep the portfolio moderately simple!
    2 points
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    1 point
  30. To support economic recovery, government will not raise any additional tax revenue in this budget. The personal income tax brackets and rebates will increase above the inflation rate of 4 per cent. Government will increase excise duties on alcohol and tobacco by 8 per cent for 2021/22. Inflation-related increases of 15c/litre and 11c/litre will be implemented for the general fuel levy and the RAF levy, respectively, with effect from 7 April 2021. The UIF contribution ceiling will be set at R17 711.58 per month from 1 March 2021.
    1 point
  31. Well, once again, Rhodium was on a different planet to everything else, with the 1nvest Rhodium ETF (ETFRHO) delivering growth of 187.1%. Originally, the reason for the stellar growth of Rhodium was the change from platinum catalysts to rhodium in the auto industry, but now I suspect that it is purely momentum. I wonder how long this can go on. Every year, I think the performance cannot be repeated and then each year is better than the last. It's kind of like Bitcoin at the moment. It could collapse at any time or could go past the moon. The top 10 performing ETFs in South Africa tracking market indices for 2020 were: SYG4IR: 68.1% (Sygnia Itrix 4th Industrial Revolution Global Equity ETF) STXNDQ: 56.1% (Satrix Nasdaq 100 ETF) ETF5IT: 49.9% (1nvest S&P 500 Info Tech ETF) SYGUS: 26.3% (Sygnia Itrix MSCI USA ETF) STX500: 24.3% (Satrix S&P 500 ETF) STXEMG: 24.2% (Satrix MSCI Emerging Markets ETF) SYG500: 23.8% (Sygnia Itrix S&P 500 ETF) ETF500: 23.0% (1nvest S&P 500 ETF) CSP500: 22.7% (CoreShares S&P 500 ETF) STXWDM: 22.0% (Satrix MSCI World ETF) Source: https://www.moneyweb.co.za/investing/etfs-investing/local-etf-returns-is-the-market-mood-shifting/ Once again, SYG4IR has had amazing performance despite having many critics in the financial world. I think with ETFs, popular is good, and as long as it remains popular, it will keep growing. In a way, I think it's similar to Rhodium - growth can carry on for many years as long as there is momentum. Also, as predicted, STXNDQ did finally overtake ETF5IT. I personally don't like ETF5IT since roughly 40% is made up of just two companies - Microsoft and Apple. I just don't see how these two companies can continue repeating their stellar financial results of 2020 year after year, but then you never know. Interesting that all of them are offshore this year - Bandit was right with his prediction. So what are your predictions for 2021? My guess is that there will be a strong rebound in local property, but let's wait and see...
    1 point
  32. If you feel you lack discipline, why not set up a recurring contribution to your ETF fund via debit order? Even a small monthly amount. You'll get the benefit of cost price averaging AND the peace of mind that you're putting away that money every month before you eat out and waste it on unneccessary stuff. Then if you want to diversify, you can always take out an additional RA.
    1 point
  33. Well, I started the year with a savings challenge too - I started with R10 in week 1, R20 in week 2, R30 in week 3 etc. straight into a Tyme bank account that I opened for that purpose. Was getting 9% earlier this year, now 6%. Still going strong - haven't missed a weekly payment yet.
    1 point
  34. Motorists and taxpayers appear set to become the cash cow to enable the government to reduce its percentage of the funding of the multi-billion rand expansion of the Gautrain. Gautrain Management Agency (GMA) CEO William Dachs said on Monday: “We firmly believe the people in cars don’t pay their fair share in terms of the taxes that they pay and the failure of the e-tolls system has perpetuated that problem.” Dachs was commenting on the GMA’s engagement with National Treasury about the sources of funding for the Gautrain expansion project and the need to move people off the roads and away from carbon intensive modes of transport during a virtual panel discussion on the ‘Future of Rapid Rail in Gauteng and its Impact on Social and Economic Development’. He said the GMA started its engagement with Treasury on the funding of the expansion with “a clean sheet of paper and [to] look at all the possible sources”. “We looked at everything from general tax increases to fuel taxes to fuel levies to congestion charges, which haven’t happened in South Africa yet, all the way through to the more traditional funding sources,” said Dachs. “We also looked at developer charges, bearing in mind that people who develop around existing Gautrain stations have seen massive increases in the values of their properties. Most viable source “We then did a quite detailed analysis of what each source could bring and which one of them would be the most viable,” he said. Dachs did not comment on which of these sources was the most viable but said: “We would be looking at a blend of national government funding, provincial government funding, people who use the trains, private developers contribution as well as those who invest in the train itself.” He confirmed that vehicle licence fees had been considered during the GMA’s engagement with Treasury but stressed that: “It’s not an infinite source.” “Gauteng can’t become uncompetitive in terms of its vehicle licences compared to other provinces but there is a strong case to be made there,” he said. Dachs said there is a strong willingness from private sector developers to invest in new stations provided they are transit orientated developments from which they can get a return. He said they were obviously also looking at getting private sector investment in the infrastructure itself “because the people who use the trains will pay for them”. ‘Massive misconception’ Dachs stressed that there is a “massive misconception” that the people who use the current Gautrain are massively subsidised in terms of the operations cost, which is untrue. He said there was a “close to 100% recovery” of the operating costs of the Gautrain from the money people pay to use it although “Covid-19 messed that up”. Dachs said this high operating cost recovery rate goes a long way towards the long term financial sustainability of the Gautrain. “The government subsidy to date has really been around the capital part of the Gautrain and we would look to continue that going forward,” he said. Gauteng provincial borrowings and provincial budget allocations via national government accounted for 88% of the total cost of the first phase development of the Gautrain, with private sector debt only accounting for about 12% balance of the cost. Reports have suggested the government wants to reduce its funding of the Gautrain expansion to 33% while former GMA CEO Jack van der Merwe said last year the plan was to increase private sector funding to 33%. The GMA submitted plans about the Gautrain expansion programme to National Treasury in 2017. Robust engagement But Dachs stressed on Monday that Treasury did not cause a delay in the project and the GMA has had a real, good and robust engagement with Treasury about this huge and complex project. He said two issues kept arising during these engagements: how to make it more accessible to more people without compromising its financial sustainability, and how it can be funded. “It can’t just be 100% government funding. How do we build a private sector investment in here? How do we encourage people who benefit from a project like this to also contribute to it financially? “We have answered those questions. It’s been a two-and-a-half year process in terms of engagement on it and, as we speak, we are just finishing the final study,” he said. Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) head of transport and logistics Cyprian Marowa said the DBSA is good at bringing together many institutions into the lending space. Marowa said no individual bank can single-handedly develop infrastructure like the Gautrain and the DBSA is seen globally as a good partner for other institutions to come in and be part of the infrastructure projects in South Africa. He admitted that Covid-19 has been “a spanner in the works” and money generally has become more expensive, with some projects delayed. But Marowa said it is important “to keep your eye on the ball and take a long term view”. ‘Good project for any investor’ Marowa said that if the number of cash flows that could be generated from different aspects of the Gautrain expansion project are aggregated “you find that this would turn out to be a very good project for any investor”. Transport analyst and economist Ofentse Hlulani Mokwena said there is a need for the government and other funders to be very conscious of the kind of risks they expose themselves to from a funding perspective because this will change the dynamics of their returns. Mokwena said there will certainly be some controversial funding options and some options that are more attractive and more acceptable to the public. He said this is something the government will have to balance, especially in order to negotiate a good allocation risk. Mokwena added that the key issue is whether there are viable alternatives and whether this service will be attached to the existing system. “That is going to be crucial because what you want is to be able … to ring-fence financing … and to justify that you have to have public buy-in. “That is going to be crucial because with a project of this scale, the last thing you will want is risk on the infrastructure, on the programme, or even at a political level. “So whatever the financing options that are decided on or pursued, the key here is to contain and manage the risk,” he said. Deeper relationships? Mokwena said there is also the risk of modal exclusion or parallelism and questioned why there was not a deeper relationship with, for example, bike sharing schemes, mini bus taxis and the existing bus services. He said these modes of transport are essentially part of the discussion to justify digging into the public financing environment. “It’s not just about the project but being able to manage the public perception, the allocation risk and making sure the project retains its social, economic and political viability. The numbers count but there is a lot more to it,” he said. The current Gautrain network comprises 80km of rail along two route links: a link between Tshwane and Johannesburg and a link between OR Tambo International Airport and Sandton. The expansion comprises another 150km of rail and a further 19 stations. Dachs said the single conclusion the Gauteng provincial government came to in 2014 when it started working on its 25-year integrated transport master plan is that moving people to and from jobs in perpetuity on the roads is not going to work and rail has to be the backbone of a public transport system. He said the five-phase Gautrain expansion plan was a very ambitious long term plan and this massive build programme will take 20 to 30 years to complete. Source: Moneyweb
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  35. ASHGEQ is only 7% emerging markets. The other 93% is basically the same index as STXWDM anyway. What makes the ASHGEQ so attractive here is that the 7% emerging markets exposure is only the best emerging market companies in the world, so in addition to the 93% that is the same as STXWDM, you're getting a 7% of carefully chosen top performers as well, so out-performance is expected. I think most on this site, as well as Simon Brown and Kristia van Heerden from JustOneLap, prefer ASHGEQ to STXWDM. In fact, Simon and Kristia call ASHGEQ the "One ETF to rule them all" and mention on their website that if they had to put all their money into just one ETF, it would be ASHGEQ. Regarding local ETFs, there are two reasons why some local exposure is important: 1) Most importantly, South Africa has higher inflation than the developed markets. This means higher growth. If a can of beans at Checkers costs R100 now and we have 6% inflation, next year, the can of beans costs R106, and the profit that Checkers makes goes up by 6%, so Checkers grows by 6%. Now, in a country with no inflation (Europe) or 1% inflation (US), that means a company similar to Checkers only grows by 1% because the price of their sales only increases by 1%. Over ANY 10 year period in history, South African market growth has been higher than the developed markets indices, simply because we have higher inflation. As long as the Reserve bank continues their inflation targeting policy at 4-6%, South Africa market growth is expected to be higher than foreign markets. Higher inflation = higher growth. For the same reason, that's why over the long term, emerging markets (which have higher inflation rates) always outperform developed markets. Don't be overly seduced by the high returns of the US in the past two or three years - there are short-term factors at play too - but as I have mentioned, choose any 10 year period in history, and South African growth is higher than the developed markets. 2) South African share prices and growth don't depend on the value of the Rand. If the Rand weakens, your local shares stay the same and your foreign shares make money from the exchange rate. However, if the Rand strengthens, you lose on Foreign shares, but not on local shares. Hence, local shares decrease your downside risk if the Rand strengthens. In other words, local shares reduce your currency exposure risk. With regards to local ETFs, it's anyone's guess which ones will do best. Vanilla ETFs such as STX40 have probably been the ETF of choice up till now, but it has extreme exposure risk due to the heavy weighting of a few companies at the top of its constituent list. Smart Beta's like Coreshare's SMART just haven't lived up to their promises. And then globally, the momentum factor is consistently being shown to perform better than other ETF methodologies, so NFEMOM is probably not a bad choice. CTOP50 is an attempt at doing a top 50 without the concentration risk, which is probably also not a bad idea either. But I think any combination of STX40/CTOP50 and NFEMOM is good.
    1 point
  36. If it was profitable then yes, sell off and "reinvent" or keep the ones that you do not like/are duplicated and stop contributing to them. It helps if you theme your portfolio meaning: 80% offshore, 10% local, 10% property... or in your case 80% (50% developed markets, 20% emerging markets, 10% tech stocks), 10% local, 10% property. Get the "theme" right so you know what you want to do and then use the appropriate ETFs to do so.
    1 point
  37. Yes, you can either phone the bank and ask them to take an debit order of X Rand each month (X being any amount you choose) or you can just EFT a higher amount.
    1 point
  38. You'll want income, disability and severe illness cover regardless of how old you are. If something happens you want to be able to maintain your lifestyle. Life doesn't really care for your age or relationship status and after it's run a number on you and if you are still alive you'll want money. Life cover is for when you die (for the most part). Basically - make sure your debt is covered and nobody else gets stuck with it. If you have no family...well... yeah. It's not expensive though.
    1 point
  39. Hi all. Would you say it’s advisable to get life insurance products, if you currently do not have any dependents. Does the whole argument about getting it while you’re still young and healthy for lower premiums actually hold water?
    1 point
  40. Hi Just a few things you may have missed: When buying or selling a share, you must pay brokerage and Strate fees, and VAT is levied on these costs. Then there is securities transfer tax of 0.25% which is levied on every transfer of a security (both buying and selling). The Newfunds Govi ETF is a total return ETF. All dividends are reinvested in the fund and not paid out, so the return you get is inclusive of dividends. Thus, dividends should be excluded from your calculation. Finally, the NFGOVI is still subject to volatility and isn't guaranteed like a bank account. It's now actually down roughly 4% since three months ago. Between 10 March and 24 March, it lost almost 24% of it's value. So you'd still be timing the market. I've included the three-month graph below. Also, past performance may be different to future performance since the downgrade to junk status changes the way in which government bonds may be traded in South Africa. I still think it's a great solid ETF for the medium term, but high risk over the very short term (as in your three months). I'm not sure I'd take that risk if I was planning on investing for less than a year. Especially now in these uncertain economic times where volatility is at an all-time high.
    1 point
  41. Thanks Bandit. Certainly gave me something to look into.
    1 point
  42. R44.80 now.... I have like R500 left over in my one account due to a mis timed cancelled debit order. So I reckon once Sasol reaches 9c...
    1 point
  43. You can also have a read through this thread, for some more insights:
    1 point
  44. I don't mind people punting platforms but this is starting to feel borderline paid-for/affiliate advertising. Regardless, nice product. I might consider switching myself
    1 point
  45. Since I may not get a chance tomorrow (and the fact that the JSE will be closed), I started my challenge today. I've set the bar a bit high so that it is a challenge and will try source the funds from my salary and other income every month and not use other savings for it (else what is the point): R400 x month cash via TymeBank R400 x month equities via EasyEquities
    1 point
  46. 1 point
  47. Don't mess with the formula. It's meant to be difficult close to the end else what are we doing here? It is designed to foster a culture of saving. If you are fortunate enough to have your financial affairs in order you'll be saving a flat amount every month. There's not reason to change anything. Commit some values, even if it is "play" money and play the game.
    1 point
  48. The Sygnia skeleton balanced funds are cheap with TIC=0.55% and is also a good choice. It got cheaper over the year, the reason might be that the funds holdings are Sygnia ETFs. Together with my RA, I use my TFIA to increase my offshore holdings, so no local equities outside RA.
    1 point
  49. thanks so much @SaurusDNA
    1 point
  50. If you do go TFSA make sure it is money you are saving for retirement (when you're 65 or something). You don't want to withdraw from it to buy a car etc.
    1 point
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