Investing and Wealth Management
Where to Retire in South Africa: What the Coastal Dream Doesn’t Tell You
What You Will Learn From This Article Where wealthier South Africans are actually retiring to, and the real numbers behind the trend The genuine reasons people give for leaving, beyond the usual assumptions about crime and governance Why a documented share of people...
Your Retirement Annuity If You’ve Left South Africa (or Are Planning To)
If you emigrated from South Africa some years ago, or you're weighing it up now, a lot of what you've heard about accessing a retirement annuity (RA) from abroad is out of date. "Financial emigration" as a process no longer exists. The rules now run through SARS and...
Living Annuities: Who They Actually Suit, and When a Guaranteed Income Makes More Sense
A living annuity is the more popular of the two main ways to turn retirement savings into an income, and for good reason: you keep control of the underlying investments, you choose how much to draw each year, and whatever is left when you die can go to your family...
What Is a Guaranteed Annuity, and Is It Right for Your Retirement?
When you retire from a pension fund, provident fund, or retirement annuity in South Africa, at least two-thirds of the proceeds generally has to be used to buy an annuity, an income for the rest of your life. You have two broad choices for that income: a living...
Situs Tax: The Hidden Cost of Owning Foreign Assets That Could Cost Your Beneficiaries Dearly
What You Will Learn From This Article What situs tax actually means, and why owning US shares directly can expose your estate to a tax most South Africans have never heard of Whether South Africa's tax treaty with the US actually helps, and how much How South African...
Discovery’s Day Surgery Network: The One Question That Can Save You R7,000
What You Will Learn From This Article What Discovery's "Day Surgery Network" actually is, and which plans it applies to Exactly where to check whether a facility is in the network before you book any planned procedure What triggers the large upfront co-payment, and...
R8.33 Billion in Unpaid Pension Contributions: What Every South African Employee Needs to Check Right Now
What You Will Learn From This Article The real scale of South Africa's unpaid retirement fund contribution problem, and why it's getting worse, not better Which industries and sectors carry the highest risk of non-payment Exactly what to check on your own payslip and...
Are you actually an investor? Or are you simply putting money aside and hoping it becomes wealth?
We spend years being taught how to earn money. School prepares us for employment. Qualifications prepare us for a career. Our first salary teaches us what we can afford. But very few of us are taught the next question: What should happen to the money after you earn...
Buffett Made Almost All of His $144 Billion Fortune After Turning 65. Here’s the Proof, and the Three Times It Nearly Didn’t Happen
What You Will Learn From This Article Whether the viral claim that Buffett earned 98% of his wealth after age 65 actually holds up, using his real, documented net worth history Three specific, well-documented periods where Buffett's wealth or reputation took a genuine...
South Africa’s Demographic Dividend: The Opportunity in the Data, and the Reality Check
What You Will Learn From This Article What the Bureau of Market Research's August 2026 population report actually found, in plain terms What a "demographic dividend" is, and why South Africa's population structure currently offers one The stark, current unemployment...
Europe’s National Debt: The EU as a Whole, and Its Five Most Indebted Countries
What You Will Learn From This Article How European Union government debt has moved from the Maastricht Treaty era to today, and why the crisis pattern looks different from the US or South Africa Which five EU countries carry the highest debt burdens, and how each one...
From 24% to 79%: South Africa’s National Debt Under Five Presidents
What You Will Learn From This Article How South Africa's national debt has moved from 1994 to today, tracked against each president's term in office Why debt actually fell for most of the country's first 14 years of democracy, and what specifically reversed...
Why Smart People Lose Money: An Introduction to Behavioral Investing Principles
What You Will Learn From This Article Where the idea of "behavioral investing" actually comes from, and why it isn't just a Charlie Munger invention The difference between the academic and the practical traditions that both arrived at the same conclusions A short...
Where Your Returns Actually Go, and What Buffett Does About It
What You Will Learn From This Article Buffett's Gotrocks parable, and the specific insight it captures about fees The result of Buffett's famous $1 million bet against the hedge fund industry, and why it matters Why Buffett recommends low-cost index funds to ordinary...
Meet Mr. Market: The Business Partner Who’s Trying to Trick You
What You Will Learn From This Article The origin of the Mr. Market allegory, and why Buffett kept retelling it for over half a century What Mr. Market actually represents, and what he doesn't Why treating a daily price as a verdict on value is the exact mistake...
Why Doing Less Is a Strategy
What You Will Learn From This Article Munger's case for what he bluntly called "sit on your ass" investing Buffett's twenty-slot punch card thought experiment, and what it's actually trying to teach Why constant activity so often gets mistaken for skill or progress A...
Invert, Always Invert: The Question That Could Save Your Retirement Savings
What You Will Learn From This Article Where Munger's favourite mental tool actually came from, and why he adopted it so completely The difference between asking how to succeed and asking how you'd fail, and why the second question catches things the first one misses...
The One Mistake That Turns a Bad Year Into a Permanent Loss
What You Will Learn From This Article Why Munger and Buffett both singled out leverage as uniquely dangerous, compared to ordinary investment risk The specific mechanism by which borrowed money turns a temporary decline into a permanent loss Where this shows up beyond...
It’s Not Greed That Ruins Investors. It’s Envy
What You Will Learn From This Article Why Charlie Munger repeatedly named envy, not greed, as one of the most destructive human emotions How envy specifically, rather than greed, actually shows up in bad investment decisions Why envy is a uniquely bad deal, all the...
The Ego Traps That Wreck Portfolios
What You Will Learn From This Article What denial and self-deception bias is, and why it makes bad positions get worse for longer than they should What overconfidence is, and why Munger considered humility one of the genuine secrets behind his and Buffett's success...
Why Losing Hurts More Than Winning Feels Good
What You Will Learn From This Article What loss aversion is, and the research behind why losses and gains aren't felt equally Buffett's two-rule list, never lose money, never forget the first rule, and the arithmetic that makes it serious rather than a joke Why...
The Herd Instinct: Why Copying the Crowd Costs You Money
What You Will Learn From This Article What social proof is, and why Munger considered it one of the most powerful tendencies humans have Buffett's famous rule for using crowd sentiment as a contrarian signal, and where it actually comes from Why both ideas describe...
Why Your Advisor’s Pay Structure Matters More Than Their Advice
What You Will Learn From This Article What incentive-caused bias is, and why Charlie Munger ranked it as the most powerful tendency in his entire catalogue of human misjudgment Why this bias works even on genuinely honest, well-intentioned people Real examples of how...
Two Rules That Keep You Out of Trouble Before You Even Buy
What You Will Learn From This Article What "circle of competence" actually means, and Munger's three-basket test for using it What "margin of safety" means, where it came from, and why Buffett calls it central to everything he does Why these two ideas work far better...