We have curated various articles from external providers that we believe is worth reading. We have also produced our own insights on matters that we believe to be important for IFA’s benefit.
It’s the End of the World as We Know It This past week in the markets was historic – for all the wrong reasons. It reminded me of the…
Market Corrections Reveal Who You Are as an Investor Market corrections don’t just test portfolios; they test people. In a bull market, everyone feels like a disciplined, long-term investor.…
Decisions vs. Choices: Understanding the Difference I recently learned that a choice is not the same as a decision. When it comes to personal financial planning, the words “choices”…
The Futility of Predictions: Why We Obsess Over Market Forecasts That Always Fail Every December, as the year winds down, financial analysts and market pundits flood the media with…
Beware Prevailing Investor Sentiment and Consensus The CNN Business website offers a “Fear and Greed Index,” which tracks the prevailing emotions in the market. At present, the market sentiment…
How the “Flaw of Averages” Distorts Investor Decision-Making When Planning for Future Goals Consider the case of the statistician who drowns while wading through a river that he calculated…
Reasonable Expectations for Equity Investing Hendrik Bessembinder, a professor at Arizona State University and the author of the groundbreaking paper “Do Stocks Outperform Treasury Bills?” provides key insights into…
Retirement Planning: Beyond Numbers, Embracing Life’s Choices We view retirement planning through a financial lens trying to calculate that “magic number” that will sustain a comfortable lifestyle. Our minds…
Beware the Headlines In a recent article, Dimensional Fund Advisors highlighted a couple of common investing mistakes. One of these is falling in love with popular stocks based on…
The Economics of Time and Money: Understanding the Value Exchange Think of all the things that you spend your money on – objects and experiences. Do you ever stop…
For Financial Health, Consider an Information Diet In today’s digital age, investors are drowning in unproductive information. Market commentary and news flow often thrive at the extremes, drawing the…
If You Want a Good Life Then Improve Your Healthspan There is a direct correlation between your health and your quality of life. As your health suffers in later…
Rising Geopolitical Risks and Overcoming the “Focusing Illusion” The escalating geopolitical tensions significantly influences our perceptions, often leading us to draw connections between complex global events and anticipated financial…
Money Troubles vs Money Worries If you want more control over your finances, you might be surprised to find that focussing your attention on your money worries can actually…
A Controversial Take – It is Better to Optimise for Behaviour than for Return Most investors know they cannot successfully time the markets with any consistency. It is widely…
Experience vs. Expertise We often confuse experience with expertise. Ben Carlson emphasised this point, stating that “Experience is not the same as expertise. Just because you’ve been doing something for…
Shifting From Outcome to Process A goal is a specific, measurable objective that you want to accomplish. It comprises several key components: What do I want to achieve? Why…
How to Beat the Average Every investor has a deep desire to beat the market. It is ingrained in human nature. In a 1988 speech, Charlie Ellis* explained: “There…
The Illusion of Control The world is complex and feels out of control. Being human, we have a deep desire to be in control. We have a greater sense…
Goals, Resolutions and the Lack of Follow Through Every year we start with good intentions and New Year’s resolutions. However, research suggests that fewer than 25% of us follow…
Relationships Play and Essential Role in Well-being Time spent alone steadily increases throughout your life. Numerous studies confirm that loneliness affects your physical health and emotional welfare. Former Surgeon…
The Levers That Money Can’t Pull Money holds no inherent moral value; its significance is heavily influenced by our individual perceptions and associations with it. Many people mistakenly tie…
Diversification is Not a Free Lunch Nobel laureate Harry Markowitz reportedly said that “diversification is the only free lunch in investing”. However, this seemingly cost-free strategy comes with its…
The Secret to Long-Term Investing: Staying Resolute Amidst Market Cycles In the complex world of financial markets, one fundamental truth prevails: everything moves in cycles. These cycles are often…
What Real Life Financial Planning Looks Like Investors often grapple with the challenge of achieving their long-term financial goals while avoiding the anxiety-inducing rollercoaster of market volatility. They naturally…
What Real Life Financial Planning Looks Like There is a lot of confusion around what a financial planner does. The best financial planners don’t just do one thing. They…
We are often not as in control of our choices as we think We love to consider ourselves as conscious agents that are in control of all our actions.…
We are often not as in control of our choices as we think Every day, we make decisions that shape our future. When we make decisions there is an…
One Year Returns Don’t Matter Ben Carlson has put together a chart displaying how long-term market returns vary slightly, but we observe a wide dispersion in short-term returns. Returns…
Compounding, Time, and Becoming a Lifetime Investor The power of time and compounding can significantly enhance the odds of success for long-term investors. Unfortunately, many investors fail to build…
Health, Wealth, and a Fulfilled Life In today’s fast-paced world, our focus often tilts heavily towards building wealth, leading us to overlook the vital importance of looking after our…
The Familiar Tale of Investment Folly We find ourselves trapped in an all-too-familiar plot, witnessing a recurring phenomenon where investors fall prey to chasing outsize returns, only to be…
The Surprises From the First Half of 2023 In a recent blog the insightful Charlie Bilello highlighted some of the surprises for the first half of 2023. A tough…
The Dunning-Kruger Effect – When Little knowledge is Dangerous Humans exhibit a cognitive bias known as the Dunning-Kruger effect, which leads individuals lacking skills or knowledge in a specific…
Investing vs. Trading: Understanding the Distinction for Financial Success Are you an investor or a trader? These two approaches represent fundamentally different mindsets and strategies. Failing to understand the…
The Rand’s Perfect Storm It is not perchance that we have maintained a significant overweight exposure to offshore assets during the first half of 2023. As much as it…
Understanding the Concept of Risk for Long-Term Investors If you don’t have a proper understanding of what risk means as a long-term investor you will struggle to have the…
Persistence Score Card: Fund Performance vs. Investor Behaviour Even when we are warned, we still don’t act rationally and in our own best interest. The phrase “past performance is…
“Worrying” hijacks your self-care agenda! How you relate to doubt in your inner world can cause chaos in your external world. How many times have you worried about events…
How will AI impact the future of Financial Advice? The hype is real! Machines with human level intelligence seems to be with us. Artificial Intelligence (AI) solves problems that…
Back to the Future – the benefits of the Pre-Mortem approach You start off with a clear future goal and a plan that will help you to achieve this…
All the Things We Do Not Know About SVB Barry Ritholz made a couple of sage comments in his article “All the Things We Do Not Know About SVB”…
How well are you doing in terms of Life Experience Points? Money is important and I don’t intend to knock its significance. The lack of money prohibits access to…
Money Etiquette and the Big “Taboo” Money is a significant source of stress. More than half of Americans feel embarrassed talking to others about their finances, according to new…
Short-term Sentiment, Confusion and Misguided Convictions How much time do you spend agonising over short-term economic data? Daily news flow is overwhelming and at times conflicting. As a long-term…
Align your Actions with your Timeframe In May 1999 Barron’s published a cover story on Amazon shortly before the tech bubble burst. In the article Jeff Bezos was rubbished…
The Science of Less We confuse activity with achievement. Leidy Klotz in his book “Subtract, The Untapped Science of Less” focuses on this fascinating question: “In designing our worlds,…
Rube Goldberg and Winning the Loser’s Game Charles D. Ellis in his best-selling book Winning the Loser’s Game suggests that individual investors will be better off by working with the markets…
Personal Financial Planning – Shifting from IQ to EQ Consumers weigh the perceived value of products and services against the asking price. Two components affect consumer decisions regarding products…
Real-world decisions are almost always made under uncertainty Life is uncertain. We cannot control many of the things that have an impact on our lives. Some of the most…