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| Personal Finance |
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FindanAdvisor.co.za
- South
African Directory of financial planners and financial advisors |
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FindanAdvisor is
an online directory of: Financial Services Board (FSB) approved
financial advisors, financial planners, Certified Financial Planners (CFP
s) and investment, retirement and insurance brokers. It is an
independent directory and not affiliated in any way to any financial
institution or product house. All listed Financial Advisors are
accredited with the FSB. |
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Alec Hogg - MoneyWeb |
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Provides
education, recommendations and updated day-to-day
information about companies and investments, mainly the share market
and unit trusts.
E-mail services include: a weekly investment newsletter
(Boardroom Talk); a daily alert of the guests who will
appear that evening on Alec Hogg’s daily Business
Today radio programme; and an overnight transcription of
the radio show. |
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Personal
Finance - mymoney.iafrica.com |
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Managing your
personal finances is essential to your financial wellbeing - Personal
Finance aims to give you the power and the knowledge to take control.
It analyses a wide range of investment products, bring you expert
advice and give you the chance to ask as many questions as you like. |
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July
2007 |
HB
Falkena - Notes
on Wealth Management 
(PDF 600KB)
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Every
level of wealth creates its own specific problems. Although many
people may think that a million dollars would solve most of their
problems, millionaires themselves know better. For instance, the rich
are generally more status sensitive than the not-so-rich and the
not-so-dignified. Status anxiety is then a painful consequence,
resulting in many sleepless nights, as one either eats well or sleeps
well. Even if status is not a major driving force, most of the rich
would like to know, nonetheless, whether they are losing ground to
other millionaires in their race for ever more wealth. And then there
are all the other familiar questions of the rich, such as: where to
draw a line between wealth and happiness, or between ethical and
unethical business practices; whether current savings are sufficient
to ensure an appropriate standard of living after retirement; how
financial assets should be invested and fund managers managed; and how
to engage in philanthropy later in life. |
September
2006
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Absa
Economic Research - International Asset Management: A
South African Perspective 2006/2007 |
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For years, South Africans were forced to keep their investment funds within the country's borders. Since 1994, the gradual relaxation of exchange control regulations has meant that risk and return could be optimised far better by exposure to the vast international markets instead of only local markets.
However, the global investment markets are fundamentally more complex than the local markets, because new factors have to be considered. For instance, currency and sovereign credit risks have to be faced virtually from the outset. Moreover, tax arbitrage, and therefore the role of tax havens (i.e. offshore financial centres), has to be carefully considered.
Although there are some fundamental differences between local and global fund management, these differences should not be exaggerated. In the case of both types of funds, the ultimate goal is to obtain an optimum mix between risk and return. An extreme view is that all portfolio optimisation techniques work according to the same basic principles, namely that tomorrow will be like yesterday and that the potential impact of hazards can be successfully minimised through asset diversification.
This publication addresses certain key aspects that serious international investors should have a knowledge of. These include their investment horizon, the risk-return trade-off, asset allocation and the importance of a reference currency, benchmarks and tracking errors, and various aspects pertaining to managed portfolios.
The analyses presented are based on modern
portfolio analysis techniques and use data of the major industrial
countries up to the end of 2005. |
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now for something lighter: |
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HB
Falkena - Banking on
Happiness
(PDF) |
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The topic at hand is happiness or
contentment, and to what extent this can be promoted by additional
possessions and knowledge. Chapter One deals with the most superficial
needs of man such as food, shelter, health and security. But wellbeing
guarantees no satisfaction with life, as you could be stinking rich and
bored stiff at the same time.
Chapter Two addresses satisfaction with
life. This in turn crucially depends on your daily activities. Does your
work give you intellectual satisfaction? Are your dreams fulfilled by
the work you do?
The topic of love and lust is addressed in
Chapter Three. Even in a big house, and with a good job, you can still
be very unhappy if your love is unanswered and your lusts unconsummated.
The last chapter deals with the
philosophical issue of whether pleasure can be enjoyed without the
senses.
A free electronic version of this book can be downloaded, in PDF format, by clicking on the title
above (163KB). |
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