Blog – Page 6 – The Investor Challenge

Only idiots still own Unit Trusts

By Patrick | December 1, 2015 - 10:28 am |September 25, 2020 Financial Independence

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Fund managers

OK hands up, who still owns unit trusts? My goodness there are a lot of you on that side of the screen. Unfortunately there’s one on this side of the screen too. And another in the family, hi mom! We’re all a bunch of idiots. Great big foolish money hating idiots. I’m a completely self taught idiot. Nobody does that anymore, we all use coaches and gurus called financial advisers to guide us into idiocy. Before I graduated to idiocy I only used to save and not invest, so I was a moron then. One day soon I plan to leave idiocy behind and move on to madness. Madness is the Cum Laude of intelligence.

So why is it that I’m calling us a um, what is the collective noun for idiots? If we were American I’d vote for a trump of idiots, but since we live in Mzansi maybe it should be a malema of idiots, or perhaps a kraal of idiots. Back on track now, why do I think that ETFs are the holy grail and that unit trusts are the financial equivalent of a Kardashian? Well there are two main reasons I dislike unit trusts, and as someone who gets weird satisfaction in pointing out my current and former reasons for idiocy, I’m going to elaborate on both. Continue reading →

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The actual cost of NOT providing free education

By Patrick | November 2, 2015 - 4:40 pm |November 5, 2015 Governance

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Fees must fall, yes #feesmustfall! I actually planned this month’s blog post on a play on words regarding investment fees which must fall, over University fees which (also) must fall, but to be quite honest the University fees falling probably has as big if not a bigger impact on us than investment fees, so I’ve bumped that post on to another time.

So, let’s look at what the impact is of the whole University fee issue. You see, the students are rightly upset that they have to pay far too much in University fees. The government on the other hand is saying there just isn’t money to give free tuition, and they right, it’s pretty hard to find money when you’re throwing so much of it away on things we really don’t need, like the arms deal, nuclear power stations and of course Nkaaaanndla.

I know I’ve said it before, but for some reason it just seems that governments don’t understand basic finance. Firstly you need to make sure you spend less than you earn, and then you need to invest some of the difference. It’s my belief that the #feesmustfall movement is simply the governments lack of understanding around making an investment in it’s future. Delaying gratification now for huge rewards in future is ground zero for investing.

As you might already know, I like numbers, so let’s look at an example:

Continue reading →

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It’s all about the timing… Or is it?

By Patrick | October 4, 2015 - 1:07 pm |October 11, 2015 Financial Independence

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In August, my beautiful new wife and I eloped to Paris to have a combo wedding and honeymoon. It was just the two of us, so we didn’t have to worry about what colour the napkins should be. We also didn’t have to worry that mad uncle Eric would drink too much and try join the band, or that someone would knock over the ridiculously ostentatious wedding cake. I was also fairly confident that I wouldn’t end up in a runaway bride skit, because I’m not Richard Gere!

Continue reading →

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Can you de-complicate personal finance?

By Patrick | September 1, 2015 - 11:28 am |November 21, 2018 Financial Independence

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Dear investor Challenge,

Why are your posts always so damn complicated. You keep posting numbers and graphs, but I’m not a numbers girl, unless of course you’re cute in which case my number is 555… Why don’t you come out with some financial advice for dummies like me? I want finance de-complicated.

The names Blonde, Jane Blonde.

Good call miss Blonde. You know, I think this whole industry is built around making people believe finances are only for accounting nerds, or worse, actuaries, but to be quite honest, there’s nothing complicated about it at all. In fact, I’m pretty certain that all the experts and snake oil salesman specifically designed it as a giant smoke screen to keep you thinking it’s complicated so they can keep their high paying jobs, six figure bonuses and holiday homes in Umhlanga, all thanks to the money they take from us while we’re not paying attention. Mark my words, the only interest the majority of financial product sales people have in your wealth, is in how much of it they can transfer to themselves as fees for a service probably badly rendered.

Ignore them. Everything you need to know is so simple anyone can take control of it. So here it is, the three most important rules of personal finance: Continue reading →

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Can you retire before 40?

By Patrick | July 30, 2015 - 2:03 pm |September 29, 2022 Financial Independence

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I have a great job, but I’d rather be here…

It all comes down to how much money you need. If you can live on R178 500 a year, or R14 875 a month, then it’s easy. Need more than that? Well if you’re married, you can double that, and more than likely not double your costs. You should hopefully be sharing a room with your spouse, and even if you’re a massive snorer, renting a two bedroom house is still way cheaper than renting two one bedroom houses. Also you can most likely survive with one car post retirement. With all your new free time it would be a good time to start getting around by bicycle. That will also mean you’ll spend far less on health related items. Could you and your significant other live together on R357 000 a year or R29 750 a month? Well you should be able to, after all that’s far more than most South African households live on…

So why did I pick those numbers? Continue reading →

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The Compounding Story of the Doctor and the Model

By Patrick | June 29, 2015 - 11:50 pm |December 2, 2015 Financial Independence

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Anyone for a Hot Doc?

Once upon a time there were twin girls living in the beautiful city of Cape Town. While they were twins, they had very different personalities. Alyssa was carefree and adventurous, while Rachael was responsible and level headed. Due to the gift of good genetics, both were also really beautiful, and very smart. So beautiful and so smart, that both were accepted into medical school, and also offered modelling contracts.

Now here’s where the lives of these two girls took a detour. You see Rachael knew that she wouldn’t be able to start modelling and do well at med school, so she decided to focus on her studies, the responsible choice, her family was very proud. Alyssa on the other hand managed to convince her parents that as you only live once, you should take opportunities to go and see what life is all about. And so they went off in their different life paths as soon as school finished. Continue reading →

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Selfish Old Man disease

By Patrick | June 2, 2015 - 10:50 am |July 31, 2015 Uncategorized

Let’s all be guilty of tax avoidance

By Patrick | May 4, 2015 - 11:23 pm |September 29, 2022 Uncategorized

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$Tax evasion$ Tax evasion is illegal, and will quite likely have you ending up with free accommodation. Sadly while free sounds great, it’s not quite the case when your roommate is a rather hefty heavily tattooed guy named Bubba. And Bubba likes you, a lot! Instead, bypass tax evasion and focus on tax avoidance. I highly encourage it. What’s the difference you might ask? To put it simply, one ends up with you behind bars, the other leaves you with more in your pocket to visit bars. In other words, tax evasion is doing something illegal to not pay taxes while tax avoidance is doing something legal to not pay taxes. Companies pay experts very large sums of money to help them tread this very fine line, saving them even larger sums of money in tax.

Now you might think that this is morally wrong, after all we live in a country that needs our taxes. Figures in a 2013 study indicated that just 3.3 million taxpayers are paying 99% of South Africa’s taxes, so is it right for these 3.3 million to try reduce the amount paid? Continue reading →

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F-You Money

By Patrick | April 7, 2015 - 2:09 pm |July 31, 2015 Uncategorized

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Apparently I’ve been getting people a little down with blogs on how much money is tossed aside because we like to have nice things, or because we do stupid things. After my last blog I got sent a message from Moneypenny “Now, for your next blog write about something that is not only a good investment but good for the soul (fun) as well.” Challenge accepted. This one is for you Moneypenny.

I’d been working for just under two years when I asked my boss for a quick chat. “I’d like 50% more pay, and an extra 5 days leave every year, otherwise I’m out of here”. I was quick and to the point. He had a sly grin on his face. “Excellent” he said, “let’s go run it past the director and see how he feels”.

I started my first job in matric, grade 12 for you young’uns, waiting tables at the only Baron in Pretoria. It was fun, earning a few thousand a month, while getting free food and an endless offering of dates from mildly inebriated women. There was also the brief stint as a fast food delivery driver, which was a lot easier, but far less profitable. At least I got to snack on the customers food when I was hungry. If you do order from one of the delivery places, and the guy uses a car to deliver, don’t ever expect to get your full quota of chips. You may lose a tasty chicken nugget in the process too. Continue reading →

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The last house I’ll ever own…

By Patrick | March 5, 2015 - 3:08 pm |July 31, 2015 Uncategorized

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Luxury accomodation on the warm indian ocean, going so cheaply you wouldn’t believe it. Come view now… in Mogadishu!

I’ve written before about how I’m really not a fan of a buy to let property as an investment, but what about a buy to live in property? Luckily for you, I’ve done that before too. In the last property article I mentioned the house with a built-in hole in the back yard for pouring cash into. Well now having just sold the property I can provide some real numbers to answer that question.

The numbers: Continue reading →

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