Assets & Investments

There is no shortage of reasons for investors to feel uneasy at the moment. Geopolitical tensions between the United States and the Middle East continue to make headlines. Oil prices have also spiked in parallel. Locally, the economy remains trapped in a low-growth environment. Unemployment and the escalating cost of living also continue to weigh heavily on South African households.

Women are often the glue that holds families together. They are caregivers, providers, planners and, increasingly, wealth creators. Yet while many spend their lives protecting others, they often overlook one equally important responsibility: protecting themselves and planning for the future of those who depend on them.

Ask most South Africans what a "clipper" is, and they'll tell you it's a R100 note. The nickname dates back decades, when R100 was often made up of ten R10 notes held together with a paper clip. Today, the R100 note carries another symbol that deserves just as much attention: the Cape buffalo. The buffalo offers a surprisingly powerful lesson about saving and the power of compound interest.

As we settle into the second half of 2026, global market returns continue to reflect themes pulling markets in different directions. There has been an almost unprecedented combination of geopolitical tension, volatile oil prices, persistent inflation and uncertainty over interest rates. Added to this are the extraordinary gains delivered by Artificial Intelligence (AI). These gains have become concentrated in a small number of large companies.

The cost of building something new has quietly broken from its twenty-five-year curve. Geopolitical fragmentation and AI-led disruption have merged into a single storm over every boardroom, and the assumptions baked into most innovation processes no longer match the world they are trying to navigate. What follows is the argument for why in-house innovation stalls under pressure, and what works instead.

In all the excitement about Artificial Intelligence’s (AI’s) transformative potential for our economies and the resultant efficiency gains, it is easy to forget that a business case is not necessarily the same thing as an investment case. While technologies can and do transform societies in deep and fundamental ways, it is less clear who benefits from the technology race.

South Africa is sitting on a growing backlog of mature private equity assets. Managers cannot exit them, and investors cannot access them. The global solution already exists, but we are not using it yet. Exits depend on a cooperative stock exchange, willing trade buyers and investors patient enough to wait out a fund’s full life.

The US-Iran war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz weighed on the global economy in the second quarter of 2026. Higher energy prices pushed global inflation higher. Consequently, some markets adopted a more hawkish monetary policy stance. The operating environment in South Africa (SA) during the first half of 2026 was mixed. Real GDP growth in the first quarter surprised on the upside.

South African professionals facing sudden career transitions, such as resignation or retrenchment, find themselves at a critical financial crossroads. The first 90 days after resignation or retrenchment can determine their long-term financial security. Although this period represents a high-risk financial window, it can also create valuable opportunities for recalibration and growth.

Periods of heightened volatility can make even experienced investors second-guess well-considered decisions. However, the most damaging outcomes often result from a handful of predictable behavioural mistakes. These include panic selling, focusing too heavily on macroeconomic forecasts instead of valuations, chasing recent winners and assuming the future will mirror the past. Understanding these behaviours is essential when investing in volatile markets.