Tag: Old Mutual Wealth

Financial advisers need their wits about them when choosing a discretionary fund management (DFM) partner and should undertake a comprehensive due diligence process to differentiate between the ‘mixed bag’ of companies they may encounter in this space.

The notion of a polycrisis – various systemic crisis occurring simultaneously and interacting with one another – has been around for a while but has gained renewed traction for obvious reasons.

June was a brutal month for global equities, capping the worst first half of a year since the launch of the MSCI All Country World Index in 1987. For indices with longer track records, the story is worse. In the case of the US S&P500, the first half performance has not been this bad since 1962.

It’s been a busy time for the US dollar. On the one hand, it has featured heavily in commentary on the future of the global monetary system. On the other hand, it has surged in foreign exchange markets. In other words, even as many commentators question the future of the dollar as global reserve currency, participants in foreign exchange markets have scrambled to buy more dollars.

The bigger the military operation, the more sophisticated the financial machinery required to fund it. The Bank of England, today still the UK’s central bank, was created in 1694 as the government’s bank, largely to finance its ongoing wars with France.

Skillfully applied, profiling tools can sharpen a financial planner’s ability to support their clients. Brands that provide personalised experiences are 80% more likely to yield a purchase from customers, according to a 2021 study by customer journey optimisation platform Yieldify.

There has certainly been plenty of foolishness, as a new generation of day-traders have pushed meme stocks, special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) and cryptos to ridiculous levels. Battle-hardened investment professionals have not been immune to bouts of irrational exuberance either.

The scientific consensus is that climate change is real and getting worse. The goal for policymakers, activists, business leaders and investors meeting at the United Nation’s COP26 summit in Glasgow is to limit the damage. Specifically, the aim is to keep the increase in average global temperatures to 1.5C above pre-industrial levels.

September is Heritage Month in South Africa. As a diverse but also divided society, building a shared view of our heritage is very much a work in process. Nonetheless, all South Africans have an interest in sharing in a more prosperous economy with more jobs and less poverty.

According to the University of South Africa (UNISA), South African households’ real net worth increased by over R1 trillion from the second to the last quarter of 2020, despite the economic contraction due to the pandemic. Consequently, more people are inclined to make offshore property investments in popular destinations such as Portugal and Mauritius.