Tag: WealthCreation

For many young South Africans, a financial windfall, whether through an inheritance, a family gift, or prize winnings, can fast-track major financial goals and responsibilities. However, without a clear plan, a sudden windfall can easily become a missed opportunity to build long-lasting wealth.

As a 25-year-old professional starting in my career, investing in shares felt unfamiliar and intimidating. I considered it a market for the wealthy, and certainly not a place that I could leverage for my own personal and professional benefit. I had a savings mindset, not an investing mindset. Therefore, I invested any surplus cash in a bank account earning interest.

Women play a vital role in driving economic growth and supporting households across South Africa. As more women take control of their financial futures, investing remains one of the most effective ways to build long-term wealth, financial resilience and independence. While women increasingly take control of their financial futures, many remain underrepresented in investment markets.

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 South Africa celebrates Women's Month, conversations around financial empowerment, wealth creation and economic participation remain as important as ever. While women continue to make significant strides in the workplace, business and entrepreneurship, achieving financial independence remains a critical component of long-term financial wellbeing.

With geopolitical conflict, elections, oil prices and inflation risks dominating headlines, it is easy to believe everything is beyond your control. However, that is not the case. The most important drivers of long-term investment success are often the factors you can control. They start with understanding how you behave when markets feel uncomfortable.

A few months into the year, financial pressure begins to feel different. School fees become due, winter expenses approach and transport costs continue to rise. Meanwhile, January’s financial resolutions begin competing with everyday survival. Rarely does one major expense disrupt financial discipline. Instead, the steady friction of small, unavoidable costs slowly chips away at our best intentions.

For the better part of a decade, the property conversation in South Africa has followed a predictable pattern. The Western Cape leads. The Cape Town market outperforms. Semigrants head south. Foreign buyers favour the Atlantic Seaboard. Meanwhile, everyone else watches from the sidelines. However, that narrative is shifting.

Across the globe, governments emphasise the need to grow the economy. They display statistics as evidence of progress. They build roads, bridges and schools, and they call it development. They also enact regulations, collect taxes and redistribute resources. All of this occurs in the name of economic advancement. But what truly creates wealth?