South African shares, especially in Resources, are winning the race against the rest of the world so far this year. Our currency, however, is back above R15/$.
Covid-19 is becoming as controversial as religion and politics. Some people believe everything they read on social media, and others only look at the results of scientific research.
January is also the month in which you have to consider topping up your retirement annuity. There is still a tax benefit on these contributions up to a certain level, but your decision must be made before end February.
You are currently sharing our planet with 7,8 billion other people (see graph below). That is a staggeringly large number of different opinions, no wonder the predictability of specific outcomes is so difficult. The majority of us do not separate work from life. Warren Buffett famously stated that if you could not find a way to make money while you slept, you would have to work until the day you died. That in itself is not necessarily a bad thing because we are genetically predisposed to remaining active and retirement was invented during the war years to give younger people the opportunity to enter the workforce when jobs were scarce.
We are looking forward to the challenges 2021 will conjure up and are currently entering the period during which most fund managers will discuss their funds and investment outlook via webinars. We are also having a closer look at the funds we invest in and there may be a few changes during the year.
