Carl Richards, the Sketch Guy columnist from The New York Times, recently shared an enlightening view on our hustle culture. Online engagement has increased our stress levels by making work, social pressures and media agenda more invasive than ever. We can easily believe that if we’re not “on top”, we’re not working hard enough. We […]
Category Archives: Blog
When the goalposts keep moving
“The only way to find permanent joy is by embracing the fact that nothing is permanent.” – Martha Beck. Over the last few decades, investment strategies have developed and evolved to move away from market-related benchmarks toward personal goals and outcomes. Modern investors are now creating plans that are more personalised and unique than ever […]
What’s costing you more?
“As soon as we become aware of money, we develop beliefs about it, beliefs we cling to, sometimes for the rest of our lives, often at the cost of our souls.” – George Kinder What’s costing you more: what you do with your money or what you believe about your money? For many people, the […]
Dollar-cost-averaging
People often joke about the weather in Cape Town, saying that you can experience all four seasons in one day. And, if you speak to a local, you’ll know that regardless of how warm it is, they’ll always pack a sweater in case the weather turns. Still, as a top tourist destination, the weather doesn’t […]
Protection from too much advice
Bruce Lee once said: Adapt what is useful, reject what is useless, and add what is specifically your own. It’s an exceptional quote that is profoundly helpful when working with a financial plan. However, the difference between our current situation and Lee’s is that in the 60s, it was much harder to access information. Now, […]
Saving vs investing
Financial planning is a complex and integrated activity that is often simplified in an attempt to make it more accessible. When we look at it as a lifestyle rather than an annual exercise, it’s easier to begin to engage with our financial plan in a more meaningful level. Saving and investing are two disciplines that […]
How mindfulness helps our money
How much time do you waste trying to solve problems that haven’t happened yet? Many of us fixate on problems that might happen tomorrow, next week or several years in the future, and this is not what life and financial planning are about. Getting stuck in the future at the cost of living life to […]
Need a little grounding?
Have you ever gone for a walk in the garden without shoes on? Remember what it felt like, as a kid, to come home from school – slip out of tight school shoes and walk barefoot? Whether it was on comfy rugs, soft sea-sand or lush grass, the sensation often felt so good because we […]
Become a better networker
As our world becomes increasingly digitised, personal skills will become more valuable. Many salespeople call these the soft-skills and realise that the old-school hard-sell-skills are no longer as effective. People are less likely to be blown away by some widget and far more likely to remember the way that you’ve made them feel. It doesn’t […]
Building wealth, one brick at a time
The root of our wealth is not in our income or our spending; it’s in our behaviour. Our habits make us wealthy, not the markets. Some have said that sound financial management comes down to spending less than we earn – but whilst this adage holds merit, it’s a lot more complicated in practice. It’s […]