When faced with trauma, the front part of our brain, where rational thinking lives, shuts off. Our ability to process information, reason or even understand what is being said, may be severely limited. You may become disorganised and overwhelmed. You may not be able to speak with clarity, or even at all. You will agree that ...

People are exhausted and dealing with heavy and difficult stuff. Stories of loss, drama and suffering abound. Events that are normally stressful – like helping my parents move to a retirement home – become even more difficult. In the middle of my parent’s move, we learnt that a friend from the Karoo had died from Covid. ...

South Africans are obsessed with the value of our currency. It determines our moods, sometimes even more so than our rugby results. When was the last time you checked the value of the Rand against the dollar? At below R14 to the US Dollar, the Rand is at a better level than five years ago. Yes, ...

Midlife is messy – teenage kids, ageing or dying parents, career plateaus, marital dramas and menopause make for a toxic cocktail. Like a middle-aged client said to me the other day, “I just can’t see that it will get any better.” Thankfully, the truth is that it is very likely to get better. Interestingly, it may ...

Not every decision about your money needs to be about maximising return. Especially once your basics needs are met, and you are well on your way with planning for your future needs, you should consider other factors. What about your family’s feeling of security? What about your children’s sense of belonging? What will the impact ...

Can you remember that margarine ad from around the time when low-fat eating was prescribed by American health authorities in? It’s the one that showed a happy family playing outside whilst the smiling mum made sandwiches using the said margarine. The tagline: She knows what’s best for her family. It’s a great example of the picture ...

This week I had a delightful catch-up with a long-standing client. He expressed his gratitude for our conversations at key junctions in his life.  He remarked that the questions asked helped him to stay the course with the result that he is now comfortably retired. Those are the moments that make my career meaningful. The ...

I’m helping my parents pack up their house, where they have lived for the last 25 years. Given that we were five siblings, there was always someone coming and going through the house – on the way back from overseas, on the way to emigrate or after the birth of a baby.  We find traces ...

It’s been a year since we entered that first three-week lockdown to flatten the curve. Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote a blog, “So really, how are you feeling right now? It was a blog about rest. If I’m honest with myself, I didn’t follow through on my own intentions. It’s a year later, and ...

Have you ever considered this question? What’s your money for? Why do you work long hours under stressful conditions? Why have some of us allowed ourselves to be reduced to an economically productive unit? Why do others fret about the insufficient returns on their investments? Beyond providing for our basic needs, every additional hour worked, every sleepless ...

If you haven’t heard these words from your financial advisor, then you should seriously question their expertise, integrity, judgement, or knowledge. Being an expert is what a financial advisor used to be – the kind of person who knew everything and could share their opinions confidently. But in truth, it has never been about that; even ...

The cover of the 2021 Gender Budget document of the Indian government, is a vivid painting of a woman at work in rural India – cleaning, cooking, milking the cow and shopping at the food vendor. The artist is a young boy who honoured his mother’s work with his picture, because his father allegedly said ...

Tomorrow our daughter turns 21. A largely symbolic milestone because she has been regarded as an adult by the law since 18.   But it is still a chance to celebrate (within the boundaries of COVID regulations of course),  and we need opportunities to celebrate. We need to grab them with both hands and nurture them. ...

There was one underlying golden thread that ran through most of 2021’s customary start-of-the-year investment roadshows. There were no bold proclamations; rather, the word optimism softly appeared in almost all presentations given by the most respected industry analysts. Optimism about improving global economic conditions, the resurgence of global industries decimated by Covid, the continued price ...

Disruption is here to stay. And the pandemic has just shown us how disruptive disruption can be. It has brought whole industries to a standstill, grounded aeroplanes, halted travel, left rental cars in parking lots, stopped conventions and elective medical procedures. Some of these industries may recover, but many will have changed dramatically. Secure jobs ...

I recently worked my way through a practical and funny guide to falling in love with your job again. The Joy of Work, 30 Ways to Fix Your Work Culture and Fall In Love With Your Job Again, by Bruce Daisley was published in 2019 and became a No 1 Sunday Times Business Bestseller. The ...

The story of the week must be the army of small investors taking on the Wall Street professionals, and they seem to be winning. This story is so big that the weekend edition of the Financial Times in the UK covered it in no fewer than five articles, including the front page and the editorial. ...

For as long as I can remember, my dad has been an early riser. Even now, long after his retirement, he still rises naturally every morning long before everyone else in the household. I remember him, in his tartan, woolly winter gown taking tea to my mum in bed or waking me up for last-minute ...

Happy 2021. Have you noticed how the customary wish at the start of a New Year has fizzled out this year? It is as if we lack the courage to wish people well when the first few weeks of the year have already been so difficult. 2021 seems to have punched us in the gut ...

I don’t know about you, but I am exhausted. It is always difficult towards the end of the year, to gather enough energy to complete everything on the to-do list. This year is even harder. I am bone-tired for all the reasons that made 2020 so tough. Uncertainty. Complexity. Anger. Compliance. Loneliness. Division. Financial pressure. Poverty. Hunger. Relationships breaking down. Anxiety. Sleeplessness. Countless additional decisions. I can go on. I ...

At the beginning of this year, I wrote about setting intentions for the year. My intention was to seek joy. Of course, I had no idea what was ahead for the world in 2020 but I wrote these words: ‘And to record the joy every day. I want to actively cultivate it, to look for ...

During the past week media commentators jumped with joy when it became evident that a technical change to the definition of certain listed instruments, meant that one could now potentially invest up to 100% of one’s pension money offshore.  Given how poorly South African investments have performed relative to offshore investments over the last 5 ...

This week I received a newsletter from a market commentator who expressed surprise at the current levels of the Rand compared to the US Dollar. At R15.50/USD, the Rand was the best performing emerging market currency over the last month. According to the publication, the Rand is widely tipped to further advance in the months ...

In celebration of our wedding anniversary, we were fortunate to spend time at a reserve in the Kamdeboo near Graaff Reinet. Two decades ago, the land was eroded by overgrazing and most wildlife had disappeared from the famous Kamdeboo plains, where once herds of springbok kicked up dust clouds visible across the plains. Today, you ...

The end of democracy and capitalism is in sight. Should Donald Trump win the US election, the outcome is certain: a white supremacist apocalypse will follow. That’s how Biden supporters feel. On the other hand, The Financial Times quotes Mike Pence declaring, “with frosty certainty that in Biden’s America ‘you won’t be safe’… that the Trumpian ...

In 2020 many people have been faced with loss – financial loss, loss of health or even the loss of loved ones to the pandemic. It’s been that kind of year. Many of our clients faced loss – a few faced death. It has been a privilege to listen to their stories and to see ...

On my return from a few days off-grid, I was assaulted by reams of research on the possible impact of the American election on our future. How will a Biden administration impact global growth? Will a Trump win spur financial markets on? Speculation clothed as research or expert opinion claim to answer these questions. The truth ...

As we slowly emerge from lockdown, I wonder, what have we learnt? Are we taking a moment to let the enormity of what’s just happened to us, sink in? Are we taking stock of the impact it has had on our bodies, minds and souls? Or our money? Have we taken a moment to express ...

Next week, Piet and I will celebrate our thirtieth wedding anniversary. It is somewhat surreal, thinking that I have been married for thirty years.  It is difficult to believe that all that time has passed. It feels like our lives have come full circle – we started our married life in the City Bowl in Cape ...

I’m a fan of French elegance. I am drawn to the simplicity and minimalism of their style – the blue blazer paired with a crisp white shirt never dates. It’s timeless. If you build up this type of French wardrobe, daily dressing becomes easy and effective. The same is true for a property of good ...

Three stories were woven into one experience for me during the past week. A friend shared his dreams with me, daring dreams that may cost him a big chunk of his capital, perhaps most of it. He ended by saying that he’ll be happy to live a simple life if it all fails. He will be ...

When I was a young parent, my dad gave me a piece of parenting advice that probably changed the course of my life and saved me and my children from the trauma of helicopter parenting. It freed me to enjoy my children as unique humans. If I had to pay for that advice, I wonder what ...

I read historical romantic novels in old fashioned paper format before bedtime. Life is difficult enough, so what I read before falling asleep must help me escape and switch off from screens and the day’s challenges. However, historical novels are often more than an escape.  They can be useful. They can expose ways of living ...

From my office window I notice the dark oak branches sprouting delicate fresh leaves and the poplars’ twigs forming fat buds. The sun rises earlier and suddenly it feels lighter. The dark days of mid-winter and lockdown are behind us. Can you still remember what it felt like? How hopeless and dreary the future seemed in ...

When I searched my previous blogs, surprisingly, I found the word anxiety in only one previous blog. It is not a reflection of how I have felt or how most of our clients seem to feel. If you are like me, at some stage during this pandemic, you have probably felt anxious about the future, ...

What do you want? What will happen if you focus your money, time and energy on the thing(s) you want? It’s not complicated. It’s just very difficult. It’s difficult to choose what you want. It means saying no to a lot of other stuff. And then it’s difficult to apply focus and resources to that thing. Most people never ...

I dread women’s month because I become inundated with pink invitations to industry events on topics ranging from Botox, self-esteem improvement coupled with the money mistakes women make. What are we thinking? I would love to know if any of my male readers have ever been invited to a comparable financial industry event? The industry ...

Everyone knows. You should not put all your eggs in one basket. You should diversify so that your wealth is protected against the unforeseen. What does this mean? It means that the prospects of your investments should be linked to different factors. If all your investments do well at the same time, then it probably means that your ...

I believe in dreams. As a money expert, it is quite something to admit but my current reality exists because I dreamed: Foundation Family Wealth is the product of my dream to help people live their best life with their money; living in Cape Town is the result of my dream to live closer to ...

Just when we thought it could not get worse, it did. Now we have lockdown and load shedding, all without alcohol. Yes, the winter cold fronts have been welcome and there is the silver lining of nearly full dams (in the Cape), but the freezing cold in the dark has come at a dark time ...

I spent the first few years of my life on a small Karoo farm. There was freshly baked farm bread with homemade butter every day, milk from our own cows, meat from our livestock, vegetables from our own garden and eggs from our own animals. Writing this now, I realise that for the reader this ...

The return on an investment is determined by two factors – the prospects and the price you pay for those prospects. If you pay too much for the prospects, the total return on your investment can be as poor as an investment with poor prospects. Imagine there was an investment with great prospects, but you had ...

Last week, I took some time away from my blog space. I needed some time to process what has transpired since the outbreak of COVID-19. While away, I felt compelled to send this blog – a version of it was waiting in my outbox. The world has never been a more unequal place. South Africa specifically, ...

On the 13th of October 2000, I was standing at the end of a jetty on a lake high up in the Drakensberg selling my clients’ Dimension Data shares. I remember the day because it was my 10th wedding anniversary. My husband and I had gone to a remote guest house to celebrate – the jetty was the only ...

Emotion has such a bad reputation. The general belief is still that emotions should be ignored or repressed. Worse still, is the belief that emotions are signs of immaturity and should not come into play in decision making. Some emotions seem more acceptable, like happiness or surprise, whereas fear and sadness frequently leave us uncomfortable or are regarded as ...

Most of us know how to take care of our physical security. We put up burglar bars, fences and walls. We raise the walls and top them with electric fences.  We install alarm systems. We have panic buttons linked to armed response. We belong to village watch groups. We may even have permanent bodyguards. We ...

Correlation does not equal causation. Confusing the two is a basic error in critical thinking. For example, if there is a declining trend of COVID-19 infections in Italy at the same time that more people are wearing masks, it does not mean that the declining trend was caused by the mask-wearing. But let’s first backtrack to ...

This week, as I digested President Ramaphosa’s speech, I was struck by the enormity of what we are experiencing. Not for the first time, an acute anxiety about the outcome of the Great Lockdown overwhelmed me. The economic consequences will be extremely difficult to deal with. Maybe you haven’t felt anxiety. Perhaps you have felt powerless, ...

A blog by Carl Richards (they are the shortest, most impactful blogs on money and life that you do not want to miss) alerted me to the gap between facts and stories. And the potential impact of that gap. COVID-19 is a good example for illustrating this: the facts, the story and the gap.  Right now, there ...

Most of us toil, throughout our lives to convert human and physical capital into financial capital. We derive income from our human and physical capital, and then we save enough to fund our future income through our investments, culminating in retirement. During the COVID-19 pandemic, we have focussed on the demise of financial capital as a ...

Note: I wrote this blog some time ago and then Coronvirus happened and it seemed more appropriate to talk about that. I guess by now, you’re also weary and perhaps heartsore from all the Corona stories, so I’m sharing the story of our move to Cape Town with you.  Because despite what we are living now, life will go ...

As the lockdown continues, our realities diverge. Some are working hard to survive by revamping their business models or changing their products. Others are locked out of their shops and cannot do much about it. Others are trying to juggle home schooling kids and jobs. Others may already have lost their jobs or shut down their businesses. Some may ...

During my childhood, my grandmother lived with us from time to time. Her presence had a lasting impact on my childhood memories. I remember how she scraped the bowl clean when she was baking, how she saved the leftovers of lunch for dinner and how she cared for her clothes. She wore a dress to ...

COVID-19 puts a spotlight on the plight of millions of South Africans who are living in poverty. They don’t have access to decent healthcare and sanitation. They live in shacks. The lucky ones have jobs far from their homes. Even the lucky ones know hunger intimately. Unless our country tackles this problem with the urgency ...

When you read this, South Africa will be at the start of its lockdown, following our European and Asian friends who have been in lockdown for some time. We have been called to fight a war against an invisible and silent enemy, by staying home. And, even if we do not want to admit it, most of us are ...

The COVID-19 virus fall-out is a great example of the flaws in human thinking. For a complex problem – like, what is the most appropriate response by a country’s government to the spread of a deadly virus – you need complex thinking. However, most people rarely apply the rational, thinking part of their brains. Most human ...

The last week of February was one of the worst in the history of markets – global markets declined by more than 10% in USD.  Pervasive panic as a result of the spread of the COVID-19 virus from China to the rest of the world dominated the news and social media. The virus has already brought much of ...

What goes through a successful man’s mind when he pulls the trigger a day after his retirement? From the outside, he had it all: an illustrious career, a happy family, a big circle of friends and the trip of a lifetime planned.   But he harboured a secret. He never told his inner circle that he ...

Retiring is dangerous. Who would have thought?  While people may initially report improved health after retirement due to lower stress levels, studies show that the risk of death increases by as much 20%; and the risk of suffering from a heart attack or stroke increases by as much as 40% after retiring. It is not ...

You believe in yourself. You have done your homework. You go for it. Go big or go home, is what they say. After all, Warren Buffett said “diversification is protection against ignorance. It makes little sense if you know what you are doing.” You think it’s certain.  You are in control.  You are wrong. And so is Warren Buffett in ...

When babies come into the world, they are naked, vulnerable, all wrinkly and truth be told, ugly. Similarly, people typically leave the world vulnerable, wrinkly and yes, ugly. In a lifetime, we gather our possessions, properties, bank accounts, investments and all sorts of other links to the world around us. When we die, we die ...

My eldest is learning to drive and I am becoming more conscious of my driving. Driving is one of those things that you do without consciously thinking about when to look in the rearview mirror. But I have now become aware of looking in the mirrors again. Although looking in all your mirrors is essential for safe driving, the most ...

Habits, scientists say, emerge because the brain is constantly looking for ways to save effort (Charles Duhigg, The Power of Habit).  They are the legs of resolutions and without them, resolutions typically fail. Research increasingly shows that they are worth pursuing (the good kind at least) and that it is even possible to change behaviour by making tiny changes to ...

2020 is here. It has a good ring to it – a new year and a new decade. A blank page on which we can continue to write the story of our lives. If the 2010s didn’t work out well for you, here’s a new chance. A new chance for a new beginning. What will you do with it? I’m ...

When Apartheid was at its height, Johannes Kerkorrel created the protest song, Sit dit af, sit dit af! against State propaganda at the time. It’s been ringing in my ears for a long time. It’s how I feel about news these days. The news media has become an endless source of negative noise. Almost every time I tune in, I ...

This will be my last blog post for a month. Not only are we relocating to Cape Town from Johannesburg as you read this, but it is the holiday season for most South Africans. Many make the trek to their home towns, their families or their usual seaside resort. As we all do so, it might help to think ...

Last week, I wrote about uncovering the root of anxiety about money, which starts with awareness. But awareness is not enough. When we worry about money, we often have vague fears about the worst thing that can happen. What if a global recession wipes out half of my capital just before I retire? Experts will placate you and say that ...

You may be aware of the beliefs that you have consciously adopted or rejected but you may be completely unaware of the beliefs which drive your anxiety. What are your beliefs about money? How are your beliefs working for you and how are they affecting the most important relationships in your life?

Worth is not determined a number. Worth is permission, from yourself, to treat yourself with honour and to require that from others, regardless of any monetary number that can be attached to yourself.

Have you changed your mind about your money or your life principles? Ever or recently? Hopefully, you have because it will indicate that you are open to learning. A learning mindset is essential for building wealth and for a meaningful life. There are several good reasons for changing your mind: new data or research emerges; tax ...

There has been a proliferation of financial news. You can drown in waves of it if you do not wear a life jacket. Most of it is badly written, poorly researched and aimed at selling you something…typically fear. We should know this by now. Fear sells. Most financial news is unhelpful to wealth creation because wealth creation requires optimism – optimism ...

In my work, when I hear the words intuition or gut, my radars switch on for what comes next. When someone says, ‘I just have a good gut feeling about this investment or my gut tells me that the currency will be at 20 by year-end’, I listen up. Gut feeling or intuition can mean many different ...

Have you ever paid attention to how you decide? What is your process when you make an important life decision and what information do you consider? Do you process data, or do you just go with your gut? What happens when you must decide as a team or a family or a couple? This year our ...

This year an already depressed sentiment about the prospects of our country plunged to new depths. For some, anything from a potential IMF bailout to the NHI or the credit downgrade have been rational reasons for negativity. They are indeed reasons for concern, but it doesn’t necessitate that every real and social media conversation dive ...

The Camino de Santiago was not on my bucket list. It never occurred to me that I might want to do it until earlier this year when I mentioned to a friend that I wanted to take some time out and she said, “You should do the Camino.” The Camino de Santiago is a network ...

At the end of last year, after seven years of building Foundation Family Wealth, I was exhausted. I felt that 2019 had to be a year of rejuvenation.  I wanted to learn new skills, expose myself to new ideas and renew my life and business vision. I also wanted to take some time off.    We ...

If you cannot stomach the loss or simply cannot afford the thing you want to do next because you bargained on obtaining the higher price, you must wait; but you may have to make peace with the fact that you will wait a long time. Or forever.

As an adviser, I am frequently asked about the investment merits of lifestyle assets such as holiday homes, art, yachts or vintage cars. In South Africa, holiday homes are popular and a signal for some, of status and wealth. I married into a family with a holiday cottage at the coast and have been going there for thirty years. That ...

That’s the ratio of people living below the national poverty line of R992 per month in South Africa. That’s 30-million people. I knew that it was bad. But that number hit me between the eyes again. These are the homeless and the unemployed. It excludes our domestic Mercy who worked 6 days a week at the local ...

Where I grew up in the Karoo everything was scarce. Water was always scarce. If the wind didn’t blow, we couldn’t even get water from the boreholes. I learnt to bath in a few centimetres of water only when the water tank was full. I learnt to keep the dishwater standing just in case ...

I have repeatedly seen how the angst literally dissolves away from clients when we show them the concrete steps they can take to make a comfortable retirement a possibility or better yet, that their retirement capital is already enough. By focusing on what they can control, instead of a distant disaster, they can control their ...

Last year when I mentioned in a speech that the world has never had it so good, people asked me afterwards whether I was trying to be funny. I don’t do funny well. My family are forever telling me that I should lighten up. The thing is, compared to the rest of history – the average ...

The year is speeding ahead. We pile on the busyness as our annual holidays become distant memories. But where does this busyness get us? What exactly are we trying to achieve? Are we trying to earn more money so that we can be happier? Add more achievements to our CVs? Boost our egos with a ...

“Small choices are the difference between health and sickness, loneliness or friendship, financial freedom or distress.”

As a wealth strategist, the space I occupy is a junction between the hard currency of how money structures clients’ lives and the softer side of listening to clients’ dreams, goals, concerns and hopes for their lives. I have many observations about this space. One of the most notable being how the contact point between money ...

2018 was a difficult year, one of the most difficult of my career. An overriding pessimism enveloped us: Trump was fighting with China over trade, Brexit turned out to a big mess, Europe stood, once again, on the precipice of a recession, the currency declined, South Africans learnt more about the extent of our leader’s corruption and financial markets tanked. ...