international investments

any tips how to get this started ? where to go ? or is it better to invest locally ? I have about 12k to invest in.

buy bitcoins.

To answer this question properly you have to answer a few questions like: Do you want to invest R12 000pm or once off? How long do you want to invest for? What do you want to invest for, building capital or for retirement? Will you need the money during the time of the investment? How aggressive investor are you? What is the current average rate of tax you are paying? This would give us an idea of what platform to use to invest the money for example: unit trust, endowment, retirement annuity and etc. Generally I would invest locally for the fact that it eliminates the currency volatility which could make you lose a lot of money, the risk becaomes higher, at the same time there are tax free local dividents and local interest is tax free on the first R22 500 p.a. Besides we are considered an emerging market and therefore we are seen as higher risk but also a higher return, while offshore is considered a safer investement but the returns are also lower. Investing in the stock market is very risky and you can loose your capital in a matter of days, on the other hand there are funds which have different mandates, different sizes, different risk profiles and so on which are managed by a fund manager who does this for a living. I'm in finance, if you have any questions you can PM me or answer right here and I will be more than happy help.

stricken said:

buy bitcoins.

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Oh hell no. Not right now.

A bitcoin worm has just been discovered in the wild, the price is nose diving and recent media hasn't been positive.

Draconia2 said:

any tips how to get this started ? where to go ? or is it better to invest locally ? I have about 12k to invest in.

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12k isn't enough. I'd keep it local for that. The standard forum answer is "buy Satrix"...last time I got a lot of flak (perhaps rightly so) for recommending something else. You can also buy RSA retail bonds for something slightly more unusual, but its essentially similar low risk & OKish returns.

Its once off , I earn just enough not to actually pay tax (sometimes its R180). I know about the bitcoin dilemma and im not shaken by that because i know who was behind it. Its a little vandalizing group called lulzsec, they have a twitter account which you can check who they are targeting for the lulz. Apparently they are just doing it to show internet vulnerability etc. My thoughts are, anybody can do it if you are a big enough group. Lame Ddos attacks !

anyway, spoke to my woman last night about investing locally, it does seem better and it has its perks. What's investment without
risk ? I would like it to be for Retirement, the sooner you start, the more you will have in the end. To start investing at 23 its not to late eh ?

I would have to see a financial advisor ? or can i log in to the jse site and start purchasing there ? sorry im really noob at this but also wise enough not to just go out and buy any shares.

I understand that you have this money that you would invest once off and for retirement. Also you are very young, which means you have a lot of time in front of you so you could go more aggressive. So my suggestion is that you start a Retirement Annuity of whatever amount you can afford per month, say for example that at the moment you can put aside R500p.m, put the money into RA and att to it the R12 000 as a lump sum. You are young and now is the right time to start contribuing towards an RA, it's a great way to build capital and compaund interest for retirement. RA is tax efficient which means that the money that you contribute towards it are tax deductable and also the money will be taxed at 0% in the fund so it sounds fantastic, just remember that there's a catch to it: because government want everyone to save towards retirement they give you these tax benefits but once you start an RA you can only retire from it at the age of 55 and the second thing is that if you stop paying for it in the first 5 years you willbe penalized anything between 15 - 0% after that period you can make your RA paid up which means that you don't have to pay for it and it will just grow on it's own, but my suggestion is that you never stop paying for it. The sad truth is that only about 3-4% of South Africans retire comfortably. When taking an RA you must also consider if you have any company benefits for retirement because of the way pension and provident funds are taxed. What I'd do is first look at salary restructuring, looiking at you current situation and then make a suggestion on how to proceed. To do that you will have to see a financial advisor or planner, I wouldn't suggest that you register on one of those online trading sites because that's not planning for retirement and also the risk if very high especially if you are not sure what you are doing, you can literally loose your capital in a few days. Another very important thing I would do is look at your risk first and make sure it's covered before doing any investment no matter how small it is. I hope the information is helpful, but if you like email me your contact number and I will give you a call to explain and even email you more information.

Draconia2 said:

I would have to see a financial advisor ? or can i log in to the jse site and start purchasing there ? sorry im really noob at this but also wise enough not to just go out and buy any shares.

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No fin advisor for those amounts.

No not JSE site. The big banks all have share trading portals though...that will work. I think std bank is cheapest atm.

Buying shares is going to be an uhm adventure though. 12k isn't enough to diversify, so you will be exposed to hectic (unnecessary) risk. Put it in satrix & then if you've got a more sizable chunk, so 100k then you can pull it and build a more diversified portfolio. Satrix is inherently diversified...read up on their site.

Investment is a strange thing, by the time investors have found their investment to be very profitable the opportunity to jump in has gone. My dad has done well with unit trusts all the years but more important he has never lost anything either.

One unit trust gained over 100% within the year.

I guess it also comes down to how quickly you need to access the money and for how long you want to invest it.

Thnx for all the replies guys! I will leave the jse market as I just can't risk losing the hard earned savings. I will go through my budget tonight and create several scenarios that will effectively concern my salary. Luckily the fiance wants to explore sa every holiday so pregnancy is last on the list! Anyway I will pm you sometime once I've gone through everything thnx again