Financial management vs. going it alone

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Merlin

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Hello all,

At the beginning of 2021 I opened an EasyEquities demo' account and after a month of simulated activity, took the leap and moved a fair share of my savings into EE, split between a TFSA account and taxable shares.

The taxable shares are directly invested into a couple of equities (the taxable shares are not ETFs).

It's been a rough year globally. I'm doing OK despite the challenges.

The other part of my savings reside in a Money Market fund, administered by a financial services provider.

I now find myself at a crossroads. With the interest rate climbing, my Money Market funds are steadily reaping more growth, although arguably not in line with inflation.

My family are invested with another financial services provider, who appear to be managing their funds reasonably well. Their fees are slightly higher than that of my Money Market provider. I have spoken with them and they advocate moving some of my funds offshore.

Many here are stalwarts when it comes to fiercely managing their own money via EE.

Is there merit in going with a FSP, is a Money Market fund a good idea for diversification or is EE and the ETF route for everything, with a spread of Conversative to Risky, a more prudent approach?

I am in line to emigrate next year and would need the bulk of my funds to purchase our shelter later next year.

Thanks.
 
I find EE super difficult to use, very delayed and clunky
 
Investing can be simple or complex, in that you can choose how involved you are in the process.

You seem to be all over the place in that:

- You're keeping money in a low-risk money market account
- You're speculating with specific stocks
- You're invested in a TFSA
- You're emigrating next year

The only reason I would invest with an FSP is because of retirement products to be honest. They keep you aligned to the allocations prescribed by government.

Do you have a retirement funds? If you're planning on emigrating, there is no point in starting if you don't already. I would rather invest into well diversified offshore ETFs.

- Establish a rainy day fund for instant liquidity
- Make full use of the TFSA limit, but pick offshore ETFs
- Get an interactive brokers account
- Use shyft to buy dollars/pounds/euro (whatever) to fund the account
- Invest in UCITS investments

The interactive brokers account will last you beyond emigration.

Of course I don't know your age, goals or investment horizon, but these are just general advisements.

If you want to 'play' with your money, then allocate a very small % of your investment portfolio for speculation.
 
Thanks r4nd0m.

I am definitely a little erratic at present.

I've battled to find the 'right' people to guide me over the years, so have had to teach myself along the road, so to speak.

The Money Market account was recommended to me in my 20s. I'm 40 now.

This is my FY with a TFSA. I've been fortunate and have invested the maximum 36k of each FY on the first day of the FY. It's not done brilliantly in terms of returns, speaking bluntly.

I do not have retirement funds. Almost everyone I know has been hard hit with enforced retirement funds for many years now, I've been pushing like mad to find a way out of the country and frankly, the government's constant stirrings about raiding pension funds scares me no end.

Thank you for the advice. I will look into all of it, and will upskill myself on interactive brokers' accounts and UCITS investments.

My goal? My goal is end up not wanting to constantly stress about financial security, and not having to work until I drop dead.
 
Merlin said:
My goal? My goal is end up not wanting to constantly stress about financial security, and not having to work until I drop dead.
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Stick to the classics and you'll get there. You'll need to make investing a priority though. It should be the biggest line item on your budget. Both you and your SO must be onboard with that.

You don't need a FSP or fund manager if you pick well diversified index ETFs. You always want low fees for your investments and nothing in ZA is going to compare to the range and minimal cost of the overseas ETFs.

I'd recommend you navigate to reddit's financialindependence subreddit.

I got my start around 26 by just browsing that and seeing how people invest the majority of their income for the goal of being financially secure one day. You'll pick up hints and tips and after a while, you'll see through the smoke and mirrors of managed funds.
 
Thanks, r4nd0m.

I'm reading up on your recommendations now.

My TFSA is split between three local funds at the moment. One of which, the largest chunk, is responsible for the bulk of my profits therein, through dividends.

One fund is down, but slowly climbing. I may opt to shift it and the second fund to overseas ones when it balances. I'm researching my options now.

I will also look into shifting more of my Money Market funds into overseas ETFs, possibly through EE initially. I want to familiarize myself with the far more complex Interactive Brokers' Account first.

I will look into the subreddit too.

Unfortunately at 26 I was nowhere near a reasonable career and income. My SO is a fair bit younger than I am and not yet in a position to save, unfortunately. She's at a fork in the road and evaluating an industry change too.
 
Let me leave you with something to think about whenever you're allocating investments, especially when considering a South African context.

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Point noted.

I've backed off of considering China, post their handling of Covid and the Ukraine/Russia debacle.

The USA is in dire straits too.

Investing should be a long-term focus though...
 
Merlin said:
I am in line to emigrate next year and would need the bulk of my funds to purchase our shelter later next year.
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Keep in mind if you have any growth, you're on the hook for CGT when you become non tax-resident. Forget about EE, just get an offshore brokerage account like IB and use that to buy into an Ireland-domiciled S&P 500 or all world ETF.
 
I have some serious homework to do this weekend...

Will register an IB account over the weekend and trial it for a few weeks.

Thanks for the tip.

They really need to teach this stuff in school.
 
I will likely give you advice totally different to everyone else. This advice I would also give to someone wanting to buy a house in a years time which seems also applies to you.

DO not buy anything equity related even a basket. These are higher risk investments. Not something you should be doing especially if you doing it short term,one year is very very short term by investing standards.

Buying single shares are essentially gambling unless you know what you doing.

If you are out of here in a years time take that money put it in the highest yield saving zero risk account you can.

Reality is growth won't be too much but you don't have the risk of ending with less than you out in.

If you were talking 5 years this would not be the advice I would give you but 1 year is a totally different ball game.
 
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My opinion is if you an ordinary person and you invest yourself, on which news/new knowledge etc are you going to make changes, lets face it by the time you hear/read of anything the boat has sailed.
Everytime money moved, theres "costs", these days money moves on "news happennings"....interesting at least.
 
Moto Guzzi said:
My opinion is if you an ordinary person and you invest yourself, on which news/new knowledge etc are you going to make changes, lets face it by the time you hear/read of anything the boat has sailed.
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For OP I'd strongly recommend he takes Snyper's advice concerning his timeline.

In general, if someone is going alone I'd recommend sticking to ETFs as opposed to individual stocks.
 
Thank you, everyone.

Much appreciated.

I've been looking at InteractiveBrokers, and getting money to and from it. It's a lot more involved, so I'm taking my time before daring to venture down that path.

In terms of my EE portfolio, I've split my TFSA between three funds. They're OK-ish.

My taxable shares are currently split between a few equities. Generally I've opted to largely invest in firms for which I have personally worked, and thus have a fair insight into the inner workings of, including my own employer. This has proven to be reasonably reliable, to date.

I'm wary of 'hyped' equities and usually turn away from 'hot tips' courtesy of the media and public spaces.

I will give your advice due consideration and reevaluate my position.
 
Merlin said:
Thank you, everyone.

Much appreciated.

I've been looking at InteractiveBrokers, and getting money to and from it. It's a lot more involved, so I'm taking my time before daring to venture down that path.

In terms of my EE portfolio, I've split my TFSA between three funds. They're OK-ish.

My taxable shares are currently split between a few equities. Generally I've opted to largely invest in firms for which I have personally worked, and thus have a fair insight into the inner workings of, including my own employer. This has proven to be reasonably reliable, to date.

I'm wary of 'hyped' equities and usually turn away from 'hot tips' courtesy of the media and public spaces.

I will give your advice due consideration and reevaluate my position.
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I have invested in shares in companies I have worked work and currently work for.

You might wanna get up to speed on insider trading...
 
Merlin said:
Thank you, everyone.

Much appreciated.

I've been looking at InteractiveBrokers, and getting money to and from it. It's a lot more involved, so I'm taking my time before daring to venture down that path.

In terms of my EE portfolio, I've split my TFSA between three funds. They're OK-ish.

My taxable shares are currently split between a few equities. Generally I've opted to largely invest in firms for which I have personally worked, and thus have a fair insight into the inner workings of, including my own employer. This has proven to be reasonably reliable, to date.

I'm wary of 'hyped' equities and usually turn away from 'hot tips' courtesy of the media and public spaces.

I will give your advice due consideration and reevaluate my position.
Click to expand...

What I do, I buy 5000 of shares in equity firms. Spot undervalued firm and buy into them

I also have a bulk of ETF’s (playing it safe).

So far I am on R100 000 dividends for the year.

Some you spot right, some not. Dont keep money in a savings account with a low interest rate. You can do much better!

Great to see you have a tfsa as well!
 
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if you don't know what you are doing then you would be better of staying completely out of financial markets

the markets are highly manipulated and can be wrong for very long periods of time, this usually results in those who are not familiar with the mechanics to start panic buying or selling

I would also never give my money to someone else to manage, I trust nobody, literally nobody when it comes to my money.
 
Why does everyone seem to miss the time horizon here.

Its less than a year. Stick it in a high interest account atleast you might not lose anything then

Unless you know what you are doing DO NOT TOUCH equities esp if less than a year.
 
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