The Vulcan salutation “live long and prosper” was made famous by Star Trek in the 1960s. These days, we are certainly living longer. However, making sure that we prosper will always take some work.

Longevity risk, or the risk that you will outlive your savings, should be a serious consideration for anyone thinking about their retirement. It is something that needs to be carefully planned for and managed.

On the stock market, not everyone is playing the same game. Some people are long term investors, while others are trading day-to-day. Some are professional stock pickers, and others buy the market index through passive funds.

However, we all get the same news. That’s why it’s important to understand what game you are playing so that you know what news is really relevant to you, and what isn’t.

The end-of-year holidays are popular times for car buyers to upgrade their set of wheels, whether it’s to impress visiting family or to enjoy a long road trip in comfort. If you’ve bought a car before, you’ll know that vehicle financing can be somewhat complicated, with dealerships offering all sorts of financing structures, such as the balloon payment option, to seal the deal.

New cars are great but it’s important to know how you’ll continue to pay your car installments should it be stolen or written off. 

Source: Santam & Cars.co.za

Radhesen Naidoo and Thandi Skade from Allan Gray-Orbis:

“The South African rand is often referred to as one of the most volatile currencies in the world, and its unpredictable nature will typically come up in conversations about investments. Diversifying your investment portfolio with offshore exposure can be an effective way to mitigate rand weakness and foreign currency fluctuations, which heavily influence the price of food, petrol and other goods and services.

More importantly, it helps investors tolerate periods when markets can be turbulent as you spread your investment risk across different currencies, regions, and economies...