tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-16850257610368688522013-12-31T17:05:00.056+02:00Valuable Investment InsightsSharing valuable insights, resources & opinions on topics relating to Business, Money & Investing Basheer Palekernoreply@blogger.comBlogger110125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-11793488697444354872013-11-16T18:59:00.002+02:002013-11-16T18:59:55.993+02:00The advantage of Rand Cost Averaging<br /><div class="photoUnit clearfix" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 14px; margin: 0px -15px; orphans: auto; position: relative; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px; zoom: 1;"><div class="_53s uiScaledThumb photo photoWidth1" data-ft="{"tn":"E"}" data-gt="{"fbid":"755869041096125"}" style="float: left; position: relative;"><a ajaxify="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=755869041096125&set=a.337236219626078.100340.202928859723482&type=1&relevant_count=1&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-frc3%2F1422564_755869041096125_443105534_n.jpg&size=619%2C408&theater&source=9" class="_6i9" href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=755869041096125&set=a.337236219626078.100340.202928859723482&type=1&relevant_count=1" rel="theater" style="color: #3b5998; cursor: pointer; text-decoration: none;"></a></div></div><br /><div class="aboveUnitContent" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: 'lucida grande', tahoma, verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 11px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: 14px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"><div class="userContentWrapper"><div class="_wk" style="font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="userContent">Time IN the market, rather than trying to time the market, is key. Stock markets are very difficult to predict, so if you are constantly buying and selling, you can expose yourself to greater risk.<br /><br />Here's a wonderful strategy that i personally implement. Its called<b> Rand cost averaging</b>. How it works is you budget a fixed amount of money to invest at regular intervals. This way you take advantage of market fluctuations – without worrying about timing your transactions. By implementing this strategy, I buy more units when prices are low and fewer when prices are high, generally resulting in a lower average cost per unit. It's one of the reasons i do not panic sell when prices fall, infact i get happier when they do. As you can see from the table below (Recurring investment in a falling market) the fund price only has to go from R7 to R13.53 in order for me to break even instead of it reaching a fixed purchase price of R24 or R25.</span></div><div class="_wk" style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="userContent"><br /></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-weight: normal; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l5aeL7XYAsk/Uoehn5IbPTI/AAAAAAAAAnE/vAsnbohKZPA/s1600/rand+cost+ave.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-l5aeL7XYAsk/Uoehn5IbPTI/AAAAAAAAAnE/vAsnbohKZPA/s1600/rand+cost+ave.jpg" /></a></div><div class="_wk" style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="userContent"><br /></span></div><div class="_wk" style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 18px;"><span class="userContent">I have a very disciplined approach to investing. I following a long term approach by remaining invested in the markets because i know the market goes through cycles which will impact my performance & ultimately my investment returns. It’s not when, but if you invest that counts so don't let falling prices put you off investing when infact that is the best time to be buying. Anytime is a good time to start investing. All you need to do is stay committed and patient and you will reap the financial rewards.</span></div></div></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-55075108302181384472013-06-30T19:35:00.002+02:002013-06-30T19:35:42.777+02:00The Cost Of Mining Gold [INFOGRAPHIC]The market price of gold has been tumbling. And logic and economics dictate that if the price of gold falls below the cost of mining gold, then miners will stop mining for gold.<br /><br />If miners stop mining and buyers keep buying, then supplies will be strained and prices should rise. This is the thesis of the remaining gold bulls.<br /><br />However, the cost of mining gold varies greatly from mine to mine. And as such it is difficult to determine at what price gold needs to fall so that supply-demand dynamics become strained.<br /><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EgWfY7xplvA/UdBr1_JrKJI/AAAAAAAAAjo/k7FBMvli1OI/s1600/what-is-cost-of-mining-gold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EgWfY7xplvA/UdBr1_JrKJI/AAAAAAAAAjo/k7FBMvli1OI/s1600/what-is-cost-of-mining-gold.jpg" /></a></div><br />Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-63433075106131851322013-06-18T15:02:00.000+02:002013-06-18T15:02:06.470+02:00Hedging the Rand<div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7iLm0GrFvc8/UcBYC35sG3I/AAAAAAAAAi0/89hE7VgVMAY/s1600/sol.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7iLm0GrFvc8/UcBYC35sG3I/AAAAAAAAAi0/89hE7VgVMAY/s200/sol.jpg" width="126" /></a>Rand-hedge shares are shares that will generally benefit from a weakening in the Rand exchange rate, mostly the R/$. We saw the Rand continuing to weaken this year. Looking at a three year chart the Rand strengthened against the Dollar to R6.60 by mid 2011. After a sharp weakening to R8.25 in the second half of 2011 following the Greek crises, the trend continued in 2012 and reached new 4 year highs in 2013 of R9.20.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AJsIBAHwxDg/UcAz9dGgFSI/AAAAAAAAAik/UzzSfGO6Okc/s1600/UsdZar.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="352" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AJsIBAHwxDg/UcAz9dGgFSI/AAAAAAAAAik/UzzSfGO6Okc/s640/UsdZar.JPG" width="640" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Although the Rand is currently weaker than its Purchasing Power Parity of about R8.60, it is my view that the Rand can weaken further. The main reasons are:</div><ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; list-style: square; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em 2.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Political instability, especially towards businesses and foreign investment.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Labour unrest and policy uncertainty, especially in the mining industry.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Fixed Direct Foreign Investment already showed a decline of 40% by the middle of last year.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Our twin deficits are a problem for foreign investors:<ul style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style: square; margin: 0px 0px 0px 2.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The budget deficit is still more than 5% of GDP after running surpluses before the 2008 financial crises.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The deficit on the Current Account of the Balance of payments (which includes the Trade Deficit) is unacceptably high at more than 6% of GDP. This deficit must be financed by foreign capital inflows, mostly into our Bond and Equity markets as portfolio inflows. These inflows are starting to show signs weakness. Without capital inflows the Rand must take the full blow as our Reserves are too small to support the currency. Previous attempts to support the currency with our paltry Reserves in 1998 lead to a loss of R130bn and the currency never recovered.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Foreigners already own between 30% and 40% of our Bonds and listed equities on the JSE. At some point they may not want to own too big a share. Without continued positive capital inflows to finance the current account deficit the Rand will fall.</li></ul></li></ul><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Government is making South Africa a very unfriendly place for foreign investors at a time we are sitting on a bomb ready to explode in the form of our huge Current Account Deficit. Foreign investors are already showing losses on their investments here because of the weakening Rand. At some stage they will decide to cut their losses and run.</div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Rand-hedge Shares</strong></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">In this environment it may be prudent to structure a portfolio of shares with a big Rand-hedge component. There are two types of Rand-hedge shares:</div><ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; list-style: square; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em 2.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Companies listed on the JSE but with most of their income and earnings derived from operations overseas. Richemont is an example of a company that derives almost all their profits outside South Africa.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">All our major exporters will benefit from a weakening Rand. The prices of commodities are fixed in Dollars. Thus, any weakening of the Rand will lead to an immediate increase in the Rand price of the commodity, thereby increasing earnings and the share price.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Did you know that SASOL (JSE:SOL) gains R861 million in operating profit for every 10 cents the Rand weakens against the US Dollar. For every <b>$1</b> increase in the price of a barrel of oil, Sasol gains <b>R621 million</b> profit. Since SASOL gets paid in Dollars so it benefits when the Rand weakens and oil prices rise.</li></ul><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A recent research study showed the following companies as the biggest benefactors of a declining Rand.</div><ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; list-style: square; margin: 0px 0px 1.625em 2.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A 10% depreciation in the Rand against the Dollar will lead to an increase of more than 50% in the full year earnings of Anglo Platinum, Lonmin, Harmony, Aquarius, Royal Bafokeng and Northam Platinum.</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Sappi and African Rainbow Minerals will receive a 30% boost to full year earnings and</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Impala Plats, Assore, Sasol and Gold Fields will see full year earnings increase by more than 20%.</li></ul><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #373737; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 1.625em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--PouzFMxYPI/UcBZ-VeRLpI/AAAAAAAAAjE/Kp3bjGx6kSs/s1600/Sasol_consensus.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--PouzFMxYPI/UcBZ-VeRLpI/AAAAAAAAAjE/Kp3bjGx6kSs/s1600/Sasol_consensus.jpg" /></a>Companies importing goods will obviously be hurt by a depreciating Rand. Local retail shares that stand to lose the most are Imperial, Barlow World, Clicks and Foschini. These shares enjoyed big share price gains last year and look expensive in any case. In times like I stock up on as much <b>SASOL</b> shares as i possibly can buy.<br /><br /><br /></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-8981530728081202972013-05-05T13:07:00.000+02:002013-05-05T13:07:22.417+02:00A beginners guide to profitable investing<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jx_E5yr8IR8/UYY9IgDS_XI/AAAAAAAAAg8/JU8IJxykeU4/s1600/investment-investing-stocks.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Jx_E5yr8IR8/UYY9IgDS_XI/AAAAAAAAAg8/JU8IJxykeU4/s320/investment-investing-stocks.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">T</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">he following financial ratios offer terrific insights into the financial health of a company - and the prospects for a rise in its share price.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1. Ploughback and reserves</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After deduction of all expenses, including taxes, the net profits of a company are split into two parts -- dividends and ploughback.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Dividend is that portion of a company's profits which is distributed to its shareholders, whereas ploughback is the portion that the company retains and gets added to its reserves.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The figures for ploughback and reserves of any company can be obtained by a cursory glance at its balance sheet and profit and loss account.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Ploughback is important because it not only increases the reserves of a company but also provides the company with funds required for its growth and expansion. All growth companies maintain a high level of ploughback. So if you are looking for a growth company to invest in, you should examine its ploughback figures.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Companies that have no intention of expanding are unlikely to plough back a large portion of their profits.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Reserves constitute the accumulated retained profits of a company. It is important to compare the size of a company's reserves with the size of its equity capital. This will indicate whether the company is in a position to issue bonus shares.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As a rule-of-thumb, a company whose reserves are double that of its equity capital should be in a position to make a liberal bonus issue.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Retained profits also belong to the shareholders. This is why reserves are often referred to as shareholders' funds. Therefore, any addition to the reserves of a company will normally lead to a corresponding an increase in the price of your shares.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The higher the reserves, the greater will be the value of your shareholding. Retained profits (ploughback) may not come to you in the form of cash, but they benefit you by pushing up the price of your shares.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2. Book value per share</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You will come across this term very often in investment discussions. Book value per share indicates what each share of a company is worth according to the company's books of accounts.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The company's books of account maintain a record of what the company owns (assets), and what it owes to its creditors (liabilities). If you subtract the total liabilities of a company from its total assets, then what is left belongs to the shareholders, called the shareholders' funds.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you divide shareholders' funds by the total number of equity shares issued by the company, the figure that you get will be the book value per share.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><v:line from="116.75pt,6.15pt" id="_x0000_s1026" style="position: absolute; z-index: 1;" to="217.55pt,6.15pt"></v:line><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Book Value per share = Shareholders' funds / Total number of equity shares issued</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The figure for shareholders' funds can also be obtained by adding the equity capital and reserves of the company.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Book value is a historical record based on the original prices at which assets of the company were originally purchased. It doesn't reflect the current market value of the company's assets.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Therefore, book value per share has limited usage as a tool for evaluating the market value or price of a company's shares. It can, at best, give you a rough idea of what a company's shares should at least be worth.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The market prices of shares are generally much higher than what their book values indicate. Therefore, if you come across a share whose market price is around its book value, the chances are that it is under-priced. This is one way in which the book value per share ratio can prove useful to you while assessing whether a particular share is over- or under-priced.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3. Earnings per share (EPS)</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">EPS is a well-known and widely used investment ratio. It is calculated as:</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Earnings Per Share (EPS) = Profit After Tax / Total number of equity shares issued</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This ratio gives the earnings of a company on a per share basis. In order to get a clear idea of what this ratio signifies, let us assume that you possess 100 shares with a face value of R 10 each in XYZ Ltd. Suppose the earnings per share of XYZ Ltd. is R 6 per share and the dividend declared by it is 20 per cent, or R 2 per share. This means that each share of XYZ Ltd. earns R 6 every year, even though you receive only R 2 out of it as dividend.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The remaining amount, R 4 per share, constitutes the ploughback or retained earnings. If you had bought these shares at par, it would mean a 60 per cent return on your investment, out of which you would receive 20 per cent as dividend and 40 per cent would be the ploughback. This ploughback of 40 per cent would benefit you by pushing up the market price of your shares. Ideally speaking, your shares should appreciate by 40 per cent from R 10 to R 14 per share.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This illustration serves to drive home a basic investment lesson. You should evaluate your investment returns not on the basis of the dividend you receive, but on the basis of the earnings per share. Earnings per share is the true indicator of the returns on your share investments.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Suppose you had bought shares in XYZ Ltd at double their face value, i.e. at R 20 per share. Then an EPS of R 6 per share would mean a 30 per cent return on your investment, of which 10 per cent (R 2 per share) is dividend, and 20 per cent (R 4 per share) the ploughback.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Under ideal conditions, ploughback should push up the price of your shares by 20 per cent, i.e. from R 20 to 24 per share. Therefore, irrespective of what price you buy a particular company's shares at its EPS will provide you with an invaluable tool for calculating the returns on your investment.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">4. Price earnings ratio (P/E)</span></strong></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The price earnings ratio (P/E) expresses the relationship between the market price of a company's share and its earnings per share:</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Price/Earnings Ratio (P/E) = Price of the share / Earnings per share</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This ratio indicates the extent to which earnings of a share are covered by its price. If P/E is 5, it means that the price of a share is 5 times its earnings. In other words, the company's EPS remaining constant, it will take you approximately five years through dividends plus capital appreciation to recover the cost of buying the share. The lower the P/E, lesser the time it will take for you to recover your investment.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">P/E ratio is a reflection of the market's opinion of the earnings capacity and future business prospects of a company. Companies which enjoy the confidence of investors and have a higher market standing usually command high P/E ratios.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For example, blue chip companies often have P/E ratios that are as high as 20 to 60. </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the face of it, it would seem that companies with low P/E ratios would offer the most attractive investment opportunities. This is not always true. Companies with high current earnings but dim future prospects often have low P/E ratios.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Obviously such companies are not good investments, notwithstanding their P/E ratios. As an investor your primary concern is with the future prospects of a company and not so much with its present performance. This is the main reason why companies with low current earnings but bright future prospects usually command high P/E ratios.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To a great extent, the present price of a share, discounts, i.e. anticipates, its future earnings.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All this may seem very perplexing to you because it leaves the basic question unanswered: How does one use the P/E ratio for making sound investment decisions?</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The answer lies in utilising the P/E ratio in conjunction with your assessment of the future earnings and growth prospects of a company. You have to judge the extent to which its P/E ratio reflects the company's future prospects.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If it is low compared to the future prospects of a company, then the company's shares are good for investment. Therefore, even if you come across a company with a high P/E ratio of 25 or 30 don't summarily reject it because even this level of P/E ratio may actually be low if the company is poised for meteoric future growth. On the other hand, a low P/E ratio of 4 or 5 may actually be high if your assessment of the company's future indicates sharply declining sales and large losses.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">5. Dividend and yield</span></b></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">There are many investors who buy shares with the objective of earning a regular income from their investment. Their primary concern is with the amount that a company gives as dividends -- capital appreciation being only a secondary consideration. For such investors, dividends obviously play a crucial role in their investment calculations.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is illogical to draw a distinction between capital appreciation and dividends. Money is money -- it doesn't really matter whether it comes from capital appreciation or from dividends.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A wise investor is primarily concerned with the total returns on his investment -- he doesn't really care whether these returns come from capital appreciation or dividends, or through varying combinations of both. In fact, investors in high tax brackets prefer to get most of their returns through long-term capital appreciation because of tax considerations.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Companies that give high dividends not only have a poor growth record but often also poor future growth prospects. If a company distributes the bulk of its earnings in the form of dividends, there will not be enough ploughback for financing future growth.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the other hand, high growth companies generally have a poor dividend record. This is because such companies use only a relatively small proportion of their earnings to pay dividends. In the long run, however, high growth companies not only offer steep capital appreciation but also end up paying higher dividends.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On the whole, therefore, you are likely to get much higher total returns on your investment if you invest for capital appreciation rather than for dividends. In short, it all boils down to whether you are prepared to sacrifice a part of your immediate dividend income in the expectation of greater capital appreciation and higher dividends in the years to come and the whole issue is basically a trade-off between capital appreciation and income.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Investors are not really interested in dividends but in the relationship that dividends bear to the market price of the company's shares. This relationship is best expressed by the ratio called yield or dividend yield:</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><v:line from="59.6pt,6.1pt" id="_x0000_s1027" style="position: absolute; z-index: 2;" to="150.8pt,6.1pt"></v:line><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yield = (Dividend per share / market price per share) x 100</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yield indicates the percentage of return that you can expect by way of dividends on your investment made at the prevailing market price. </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The concept of yield is best clarified by the following illustration.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Let us suppose you have invested R 2,000 in buying 100 shares of XYZ Ltd at R 20 per share with a face value of R 10 each.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If XYZ announces a dividend of 20 per cent (R 2 per share), then you stand to get a total dividend of R 200. Since you bought these shares at R 20 per share, the yield on your investment is 10 per cent (Yield = 2/20 x 100). Thus, while the dividend was 20 per cent; but your yield is actually 10 per cent.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The concept of yield is of far greater practical utility than dividends. It gives you an idea of what you are earning through dividends on the current market price of your shares.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><br /></div><div style="background-color: white;"></div><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">6. Return on Capital Employed (ROCE), and</span></b><br /><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">7. Return on Net Worth (RONW)</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While analysing a company, the most important thing you would like to know is whether the company is efficiently using the capital (shareholders' funds plus borrowed funds) entrusted to it.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While valuing the efficiency and worth of companies, we need to know the return that a company is able to earn on its capital, namely its equity plus debt. A company that earns a higher return on the capital it employs is more valuable than one which earns a lower return on its capital.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The tools for measuring these returns are:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1. Return on Capital Employed (ROCE), and</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2. Return on Net Worth (RONW).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Return on Capital Employed and Return on Net Worth (shareholders funds) are valuable financial ratios for evaluating a company's efficiency and the quality of its management. The figures for these ratios are commonly available in business magazines, annual reports and economic newspapers and financial Web sites.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Return on capital employed</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Return on capital employed (ROCE) is best defined as operating profit divided by capital employed (net worth plus debt).</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The figure for operating profit is arrived at after adding back taxes paid, depreciation, extraordinary one-time expenses, and deducting extraordinary one-time income and other income (income not earned through mainline operations), to the net profit figure.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The operating profit of a company is a better indicator of the profits earned by it than is the net profit.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">ROCE thus reflects the overall earnings performance and operational efficiency of a company's business. It is an important basic ratio that permits an investor to make inter-company comparisons.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Return on net worth</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Return on net worth (RONW) is defined as net profit divided by net worth. It is a basic ratio that tells a shareholder what he is getting out of his investment in the company.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">ROCE is a better measure to get an idea of the overall profitability of the company's operations, while RONW is a better measure for judging the returns that a shareholder gets on his investment.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The use of both these ratios will give you a broad picture of a company's efficiency, financial viability and its ability to earn returns on shareholders' funds and capital employed.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">8. PEG ratio</span></b><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">PEG is an important and widely used ratio for forming an estimate of the intrinsic value of a share. It tells you whether the share that you are interested in buying or selling is under-priced, fully priced or over-priced.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For this you need to link the P/E ratio discussed earlier to the future growth rate of the company. This is based on the assumption that the higher the expected growth rate of the company, the higher will be the P/E ratio that the company's share commands in the market.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The reverse is equally true. The P/E ratio cannot be viewed in isolation. It has to be viewed in the context of the company's future growth rate. The PEG is calculated by dividing the P/E by the forecasted growth rate in the EPS (earnings per share) of the company.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As a broad rule of the thumb, a PEG value below 0.5 indicates a very attractive buying opportunity, whereas a selling opportunity emerges when the PEG crosses 1.5, or even 2 for that matter.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The catch here is to accurately calculate the future growth rate of earnings (EPS) of the company. Wide and intensive reading of investment and business news and analysis, combined with experience will certainly help you to make more accurate forecasts of company earnings.</span><br /><br />Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-54104913121035330552013-04-29T08:48:00.000+02:002013-04-29T08:48:43.442+02:0010 reasons to invest in a Retirement Annuity (RA)<br /><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ur0yw-y5ATA/UX1JP644YrI/AAAAAAAAAek/l9G4UWWz9Wk/s1600/retirement.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Ur0yw-y5ATA/UX1JP644YrI/AAAAAAAAAek/l9G4UWWz9Wk/s1600/retirement.jpg" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">It is clear that South Africans need to make additional provisions for retirement if they are to enjoy a standard of living that they have become accustomed to during their working years. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Retirement annuities remain a popular investment vehicle with many South Africans for good reason. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A retirement annuity is a long-term savings vehicle aimed primarily at people providing for their retirement. To prevent people from relying on the government to provide for them in their old age, there are legal restrictions on withdrawing funds from RAs. But there are also tax advantages to offset the lack of access to funds. Tax benefits are just one of the ten reasons that you should consider a retirement annuity:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1. <b>Preparing for retirement</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">An RA helps you to build up capital during your working years so that you have enough income to </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">enjoy the same standard of living when you retire. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2. <b>Ensuring sufficient savings</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The rule of thumb is that if you save 15% of your salary over 35 years, you will receive 75% of your </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">salary as a pension, given reasonable returns.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The problem is that your pensionable salary (the amount that your 15% pension contributions are </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">calculated on) is usually about only 70% of your total salary benefits which include, for example, a </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">bonus, car allowance, medical aid and other benefits. This means that you could retire on 75% of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">70% of your salary!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is important to save for these ‘extras’ as they do help us meet our current living expenses.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For example: if your monthly package is R20 000, you would need to retire on the equivalent of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">R15 000 (75%). But your pensionable salary is significantly less at R10 500 (75% X R20 000 X </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">70%). By investing 15% of your non-pensionable income into a retirement annuity, you can make up the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">savings gap. A starting point is to always invest 15% of your bonus tax-free into an RA.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3. <b>Tax benefits</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can invest up to 15% of your total income (less any amount that may be used for other pension </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">fund contributions) tax-free. Not only can you invest with before-tax money, but you do not have to </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">pay capital gains tax or income tax on your retirement investment. Your investment growth will be higher over the long-term as the growth remains in the policy and will usually offer you a better after-tax return than other types of saving.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">When you retire, you can take one-third of your investment as a lump sum. Of this the first R300 </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">000 is tax-free with a favourable tax-rate for higher amounts. The remaining two-thirds of the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">retirement annuity is invested in an annuity to provide you with income during your retirement.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can reduce your income tax by contributing towards an RA before the end of the tax year in </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">February. </span><span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">For those who have started planning ahead and have a</span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"> Retirement Annuity (RA) in place,you may have been entitled to a tax deductible top up on your RA, as an opportunity to enhance your savings. To illustrate, using an example of a professional earning R600 000 p.a. in the top tax bracket of 40%. </span><br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">He does not contribute to a pension scheme but can contribute towards a Retirement Annuity.</span><br /><span class="text_exposed_show" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; display: inline; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Exercising his right to top up on his RA could see him save R36 000 in taxes and allows him to increase future retirement earnings. This year is the last year to take advantage of the uncapped tax deductions from retirement savings as the government plans to cap tax deductions from March 2014. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bL2wT3smV48/UX1Jjk9GBfI/AAAAAAAAAes/YV1QfOgjIfU/s1600/retirement1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bL2wT3smV48/UX1Jjk9GBfI/AAAAAAAAAes/YV1QfOgjIfU/s1600/retirement1.jpg" /></a></div><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> 4. <b>The power of compound growth</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Because you are saving over a long period, your money starts to work for you as you earn interest </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">on the interest. If you save consistently over 30 years, less than 35 cents of each Rand of income </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">you receive will come from the contribution you paid in. The balance will come from the growth </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">earned on your contributions and savings in retirement.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">5. <b>Disciplined savings</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You do not have access to your retirement annuity savings until the age of 55. This may sound like </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">a disadvantage but it removes the temptation to dip into or deplete your savings while you are </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">working. A 25-year old needs about 15% of his/her salary through their working lifetime to secure an </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">adequate pension. If they cashed in their savings at 35, they would need to save 25% to get to the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">same benefit. Starting from a zero base at 45 requires an incredible 47%! The only remedy here </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">would be to retire later.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">6.<b> Long-term growth</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">As markets fluctuate during different economic cycles, your consistent contributions will average out </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">this variability. You also draw your pension over a (hopefully) prolonged period. Therefore, what </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">happens in a turbulent investment market is of less concern to you. The average investment </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">manager has delivered returns which are 11% above inflation over the last 5 years, despite the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">recent global economic crisis.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">7. <b>Supporting your dependants</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If your dependents are left to cope without you, your retirement annuity can provide a source of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">income for those you leave behind, especially if you buy death cover on your policy. The cash </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">benefit from a retirement annuity falls outside your estate, so if you die and are insolvent, your </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">benefit is paid to your family rather than your creditors.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">8. <b>Room to grow your savings</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">While pension funds generally require a contribution that is a fixed percentage of your salary, RAs </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">offer more flexibility. Many people recognise the need to save but struggle in the short term to meet </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">financial obligations.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A retirement annuity allows you to slowly increase your contributions over time. For example, you </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">could take 3% from each of your next five years’ salary increases to get to the full 15% contribution.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can also invest a portion of your bonus each year as a lump sum contribution.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">9. <b>Diversified portfolio</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You have access to different asset classes in a retirement annuity. You can invest 25% of your </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">savings offshore without needing Reserve Bank clearance. You can also invest in other types of </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">portfolios through your RA, such as direct property, private equity and fund of funds.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">10. <b>Freedom of choice</b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">With many retirement annuities, you can choose your underlying investment giving you some </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">flexibility in how your contributions are invested and therefore how they grow.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">If you would like more information regarding Retirement Annuities or any other investment products kindly contact </span><b style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="color: #ffc000; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 11pt;">MO</span></b><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"><span lang="EN-ZA" style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 11pt;"><b>JAFF </b><span style="color: #ffc000; font-weight: bold;">FI</span><b>NANCIAL </b><span style="color: #ffc000; font-weight: bold;">SE</span><b>RVICES </b></span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">on the contact details below: </span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2yeqT9EHrJU/UX4VExbB2hI/AAAAAAAAAe8/JJt-EERkYCA/s1600/mojaff.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2yeqT9EHrJU/UX4VExbB2hI/AAAAAAAAAe8/JJt-EERkYCA/s320/mojaff.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br /><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-ZA">Tel: (021) 638 7786</span><span lang="EN-ZA"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-ZA">Fax: (021) 638 3399</span><span lang="EN-ZA"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-ZA">Cell: (082) 824 4400</span><span lang="EN-ZA"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-ZA">Email: <span style="color: #ffc000;"><a href="mailto:mjaffer@mweb.co.za" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">mjaffer@mweb.co.za</a></span></span><span lang="EN-ZA"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span lang="EN-ZA">Website: <a href="http://www.mojaff.co.za/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">www.mojaff.co.za</a></span><span lang="EN-ZA"><u></u><u></u></span></span></div></div><div style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Authorised Financial Services Provider FSB#3650</span></div></div></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-101046675601993022013-04-21T17:48:00.001+02:002013-04-21T20:58:29.061+02:00The pot of Gold at the end of the rainbow...my perspective. <br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xS43SpesaaM/UXQJG_EDnYI/AAAAAAAAAeE/hi3kNtq0sSc/s1600/rainbow-pot_of_gold.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xS43SpesaaM/UXQJG_EDnYI/AAAAAAAAAeE/hi3kNtq0sSc/s1600/rainbow-pot_of_gold.jpg" /></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Simply put, the Gold sell off recently in the markets was pure Panic. Fear has clearly taken the driver’s seat, pushing greed completely aside for some of the nonsensical reasons given by most analysts. I see bear markets as buyers’ markets. I’ve long said that the best time to buy is when there’s blood in the streets, and that’s what its shaping up to be.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The dramatic plunge in gold prices over the last few days does not mean the bull market is over, but this may be a long-awaited mid-cycle correction. In my view, the fundamentals are still very positive for gold .<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">There’s still a very strong physical demand. Physical demand for gold will start to pick up after the recent price decline…it’s inevitable…trust me.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">It’s possible we have already seen the low. It’s hard to see how gold sentiment can deteriorate any further. Should gold fall further, I see some support at $1,225-$1,250 and very strong support just above $1,000. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /><span style="background: white;">If we do go that low, I don’t see how it can be for long. Here’s why.</span><br /><span style="background: white;">The average all-in cost to produce gold – ie the cost per ounce of finding, developing and building a mine as well as actual production – is widely believed to be somewhere in the $1,200-$1,400 range. On this basis, some 15% of gold producers would now be underwater on an all-in cost basis. With all the mining strikes after the past couple months hindering gold mining production has haltered supply. With less supply and rising direct costs to produce Gold, you can be guaranteed that Gold prices WILL rise in the future.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /><span style="background: white;">In 2012, the average price for the sale of mined gold was $1,650. With Gold trading below $1400 per ounce, companies would, at $1,650 per ounce, have their gold now sell below $1,400 at major losses!</span><br /><span style="background: white;">Companies can’t afford price Gold to fall below productions costs. There is only so long it can trade at a price below its annual cost of production.</span></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 11.25pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Fear has clearly taken the driver’s seat, pushing greed completely aside... at least for now. Why? The reasons given by most analysts are nonsensical:</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><ul type="disc"><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Gold is selling off because those ever-so-ethical and smart guys at Goldman Sachs say it’s heading lower. That this is patently silly hasn’t stopped it from becoming a self-fulfilling prophecy, for a time.<br /> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Gold is selling off because some technical analysts says that’s what should happen when certain support levels are breached. To the degree people believed this, regarding $1550, 0r $1450.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><br /> <!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /> <!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Gold is selling off with broader markets because surprisingly weak retail sales and consumer confidence numbers from the US, as well as weaker-than-expected numbers from China, have whacked stocks and commodities alike – but that should have been bullish for the safe-haven metal. That some economic data coming in weaker than expected is given as a reason for gold to drop just shows how few people understand gold at all.<br /> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Gold is selling off because of the now-denied news about Cyprus selling gold holdings to help bail itself out. Even if this were true, it would have no bearing on the fundamentals of the gold market.<br /> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Gold is selling off because of manipulation. If that were so, it would not change the underlying realities and would eventually have to be unwound.<br /> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></li><li class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Gold is selling because more and more people fear the peak was $1,900 in 2011, and it’s all downhill from here. That – again – is momentum.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></li></ul><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 11.25pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"> What this is all saying is that gold is selling off for the wrong reasons, mostly amounting to speculative momentum-chasing. Simply put: this is panic.<br /> <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 11.25pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">I’ve yet to see any convincing argument as to why gold had to drop or should go lower. I’ve yet to be convinced that the governments of the world have cured what ails the global economy with their virtual printing presses, and the next boom is a done deal. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 11.25pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 11.25pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The current drop may not be the bottom yet, but a very significant near term gain for those that see it as a buyers market. I see bear markets as buyers markets. Expect Kruger Rand demand to increase dramatically and an increase in prices to follow.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 11.25pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">I plan to bid under market over the course of this week and get the best prices possible. Then I’ll wait and see what comes next. I encourage all contrarians with courage to join me in taking advantage of this opportunity.</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; mso-line-height-alt: 11.25pt; text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-32293889388520428282013-04-20T13:17:00.000+02:002013-04-20T13:17:56.119+02:00The basics of understanding Currency pairs<br /><div align="left" style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Forex trading is the simultaneous buying of one currency and the selling of another and is always done in currency pairs, such as GBP/USD or USD/CAD. A currency pair represents the exchange rate between the two currencies.</span></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The first currency in a currency pair is always dominant and called the <strong>Base Currency</strong>. It is also the currency that remains constant when determining a currency pair's price. The <strong>Counter Currency</strong> or pricing currency is the second currency in a currency pair notation.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">For example, a transaction of buying the EUR/USD at 1.3000 is actually buying the Euro and selling the Dollar at 1.3000 cent. If the Euro increases in value in relation to the dollar, the price will increase and the currency trader will make money on his transaction. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br /><table align="center" border="0" style="background-color: white; color: black; width: 350px;"><tbody><tr><td><div align="center"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="Base and Counter Currency" border="0" height="79" src="http://www.aboutcurrency.com/images/university/fxcourse/Currencypair_base.gif" style="border: 0px;" width="298" /></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>How is forex quoted? </strong></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />Like equities, foreign exchange has a bid price and an ask price. The bid price is where the market maker is willing to buy. The ask price, is where the market maker is willing to sell. For traders, the reverse is true. The bid price is where a trader can sell, while the ask price is where a trader can buy. The bid price is always less than the ask price. This makes logical sense, as a market maker, like any investor, wants to buy low and sell high. The spread between the bid and the ask price is called the bid/ask spread or dealing spread.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Like equities, foreign exchange has a bid price and an ask price. The bid price is where the market maker is willing to buy. The ask price, is where the market maker is willing to sell. For traders, the reverse is true. The bid price is where a trader can sell, while the ask price is where a trader can buy. The bid price is always less than the ask price. This makes logical sense, as a market maker, like any investor, wants to buy low and sell high. The spread between the bid and the ask price is called the bid/ask spread or dealing spread. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br /><table align="center" border="0" style="background-color: white; color: black; width: 350px;"><tbody><tr><td><div align="center"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img alt="Dealing Spread" height="96" src="http://www.aboutcurrency.com/images/university/fxcourse/Currencypair_quoted.gif" style="border: 0px;" width="334" /></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><em>Examples: </em></span><br /><table border="1" bordercolor="#f0f5ff" cellspacing="5" style="background-color: white; color: black; width: 626px;"><tbody><tr><td bgcolor="#f0f5ff" width="123"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Symbol</span></strong></td><td bgcolor="#f0f5ff" width="188"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Currency</span></strong></td><td bgcolor="#f0f5ff" width="172"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nickname</span></strong></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">USD</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">United States Dollar</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Buck</span></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">GBP</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Great Britain Pound</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Cable</span></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">JPY</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Japanese Yen</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Yen</span></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">CHF</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Franc</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Swissy</span></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">CAD</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Canadian Dollar</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Loonie</span></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">NZD</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">New Zealand Dollar</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Kiwi</span></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">AUD</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Australian Dollar</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Aussie</span></td></tr><tr><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">EUR</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Euro</span></td><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Fiber</span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong style="background-color: white;">Three main types of currency pairs are: </strong></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><br /><ul style="background-color: white;"><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The majors: EUR/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF and GBP/USD.</span></li></ul><ul style="background-color: white;"><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The commodity pairs: USD/CAD, AUD/USD and NZD/USD. </span></li></ul><ul style="background-color: white;"><li><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The currency crosses: most popular are the EUR/GBP, EUR/JPY and EUR/CHF.</span></li></ul><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="2" style="background-color: white; color: black; height: 20px; width: 255px;"><tbody><tr><td><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="164" src="http://www.aboutcurrency.com/images/university/fxcourse/Forexmoney.jpg" style="border: 0px;" width="250" /></span></td></tr></tbody></table><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong style="background-color: white;">The "Major" currency pairs </strong></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Currencies, like equities and bonds, have pairs that are very liquid and those that are not so liquid. The liquid currencies can be characterized as those that are the most stable economically, and politically. They include the countries that form the Group of 7 or G7 - the United States, Japan, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, and Canada.</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white;">Often you will hear on CNBC or read in the financial press that the "dollar was stronger today". When that is said, it usually implies that the dollar got stronger vs. the major currencies or what is often referred to as the</span><strong style="background-color: white;">“Majors”</strong><span style="background-color: white;">. Since the unification of the European currencies into the Euro, the currencies that are most liquid now include the US Dollar, the Japanese Yen, the British Pound, and the Euro, known as the “major pairs”. It is estimated that activity in these currencies comprises of more that 85% of the daily foreign exchange volume.</span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="background-color: white;" /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong style="background-color: white;"><em>The following are examples of situations that might lead you to choose a particular currency pair to trade: </em></strong></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /><strong>USD/CHF</strong></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong>USD/CHF</strong></span><br /><br /><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"></div><div style="background-color: white;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Foreign currency symbols</span></strong></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Foreign Currencies like equities have their own symbols that distinguish one from another. Since foreign currencies are quoted in terms of the value of one currency against the value of another, a currency pair includes the "name" for both currencies, separated by a "/". The "name" is a three-letter acronym. The first two letters are in most cases reserved for identification of the country. The last letter is the first letter of the unit of currency for that country. <span style="font-size: 12px;"> </span></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12px;"> </span><strong>EUR/USD</strong><strong> </strong></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">• Dollar weakness drives EUR/USD higher • US recovery and strong influx of foreign demand will send EUR/USD lower </span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> USD/JPY</span></strong></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> • Japanese government intervention to weaken their currency sends USD/JPY higher • Gains in Nikkei and demand for Japanese assets drive USD/JPY down.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> <strong>GBP/USD</strong><strong> </strong></span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">• High yield and attractive growth in the UK drives GBP/USD higher • Speculation about UK adopting the euro will send the GBP/USD lower.</span></div><div style="background-color: white;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> • Global stability and global recovery will send USD/CHF higher • USD/CHF rallies on geopolitical instability.</span></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-76810500306406824962013-04-11T21:35:00.002+02:002013-04-11T21:40:48.945+02:00Bitcoin, Hype or Reality?<span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large; line-height: 20px;">Is virtual currency THE currency of the future?</span><br /><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; outline: none medium; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A-kqLAzNzAU/UWcPW2XIAEI/AAAAAAAAAdw/oIVNMp3V4-c/s1600/bitcoin.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-A-kqLAzNzAU/UWcPW2XIAEI/AAAAAAAAAdw/oIVNMp3V4-c/s200/bitcoin.png" width="200" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Virtual Currency has been the question on my mind of late. A</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> few years ago a virtual currency called Bitcoin emerged. No surprise to me as </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">currency in today's day and age is mostly just electronic</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> ones and zeros. </span></span></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; outline: none medium; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; outline: none medium; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There's been alot of hype lately about the virtual currency called Bitcoin. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The past few days has seen the price of a single Bitcoin more than double</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">and as s</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">peculators triggered a wave of inflated expectations, the price of Bitcoins soared at one point to a high of $266 each. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Then yesterday it crashed from its peak & hit a low of $105! Is it just hype like the dotcom of the day? or is a further crash just looming around the corner? </span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: large;">Is the value of Bitcoins just mere speculation?</span></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; outline: none medium; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">My personal investing view is "If I don't understand the investment or how to value it, then I simply wont invest in it. Its just that simple. I don't follow the lemmings..."</span></span></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; outline: none medium; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; outline: none medium; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">So what is Bitcoin all about? If you’re new to Bitcoin, you’ve probably got a lot of questions. How does it work? Who controls it? Where do I buy Bitcoins? Is it safe?</span></div><div style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; outline: none medium; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: large;">Ive uploaded a short 3.5 minute video to explain all that. While the video doesn’t go into much detail on how to create Bitcoins through “mining” or how to store Bitcoins in a digital wallet, it at least offers a handy overview.</span></div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="border: 0px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; outline: none medium; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br style="outline: none medium;" /></span></span> <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="300" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/63502573?badge=0" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="400"></iframe></span>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-71948692253588354502013-04-08T22:24:00.000+02:002013-04-09T10:51:34.010+02:00Commit to a good savings plan <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0aPjmIc46vo/UWMbwklYy3I/AAAAAAAAAdg/OYOL-xPFbLA/s1600/MoneyRules.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0aPjmIc46vo/UWMbwklYy3I/AAAAAAAAAdg/OYOL-xPFbLA/s320/MoneyRules.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif;">The only way anyone really saves money is to</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><strong style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>spend less than you make</i></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif;">. It’s a simple equation that many people have a difficult time following. Even when I began working and making money, I never changed my spending habits. I could afford to have bought a new car, yet I used that money to invest in businesses and the stock market. I continued to live as though I was on a tight budget – and along with this key rule, these are the other values I’ve kept to build and grow my wealth slowly. Follow these money rules and maybe 2013 will be your best financial year yet.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 10.5pt;"><strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">1.</span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> <strong>Educate yourself on proper</strong><span class="apple-converted-space"><b> Investing</b></span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">*</span><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> Have the right account</span></i><span style="color: #222222;">: Never keep all of your money in a bank checking account that earns little or no interest. Check online for accounts offering a higher yield, as well as accounts that will not charge you ridiculous maintenance and other transaction fees. Many banks like</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #222222;"> Capitec have low transaction fees and attractive saving interest rates compared to other banks.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> *</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> <i>Have a retirement account</i></span><span style="color: #222222;">: The younger you</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #222222;"> start</span><span style="color: #222222;">, the better. Make the initiative to learn the best option for you, and take it. If your company offers any kind of contribution match – I’d grab it! It’s free money!<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"> * </span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><i>Get automatic</i>: </span>Set up automatic transfers to a savings account earning high interest so that you can star</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">t effortlessly saving money.<span style="color: #222222;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"> 2. Learning where to put your money (and in what order)</span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">* </span><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Always pay your debt as soon as possible</span></i><span style="color: #222222;">. Follow the</span> <a href="http://basheerpaleker.blogspot.com/2013/03/how-to-reduce-or-eliminate-your-debt.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: red;">Debt Snowball Method</span></a><span style="color: #222222;"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif;">so you slowly chip away at the debt you have. </span></div><div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">* </span><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Build an emergency fund</span></i><span style="color: #222222;">. The rule of thumb is at least three months salary.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">*</span><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Invest in the stock market</span></i><span style="color: #222222;">. Look at cost effective ETFs like Satrix (<a href="http://www.satrix.co.za/">www.satrix.co.za</a>). Over the long term Satrix has provided better than average returns and outperformed other savings vehicles.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">* Lastly fund your retirement and put the rest in a high interest saving or checking account. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><br /><strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">3. Having a positive outlook on money</span></strong><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">* </span><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Create goals</span></i><span style="color: #222222;">: Figure out an amount you want to save and write it down. Once you have that goal, figure out how you are going to attain it. Cutting costs? Extra work? Selling some of your things? A book I really love that I’m reading now is Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill. It’s the concept of knowing and</span><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #222222;"> </span><em style="color: #222222;">believing</em><span class="apple-converted-space" style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222;">that you will attain riches will help it to become a reality.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">* </span><i><span style="color: #3d85c6;">Stay positive</span></i><span style="color: #222222;">: Don’t get in the mindset that whatever your situation happens to be means that you will never be able to attain wealth. Maybe you lack formal education or you have a low paying job. You can’t continue to blame outside factors – it is in YOUR power to change your situation, and staying positive and knowing that you are capable of having the lifestyle you desire will attract that into your life.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 10.5pt;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;">This year, start taking control of your finances. Commit to a savings plan. Stop buying things you don’t need or can’t afford. Try to automate at least 15% of your salary to go into your savings account every month. </span><span style="color: #222222;">I like to think of this as paying yourself first. If 15% sounds like too much, decide on a amount of each paycheck you can afford that can go into a savings account as soon as you earn it. This way, you won’t consider yourself having those funds to waste on unnecessary purchases.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="color: #222222;"><br /></span></span></div><div style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 10.5pt;"></div><div style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin: 0cm 0cm 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia","serif";">Its very important to mentally condition your mindset to pay yourself first. So for example, you earn R10,000 in salary every month, and when payday comes around, have 15% (R1500) of your salary automatically transferred into a savings/investment account . Pretend like that money never exists. Thats a potential R18,000 stashed away per year with little or no effort. Now continue to live the rest of the month as though you're earning R8500 (R10,000 - R1,500). </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif;">With annual increases in salary and inflation, simply repeat the same exercise. You’l find that over time you would have build up a significant nest egg just by simply automating your savings plan. It's the easiest way to save money.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; margin-bottom: 10.5pt;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Gill Sans","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 10.5pt; margin-left: 0cm; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-50339096484949857612013-04-08T16:19:00.000+02:002013-04-08T16:19:24.246+02:00A small tip to get you saving for Retirement<br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ymVAx8Ri4tg/UV3i9ijJrfI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/LQMyhzwVxzk/s1600/rands.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ymVAx8Ri4tg/UV3i9ijJrfI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/LQMyhzwVxzk/s200/rands.jpg" width="200" /></a><i><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br />Money is like a seed. You plant it, protect it, and nurture it. Over time, it suddenly gets bigger and generates more seeds (more money) for you to plant. Just like it may take 20 years for you to end up with an orchard, it takes time to become wealthy. But if you are going to get older anyway, why not plant the seeds now so you can have that future?</span></i><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We all want more money in the bank to keep up with the ever-changing demands of our lifestyles. But with the local economy currently in recession, many people are finding it hard to end the month in the black.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt;">We invest so much time and energy into making money yet somehow fail when it comes to managing it. To gain optimal financial quality of life, we need to be able to manage our money in such a way that it does exactly what we want it to, ensuring that it is meaningful for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt;">Saving is easy enough and is all a matter of putting aside a certain amount each month. Investments on the other hand are another thing altogether and the variety of options available can seem rather intimidating.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><br /><span style="background: white;">Imagine going through life planting financial seeds explained in the example posted below every year, through crashes and bubbles. You would reach the end of your retirement with an overflow of riches, with assets generating plenty of dividends, interest, and ‘rents’ into your bank accounts to spend, save, give to charity, or fund new investments.</span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt;">A 25 year old who has a tiny sum of R300 to save every month for retirement can start to attain financial freedom by the time he is 65 years old. Starting young is the perfect time to begin putting small sums of money away for their retirement years. You decide to put your money into an ETF (Exchange Traded Fund) like Satrix (</span><u><span style="background: white; color: blue; font-family: "Cambria","serif"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ascii-theme-font: major-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA; mso-hansi-theme-font: major-latin;"><a href="http://www.satrix.co.za/">www.satrix.co.za</a></span></u><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt;">) that offers a realistic minimum average growth of 15% per annum over its lifetime. There’s a range of ETFs available to you, you can find out more at <a href="http://www.etfsa.co.za/">www.etfsa.co.za</a>. The minimum investment amount for Satrix is R300 per month. I live on the principal that it’s VERY important that when you get paid your salary that you pay yourself first! You can do so by having the investment in Satrix automatically debited from your account.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 14pt;">For the next 50 years the investment in the ETF(Satrix) is ignored and the cash dividends pile up and is reinvested, generating further income. You never make a withdrawal from the fund. Like a seed planted in the forest and left to</span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> nature, you walk away and forget about it.</span><span style="font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><br /><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><br /><!--[endif]--></span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">What happened over that half century? How much money would be in the account as a result of your investment in that ETF account?</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">Well, did you know that…If today you were to invest just R300 per month (R3600 per annum) at a rate of 15%, your investment at the end of 50 years would be worth a staggering sum of</span><b><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 18pt;"> R3,901,166</span></b><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Cambria, serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> !</span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-48350280233195496492013-04-01T18:07:00.002+02:002013-04-01T18:11:40.429+02:00Procliviti launches the LinkedIn Workshop<br /><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://procliviti.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/linkedin.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" src="http://procliviti.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/linkedin.jpg" style="background-color: transparent;" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LinkedIn is by the far the world’s largest online professional network, with users in over 200 countries and territories. To date, LinkedIn boasts more than 187 million members globally, including executives from every Fortune 500 company. There are an estimated 640 million professionals globally, and LinkedIn is focused on connecting them all. In South Africa, LinkedIn has passed the 2 million mark.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">“Two million South Africa members is an important milestone for us. It shows that South African professionals have truly understood the career potential and the personal development possibilities at the core of the LinkedIn experience,” said Fredrik Bernsel, LinkedIn’s Commercial Director, Partnerships, EMEA.</span></div><h1 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: grey; font-size: 24px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What this workshop is about</span></strong></span></h1><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">A large majority of South Africans do not yet know how to use LinkedIn effectively. This 1-day workshop covers the depths of LinkedIn in order to unleash it’s full potential.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The workshop starts with LinkedIn’s position within Social Recruitment, a component within Social Media, and then proceeds to the basics of LinkedIn, as well as the advanced elements of LinkedIn. The workshop concludes with a practical 6-week implementation plan for getting to the most out of LinkedIn.</span></div><h1 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: grey; font-size: 24px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How you’ll benefit from this workshop</span></strong></span></h1><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Attending this 1-day workshop will help you to understand how to leverage the world’s largest and fastest-growing professional network.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Individuals will learn:</span></div><ol style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How to build and enhance your personal brand</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How to find a better <a href="http://procliviti.net/events/advanced-linkedin-workshop/#" id="_GPLITA_3" in_rurl="http://i.trkjmp.com/click?v=WkE6MzM4MDc6NzAxOmpvYjphM2IwYzEwZmFiNTAyZDkxZjIxNDVkN2U5MWFjNjc0NDp6LTEwNjMtMTUyMjQ6cHJvY2xpdml0aS5uZXQ6MzM4NjQ6ZWU4MmQwMTkyNDk5MzY3ZGRlZDJiYWY0MDNjZTE3MDg" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #b50018; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Click to Continue > by Browse to Save">job</a></span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How to expand your professional network</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How to expand career opportunities</span></li></ol><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://procliviti.net/events/advanced-linkedin-workshop/#" id="_GPLITA_2" in_rurl="http://i.trkjmp.com/click?v=WkE6MjA3NjQ6MjA6Y29tcGFuaWVzOjg3ZDM3OGU3MjJlZjg3NDdhMWJkNGQwZGQyZjJhNWJmOnotMTA2My0xNTIyNDpwcm9jbGl2aXRpLm5ldDoxMTM5MDo3MjMwZTI2YjZmNDc2ODRkMmMyMGQ1Y2UyNjE5ZmRjYw" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #b50018; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Click to Continue > by Browse to Save">Companies</a> will learn:</span></div><ol style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How to build and enhance your corporate brand</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How to recruit the right people for the right job</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How to expand your professional network and company “following”</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: decimal; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How to expand business opportunities</span></li></ol><h1 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: grey; font-size: 24px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Who should attend</span></strong></span></h1><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Business Owners, Business Executives, HR and Recruitment Professionals, Sales and Marketing Professionals</span></div><h1 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: grey; font-size: 24px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">LinkedIn South Africa – Fast Facts</span></strong></span></h1><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The three biggest industries on LinkedIn in South Africa:</span></strong></div><ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Information technology and services</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Financial services</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Accounting</span></li></ul><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The three companies with the most employees on LinkedIn in South Africa:</span></strong></div><ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Absa</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Eskom</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Standard Bank Group</span></li></ul><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Top 3 Groups (by membership) on LinkedIn for South Africa:</span></strong></div><ul style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; list-style: none; margin: 0px 0px 1.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 30px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">South African Business Network</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://procliviti.net/events/advanced-linkedin-workshop/#" id="_GPLITA_1" in_rurl="http://i.trkjmp.com/click?v=WkE6MzM3NzI6Mjg6am9oYW5uZXNidXJnOjkxYjBiODdmOGE1OTk0ZGYzMWM4MDcxNzhhNDM4NWQwOnotMTA2My0xNTIyNDpwcm9jbGl2aXRpLm5ldDozMzc4Mzo4OGRjZjdiNDdhMzhiNGZiNjAxNWZiNGVlMjlkMWQ2NA" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #b50018; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Click to Continue > by Browse to Save">Johannesburg</a> Business Club</span></li><li style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">South African Engineers and Expats</span></li></ul><h2 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-size: 1.8em; font-weight: normal; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px 0px 0.5em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="background-color: transparent; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; border: 0px; color: grey; font-size: 22px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Workshop Outline</span></strong></span></h2><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Session 1:</span></strong></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">An introduction to Web 2.0 and Social Media<br />The new Social Recruiment Paradigm<br />LinkedIn, the company<br />Getting started with LinkedIn<br />Account Settings<br />The LinkedIn <a href="http://procliviti.net/events/advanced-linkedin-workshop/#" id="_GPLITA_4" in_rurl="http://i.trkjmp.com/click?v=WkE6MzQyODI6MjMyOnByb2ZpbGU6ODM3YTY2OThmMDVhMzlhOWEwODVjMmQ3NmMwMzAwNDM6ei0xMDYzLTE1MjI0OnByb2NsaXZpdGkubmV0OjM1MDQ5OmM3ZDIwNjFhZWFhMjllMmI0MTNjN2E2Y2Y5ZjE2ZmY2" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #b50018; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Click to Continue > by Browse to Save">Profile</a><br />Recommendations and Endorsements</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Session 2:</span></strong></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Using and Expanding <a href="http://procliviti.net/events/advanced-linkedin-workshop/#" id="_GPLITA_0" in_rurl="http://i.trkjmp.com/click?v=WkE6MjIxNzM6OTc3OmNvbm5lY3Rpb25zOjBiODRiZWVkMzM3MWNiODg2YThkMmJkNzRmODUwOTE2OnotMTA2My0xNTIyNDpwcm9jbGl2aXRpLm5ldDo5MjE4OmMzYTM4ZTJjYjY5Njc4ZWU0ODMxNGYyODUyYmEwYjIw" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #b50018; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Click to Continue > by Browse to Save">Connections</a><br />Groups – Directory, Participation, Creating<br />Jobs – Finding, Posting, Managing<br />Inbox – Messages and Invitations<br />Companies – Search, Follow<br />News – LinkedIn Today, Signal<br />Skills & Expertise<br />Answers</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Session 3:</span></strong></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Search: People, Jobs, Companies, Answers, Groups<br />Advanced Search: People, Jobs, Answers<br />Tools, Apps, and Mobile<br />LinkedIn Hacks and Tricks<br />LinkedIn Best Practices<br />Lead Generation and Conversion<br />Content Marketing</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Session 4:</span></strong></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Job Seeker Premium<br />LinkedIn Premium<br />Talent Solutions<br />HR and Recruitment Focus<br />Sales and Marketing Focus<br />Advertising on LinkedIn<br />Strategy – How to get the most out of LinkedIn<br />Monitoring and Measurement<br />6-week Implementation Plan</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; color: #3f454b; font-size: 12px; line-height: 21.59375px; margin-bottom: 1.2em; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Date: </strong>Tuesday, 30 April 2013<br /><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Time:</strong> 9am – 4pm<br /><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Venue:</strong> Ambassador Hotel, Bantry Bay, Cape Town (see <a href="http://ambassador-hotel.co.za/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #b50018; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;" target="_blank">http://ambassador-hotel.co.za/</a>)<br /><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Trainer:</strong> Jamaaludeen Khan (<a href="http://procliviti.net/our-founder/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #b50018; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">click here</a> for full bio)<br /><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Cost:</strong> R2,300 (Early bird fee R1,900 before 16 April 2013)<br /><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Included: </strong><a href="http://procliviti.net/events/advanced-linkedin-workshop/#" id="_GPLITA_5" in_rurl="http://i.trkjmp.com/click?v=WkE6MzMxNjQ6MTI0Omx1bmNoOjBiMjg3NjI4NjMxNThjNzgyMDAzMDk5NmE1YTFmN2RkOnotMTA2My0xNTIyNDpwcm9jbGl2aXRpLm5ldDozMjY4NzoyYWFkZTRjYTg4YmQ2NWFlYjQzM2QyYTNjNGQyZmM0Ng" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #b50018; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="Click to Continue > by Browse to Save">Lunch</a> and LinkedIn Resource Pack<br /><strong style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Bookings: </strong><a href="http://procliviti.net/products/advanced-linkedin-workshop/registration/" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #b50018; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Click here to book</a>, or Email <a href="mailto:info@procliviti.net" style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; color: #b50018; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">info@procliviti.net</a>, or call 076 604 2778</span></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-20062380454562864272013-03-30T12:27:00.001+02:002013-03-30T12:27:42.743+02:00Tips for first-time property buying <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif; line-height: 12pt;">Buying your first property is a process that can be fraught with confusion. This simple list will set you on the path to home ownership.</span><br /><div id="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JNrqSjb4OHE/UVa5uTMxA9I/AAAAAAAAAcw/tgNihsorxxA/s1600/home+ownership+img.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JNrqSjb4OHE/UVa5uTMxA9I/AAAAAAAAAcw/tgNihsorxxA/s1600/home+ownership+img.jpg" /></a></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">1. Save up for a deposit</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Banks are far more likely to approve your home loan if you have a deposit saved up. So as soon as you start considering house hunting (and preferably before), start putting away that extra cash. Having a deposit saved up means that the bank doesn’t have to take all the risk on your property, so of course they’ll be more likely to approve your bond. Being strict about putting money away before you buy a home is also good practice for repaying your bond later.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">2. Manage your existing credit</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Your credit record is your most valuable asset when applying for a home loan. This means that you should have a record of paying back credit responsibly. Sadly, the banks won’t grant you a large credit amount until you’ve shown that you can be responsible with paying back smaller amounts, so get yourself a credit card, a store card or a bank loan and pay the installments on time.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">3. Get your paperwork in order</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The banks will require three months of your most recent bank statements, a pay slip, your ID and a proof of residence. You will also be required to fill out a document showing your income and expenditure. Make sure you have a copy of all of these documents readily available for when you find that perfect home.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">4. Work out how much you can afford</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">A bank will work out your affordability based on your disposable income after deductions and expenses, but will not grant you a home loan for which the repayments are more than 30% of your gross monthly income. This can be mindboggling maths, so use an affordability calculator to work out your maximum home loan.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">5. Be realistic</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Take a long, hard look at your lifestyle and make a list of the factors that will suit your needs. If you travel a lot, don’t buy a house with a big garden that requires lots of maintenance. If you’re going to be living alone, buy a smaller apartment in a better area. If you’re thinking of getting married and having kids in the next few years, buy an affordable house with an extra room, rather than an expensive apartment in the heart of the city.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Buying for the long term means that you won’t have to go through the stress of house hunting and the expense of transfer again too soon. Even though it’s important to get a foothold on the property ladder as soon as you can, think strategically to make sure you’re making the right purchase.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">6. Run a credit check before you start</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Some companies or individuals don’t follow the proper procedures for a blacklisting, so the first time many people find out that they’ve been blacklisted is when they apply for credit.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">7. Do a lot of hunting before you buy</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Start house hunting a while before you actually need to buy to give yourself a sense of what you can afford and what compromises you might have to make. Use a comprehensive website, such as PropertyGenie.co.za to get started and check out your options, then start going to show days. Educating yourself in this way means that when you see your dream home, you’ll know if it’s too good to be true or the real deal.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">8. Don’t lose hope</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Buying a home – especially in the first-time buyer bracket – can be a little disheartening when you work out how much money you are going to have to spend and what you can actually get for that. Don’t ever buy out of desperation, but rather wait for the right thing to come along.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">9. Apply to multiple banks for your home loan</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Each bank has its own specific set of lending criteria. To improve your chances of getting your home loan approved in time, and of getting the best interest rate, submit your application to as many banks as possible at the same time. The latest ooba statistics show that 28.7% of ooba’s applications that were declined by one bank were approved by another.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">10. Use an expert originator to get you the best deal on your home loan</span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Getting a home loan approved involves lots of paperwork, some of which can be very confusing. It gets even more complicated if you take the advice above and apply to more than one bank. Because of this, it’s a good idea to use the services of an expert originator to submit your application to multiple banks.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><br /></div><div style="line-height: 12.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0cm;"><em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">* This report was prepared by <a href="http://www.ooba.co.za/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #6666cc; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;">ooba</span></a></span></em><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"></div></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-16044617042146945152013-03-25T09:00:00.000+02:002013-04-01T17:48:59.692+02:00Plant small financial seeds today <span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OIWFhgKAK4c/UU75XcUf7sI/AAAAAAAAAcg/LO8sDcm47tE/s1600/saving+seed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-OIWFhgKAK4c/UU75XcUf7sI/AAAAAAAAAcg/LO8sDcm47tE/s320/saving+seed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is a favorite saying of mine.<span style="color: #3d85c6;"> "Plant small financial seeds today, so that you may reap the rewards & sit in the shade tomorrow."</span> By this I simply mean that by committing yourself to saving small amounts of money today, you will find that over time it will gradually compound & grow to bear a larger sum of money in the future.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some people believe that you need to have lots of money to start investing, but just investing R300 a month can add up to a significant lump sum. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Around nine years ago I started saving a tiny amount of R300 a month in Satrix 40 index (www.satrix.co.za) which simply tracks the performance of the 40 largest South African companies.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Today that investment is worth </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">R55 000 and growing!</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">You do not have to start off with a large amount of money. Satrix allows one to begin with a minimum debit order of R300 per month or a minimum lump sum of R1000.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> Over time shares in listed companies on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange outperform cash. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /> Certainly if I had invested the money in a bank account it would be nowhere near the same value that it is today. However the value of the investment has had to ride out big moves in the stock market as we went through the 2008-2009 financial crisis. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /> Despite one of the biggest market collapses in history the returns have still been significant. <br /> You need to understand the nature of the market and not become concerned with short-term falls in value.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /> As a young person wanting to invest each month you should invest in growth assets that can outperform cash. As mentioned, in the short-term (up to two to three years) the stock market can be volatile and the value of your money can fall if there is a market crash. <br /> However if you are investing each month this can actually be to your benefit as you are able to buy more shares with the same amount of money.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /> A good starting point is to invest in a basket of quality listed companies either through a unit trust or through an exchange traded fund (ETF) offered by companies such as Satrix www.satrix.co.za and Absa http://etf.absacapital.com. ETFs are low-cost investments that track the performance of the stock market. Satrix presents itself as the cheapest way to get exposure to shares.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /> You will need to check the minimum investment amounts as they usually start at R300 per month however there are several unit trust funds that offer investment amounts for R200 per month which include Sanlam, Absa and Stanlib. <br /> However, check the fees first as some of them charge an upfront fee of 5% even if you do not use a financial adviser. <br /> Fees have a bigger effect on your total return than the fund manager’s performance so they do matter.</span>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-24646009689995104332013-03-24T14:31:00.000+02:002013-03-24T14:31:53.168+02:00Unlocking your Home Equity to settle debt<table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;" valign="top"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">If you are feeling the crunch of the depressed global economy and trapped in never-ending debt repayments, the idea of getting out of the debt trap with just </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">consolidating your accounts and debt into your home loan<b> </b></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">may sound too good to be true.</span></div></td> </tr><tr> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm;" valign="top"> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JO039HZ4LkM/UU7uquYrJ9I/AAAAAAAAAcU/pjtmeU1CcTY/s1600/Home+equity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="199" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-JO039HZ4LkM/UU7uquYrJ9I/AAAAAAAAAcU/pjtmeU1CcTY/s200/Home+equity.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">One can actually consolidate, weather the financial storm and cut your monthly debt costs by using equity in your property.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">The plan is designed specifically to help you recover from your current negative monthly cash flow to a more positive, stable and affordable position.<b> </b>And in doing so, solve your short term financial problems.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 10pt 0cm 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">What is equity and how will you benefit?</span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Equity is the difference between a property’s market value less the outstanding bond amount.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Below is an illustrative example:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Say you've purchased a property and bonded it for R600 000. Since then you have paid in and and decreased the loan amount to approximately R450 000, whilst the market value has increased to R850 000.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">This means you have equity of R400 000 in your property (Market Value R850,000 less Outstanding Bond Amount R450,000 = R400,000 Equity. This equity could be used to consolidate your accounts. Here’s how:</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Before consolidation</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div align="center"> <table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Loan amount</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Interest rate</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Instalment</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr><tr> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Home loan</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">R450 000</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">14.5%</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">R5 760</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr><tr> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Motor finance</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">R160 000</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">16.5%</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">R3 934</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr><tr> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">*Credit cards</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">R35 000</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">22.0%</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">R3 500</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr><tr> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Personal loans</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">R55 000</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">22.0%</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">R1 733</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr><tr> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Total</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">R700 000</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">R14 927</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr></tbody></table></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="color: #3d85c6; font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">After consolidation</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div align="center"> <table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoNormalTable"> <tbody><tr> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Loan amount</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Interest Rate</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Instalment</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr><tr> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Home loan</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">R 700 000</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">14.5%</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">R 8 960</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr><tr> <td style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 115.5pt;" valign="top" width="154"> <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">Savings</span></b></div></td><td colspan="3" style="padding: 0cm 0cm 0cm 0cm; width: 346.5pt;" valign="top" width="462"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><span style="color: #6aa84f;">You can save R 5 967 per month!</span></span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr></tbody></table></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: center;"><b><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;">* The credit card instalment is based on a revolving amount and is calculated at 10% of the outstanding amount.</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language: EN-ZA;"><o:p></o:p></span></div></td> </tr></tbody></table><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-69340593952847861722013-03-17T09:00:00.000+02:002013-03-17T09:00:08.752+02:00Why the Rule of 72 is important to know<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JexDsYbN-fA/UUS_7vc_VHI/AAAAAAAAAb4/ijvwTQVLffc/s1600/rule-of-72.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JexDsYbN-fA/UUS_7vc_VHI/AAAAAAAAAb4/ijvwTQVLffc/s1600/rule-of-72.jpg" /></a></div><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">Those who know me personally know that I enjoy numbers and maths in particular. In my previous blog post i briefly touched on the mental math shortcut Rule of 72.</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">The Rule of 72 is a great </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">mental math shortcut</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;"> to estimate the effect of any growth rate, from quick financial calculations to population estimates. Here’s the formula:</span><br /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-style: inherit; line-height: 19.1875px;">Years to double = 72 / Interest Rate</span><br /><div class="entry-content" style="background-color: white; border: 0pt none; color: #222222; line-height: 19.1875px; margin: 0pt; outline: none 0pt; padding: 1.625em 0pt 0pt; vertical-align: baseline; width: 560.90625px;"><div style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt 0pt 1em; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This formula is useful for <b style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">financial estimates</b> and understanding the nature of compound interest. </span></div><ul style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; list-style: square outside none; margin: 0pt 0pt 1.625em 2.5em; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At 6% interest, your money takes 72/6 or 12 years to double.</span></li><li style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To double your money in 10 years, get an interest rate of 72/10 or 7.2%.</span></li><li style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If your country’s <span class="caps" style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">GDP </span>grows at 3% a year, the economy doubles in 72/3 or 24 years.</span></li><li style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If your growth slips to 2%, it will double in 36 years. If growth increases to 4%, the economy doubles in 18 years. Given the speed at which technology develops, shaving years off your growth time could be very important.</span></li></ul><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qzl5LYuIEGw/UUTAIfj8-8I/AAAAAAAAAcA/MPr4GuIM2I4/s1600/Rule+72+or+115+Rate+of+return.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Qzl5LYuIEGw/UUTAIfj8-8I/AAAAAAAAAcA/MPr4GuIM2I4/s1600/Rule+72+or+115+Rate+of+return.jpg" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt 0pt 1em; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You can also use the rule of 72 for <b style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">expenses like inflation or interest</b>:</span></div><ul style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; list-style: square outside none; margin: 0pt 0pt 1.625em 2.5em; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If inflation rates go from 2% to 3%, your money will lose half its value in 36 or 24 years. (As you can see 1% makes a BIG difference!)</span></li><li style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If college/university tuition increases at 5% per year (which is almost faster than inflation), tuition costs will double in 72/5 or about 14.4 years. If you pay 15% interest on your credit cards, the amount you owe will <b style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">double</b> in only 72/15 or 4.8 years!</span></li></ul><div style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt 0pt 1em; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The rule of 72 shows why a “small” 1% difference in inflation or <span class="caps" style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;">GDP </span>expansion has a huge effect in forecasting models.</span></div><div style="border: 0pt none; font-style: inherit; margin: 0pt 0pt 1em; outline: none 0pt; padding: 0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">By the way, the Rule of 72 applies to anything that grows, including population. Can you see why a population growth rate of 3% vs 2% could be a huge problem for planning? Instead of needing to double your capacity in 36 years, you only have 24. Twelve years were shaved off your schedule with one percentage point.</span></div></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-37243926025045811092013-03-13T16:22:00.000+02:002013-04-01T17:47:05.796+02:00How you can pocket R500,000 by saving just R30 a day for 12 months<br /><div class="arcticletext" style="background: white; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-top: 7.5pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 7.5pt 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">It’s a fact, R900 doesn’t buy you much these days, not even a trolley full of groceries; perhaps a dinner for two at a moderately upmarket restaurant and a few nights out a month to the movies. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 7.5pt 0in;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dBMxFQvPuy4/UUCIajme1LI/AAAAAAAAAbs/iGrgt0eLY3w/s1600/ZAR.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="245" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dBMxFQvPuy4/UUCIajme1LI/AAAAAAAAAbs/iGrgt0eLY3w/s320/ZAR.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Finding R900 to save isn’t hard either. Many may disagree with this statement but if you hear me out, I will share how saving just R900 every month (R30 per day) for just one year can snowball into quite a small fortune. All you need is a little time on your side. Time is the friend of a good investment and the enemy of a mediocre one.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 7.5pt 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Allow me to justify the above statement with a quick scenario. Assume you are a smoker who smokes a pack of cigarettes a day. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Assume that you've given your budget the once-over and found that you spend about R30 for a pack of cigarettes a day which is equivalent to R900 per month.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">What you don't realise is that you potentially and literally burning up to R10,800 per year on your deadly smoking habit.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 7.5pt 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Now, if today you were smart and opted to invest your R10,800.00 smoking habit cash once off without ANY further contributions in an investment fund like Satrix ,offering a conservative rate of say 12% you would find that in a span of 5 years you'd have accumulated a 'healthy' sum of R19,033.29! If you're age 30 and were to invest R10,800 with no further contributions for a period of 35 years at a conservative rate of 12% per annum then at age 65 you would end up with a sum of R570,235.89<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 7.5pt 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The better rate you can find for your investment, the better and faster your money will grow. I personally enjoy investing in ETF's like Satrix (<a href="http://www.satrix.co.za/"><span style="color: blue;">www.satrix.co.za</span></a>). The best-performing ETF over the past few years has been the Satrix Divi Plus, which tracks an index of shares that provide good dividends. The minimum monthly investment in Satrix is about R300 and the fees are minimal.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 7.5pt 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">I also quite often use the rule of 72 to quickly determine how long it would take to double my money.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 7.5pt 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">The rule of 72 is a simplified way to determine how long an investment will take to double, given a fixed annual rate of interest. By dividing 72 by the annual rate of return, you can get a rough estimate of how many years it will take for the initial investment to double itself.<br /><br />For example, the rule of 72 states that if I invested R1000 at 10% would take 7.2 years (72/10) = 7.2) to turn into R2000.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; line-height: 13.5pt; margin: 7.5pt 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">As with any investment, you want the best returns at as low a risk as possible, and preferably a savings or investment vehicle that is flexible enough to allow you to deposit extra or, in an emergency, withdraw your money at short notice.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">You may be immediately attracted to the obvious safe banking options or “solutions” such as a debit order from your current account into a separate savings or notice account. But these generally offer very low rates of return. Looking further afield, you should find ways to earn a better return without necessarily taking on more risk.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia","serif";"><o:p></o:p></span></div><br />Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-43441019696333851352013-03-06T18:20:00.000+02:002013-03-06T18:20:10.330+02:00The 80/20 rule in investing<br /><div class="post-body entry-content" id="post-body-8643527719205580596" itemprop="description articleBody" style="background-color: white; font-size: 13px; line-height: 1.4; position: relative; width: 570px;"><div dir="ltr" trbidi="on"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><strong><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The law of the few<o:p></o:p></span></u></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tJ7I_tCt6c8/UTdrZenc9yI/AAAAAAAAAak/mGbRBMW4H2Y/s1600/80201.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="228" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tJ7I_tCt6c8/UTdrZenc9yI/AAAAAAAAAak/mGbRBMW4H2Y/s320/80201.gif" width="320" /></a></div><div style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Have you heard of the <b>80/20</b> rule? The 80/20 rule, also known as Pareto’s Principle or law of the ‘trivial many (80%) and the critical few (20%)’, was named after Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist and political sociologist who lived from 1848 to 1923.</span></div><div style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This rule states that in many aspects of business and life, 80% of the potential value can be achieved from just 20% of the effort, and that one can spend the remaining 80% of effort for relatively little return.</span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">What could an Italian economist from a century ago have to do with successful investing today?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Vilfredo Pareto noted back in 1906 that some 80% of the land of Italy was owned by just 20% of the population. He then developed his principle by observing that 20% of the pea pods in his garden contained 80% of the peas.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This observation eventually led to what is now known as the <em>Pareto Principle</em> or more commonly, the ‘law of the few’ or the <strong><em>80/20 Rule</em></strong>: that 80% of the effects or outputs are often derived from 20% of the causes or inputs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">All fields of life</span></u></strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />The 80/20 Rule is a gem of a principle because it appears to occur in so many fields of life.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In business? You might find that 80% of your sales (and complaints!) are derived from 20% of your customers.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">80% of your company sales are made by 20% of the sales team. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">20% of your efforts produce 80% of the results.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In health and safety? Do 20% of the hazards that cause 80% of the injuries or accidents?</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt;"><span style="line-height: 19px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br />20% of your activities will account for 80% of your success.</span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.4;">In customer service? Microsoft found that by fixing the top 20% of the most reported bugs, 80% of the errors and crashes could be eliminated.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.4;"><br /></span></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wealth? Does just 20% of the population hold 80% of the wealth of a nation? Often. The same applies to the wealth of the world. The law of the few even seems to apply to subsets of the income range: the world’s richest 3 men own as much as the next 7 put together.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 1.4;">The implication of all this? Focus on getting the big decisions right.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><strong><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">How do we apply this to investment?<o:p></o:p></span></u></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Warren Buffett once said that we don’t need to make too many great decisions; we just need to limit the quantum and the magnitude of the bad ones.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Another way of saying this is that if we lose too much we can’t win overall. This is well demonstrated in the table below:<o:p></o:p></span></div><table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="MsoTableGrid" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: medium none; margin: auto auto auto 55.05pt;"><tbody><tr><td style="background-color: transparent; border: 1pt solid windowtext; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.45pt;" valign="top" width="161"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">% asset falls in value<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: windowtext windowtext windowtext rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; border-top-style: solid; border-top-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><strong><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">% recovery to break even<o:p></o:p></span></strong></div></td></tr><tr><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.45pt;" valign="top" width="161"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">10<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">11<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr><tr><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.45pt;" valign="top" width="161"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">20<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">25<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr><tr><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.45pt;" valign="top" width="161"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">30<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">43<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr><tr><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.45pt;" valign="top" width="161"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">40<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">67<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr><tr><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.45pt;" valign="top" width="161"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">50<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">100<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr><tr><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.45pt;" valign="top" width="161"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">60<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">150<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr><tr><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.45pt;" valign="top" width="161"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">70<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">233<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr><tr><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.45pt;" valign="top" width="161"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">80<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">400<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr><tr><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.45pt;" valign="top" width="161"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">90<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">900<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr><tr style="height: 3.5pt;"><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext; border-left-style: solid; border-left-width: 1pt; border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; height: 3.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 120.45pt;" valign="top" width="161"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">100<o:p></o:p></span></div></td><td style="background-color: transparent; border-bottom-style: solid; border-bottom-width: 1pt; border-color: rgb(240, 240, 240) windowtext windowtext rgb(240, 240, 240); border-right-style: solid; border-right-width: 1pt; height: 3.5pt; padding: 0cm 5.4pt; width: 5cm;" valign="top" width="189"><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Impossible to recover<o:p></o:p></span></div></td></tr></tbody></table><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If an asset falls in value to zero, it is worthless: it can never recover. The implication of the table above is to seek assets with which show proven growth over the long term, and leave the speculative vehicles to the speculators.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><strong><u><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Less can be more…<o:p></o:p></span></u></strong></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The best property investors are often those who make fewer decisions. What do I mean by that?<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Well, the most successful investors I have seen are very often those who have bought and held on to prime location properties over a long period of time, rather than those who are constantly buying and selling in order to time the market.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The high transaction costs and the effect of capital gains tax ensure that high-frequency trading is usually an impractical approach to property investment.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Remember that 80% of your outputs are likely to come from 20% of your inputs.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Successful property investors should therefore concentrate on making fewer but bigger decisions. Due to the use of leverage, property investors can often make a huge difference to their net worth even by only acquiring a handful of assets.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0cm 0cm 10pt; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It’s all about the power of focus.</span></div></div></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-18424623724543274452013-03-03T15:51:00.000+02:002013-03-03T17:27:47.156+02:00How to reduce or eliminate your debt with the Debt Snowball Method<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pHmg16A08zA/UTNI1k7JFcI/AAAAAAAAAZw/E6W21dGpmFI/s1600/cards.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img border="0" height="265" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pHmg16A08zA/UTNI1k7JFcI/AAAAAAAAAZw/E6W21dGpmFI/s1600/cards.jpg" width="400" /></span></a><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Debt is a major problem in this country. While not everyone has store credit or a credit card, those that do typically carry a balance. The interest rate on a credit card balance is usually between 10-30% per annum.<br /><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">These high interest rates make it difficult for people to pay down their debt - especially if </span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; font-family: Georgia, serif;">only making the minimum payment<span style="color: #333333;">.</span></span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, serif;">In fact, just making minimum payments can make even the smallest balance over a decade to pay off and thousands of Rands in finance charges. It’s no wonder getting out of debt seems so hard.</span><span style="color: #121212;">There are plenty of strategies you could use to reduce or eliminate debt. One debt reducing strategy that has worked for hundreds of people is the debt snowball strategy. </span><span style="color: #373737;">The method was made popular by Dave Ramsey’s ‘</span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"> <b><i>7 steps for getting out of debt and getting your financial life in order’</i></b></span><span style="color: #373737;">. </span><br /><br /><span style="color: #373737;">The </span><span style="border: 1pt none windowtext; font-family: Georgia, serif; padding: 0cm;">plan</span><span style="color: #373737;"> is quite simple, takes very little time to setup and most important – you can see results on a regular basis to keep you motivated.<br /><o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: #373737;">Once you have made the commitment to stop increasing your debt-load, the next step is to setup a plan to payoff your debt.<br /></span><span style="color: #373737;">Here’s how the </span><span style="color: #3d85c6;"><b>Debt Snowball Plan</b></span><span style="color: #373737;">works:<br /></span><span style="color: #373737;">1.<span style="line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #373737;">List all of your debts in order of smallest balance to largest with the minimum payment on each.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: #373737;">2.<span style="line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #373737;">Also list the interest rate on each. If you have two similar balances, list the highest interest rate account first as shown in the example below.<br /><br /><o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: #373737;">3.<span style="line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #373737;">Determine how much you can pay towards your debts each month. Make the minimums on all of the accounts except for the first account (smallest balance) on the list. Put any and all extra money towards this account. Maybe it’s an extra R50 a month. It is important to pay at least the minimum on all your debt accounts to avoid late fees and a hike in interest rates.</span><span style="color: #373737;"><br /></span><span style="color: #373737;"><br /></span><span style="color: #373737;">4.<span style="line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="color: #373737;">Once the first debt account is paid off, take the money (minimum payment + extra) being paid on account #1 and apply it to what you were paying on account #2. <br /><o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: #373737;"><br /><br />5.<span style="line-height: normal;"> </span></span><!--[endif]--><span style="color: #373737;">Repeat until all accounts are paid off.<br /><o:p></o:p></span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px;"><br /><br />Finally, keep in mind that this process still takes time. </span><span style="color: #333333; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px;">There is no magic method of paying off debt, so realize that it will still take months or even a few years to become completely debt-free. But what we're doing is putting a process in place to make sure that you can get out of debt as soon as possible. You can speed up the process if you continue to pay even more money towards your debt as your budget allows.</span><span style="color: #373737; line-height: 18pt;"> </span><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UkoHVxhOcP4/UTNTt58QfhI/AAAAAAAAAaU/4kbqgQw5e7o/s1600/snowballxls.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UkoHVxhOcP4/UTNTt58QfhI/AAAAAAAAAaU/4kbqgQw5e7o/s1600/snowballxls.png" /></a><span style="color: #373737;"><br /></span></span><br /><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="background-color: white; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"></span></div><div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 30.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; mso-add-space: auto; mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; tab-stops: list 36.0pt; text-indent: -18.0pt; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="color: #373737; font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><!--[if !supportLineBreakNewLine]--><!--[endif]--><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="background: white; line-height: 18.0pt; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0cm; margin-left: 30.0pt; margin-right: 0cm; margin-top: 0cm; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br /></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-17703950528007496182013-02-25T10:14:00.000+02:002013-02-25T10:14:07.741+02:00Tips on how to reach your Financial Goals<br /><h2 class="arial_14_dark_grey" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 14px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px;">Financial goals can be very exciting and motivating. Aiming to be debt free, dreaming about a new car or your first home makes one feel empowered and motivated. The key is to have a plan that will get you there.</span></h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J_5Dsvmm8HI/USsczeiAHjI/AAAAAAAAAY0/QHk3uNj3JB8/s1600/financial+goals.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="299" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-J_5Dsvmm8HI/USsczeiAHjI/AAAAAAAAAY0/QHk3uNj3JB8/s400/financial+goals.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></div><div id="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 12px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><h2 style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">HOW TO BE DEBT FREE<br /></span></h2><div class="black-text" style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Destroy:</b></span> Start by destroying all your plastic money – such as clothing cards - and then plan to settle your existing debt. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Build:</b></span> Draw up a budget, this is an excellent way to see how much you need to spend and on what. By itemizing expenses you come to terms with what you are actually spending your money on and are able to determine whether you should really be spending your money in this way – are these necessities or luxuries? Be strict; include all those chocolate bars and coffees that you believe are essential to get you through the day. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Streamline:</b></span> Try to cut back on what you are spending – eliminate the waste and instead put that extra money into settling your debt. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Focus:</b></span> Target one debt at a time and start with your smallest debt. This way you will feel the rewards of your labour quicker. Imagine opening your clothing account bill and it shows a zero balance! The money you are no longer paying on your store card you now use to target your next debt and so on - like a dominoes effect they will all fall down.</span></div><h2 style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">HOW TO AFFORD YOUR NEW CAR<br /></span></h2><div class="black-text" style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Save don't borrow:</b></span> First of all make sure that you have eliminated or at least cut down on other debt. Start to save so that you have a healthy deposit which will reduce the amount you have to borrow and finance. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">The plan:</b></span> Calculate how much you can afford to repay each month and save that amount each month for a year. By then you would have saved a 20% deposit on your new car. On a R100 000 car a 20% deposit will save you R400 a month in instalments and R5000 in interest. If you can't find the money to save, you can't afford the car. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Running costs:</b></span> When assessing how much you can afford each month remember to include insurance, petrol and maintenance costs.</span></div><h2 style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">HOW TO BECOME A HOME OWNER<br /></span></h2><div class="black-text" style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Saving your deposit:</b></span> You are going to need a deposit - so start saving. Consider inflation beating investment options such as unit trust funds, and if you are not a disciplined saver or if you feel more comfortable having a minimum guaranteed return then consider an endowment as an option – not all endowments offer guarantees and they do come at a cost – so make sure that you understand what you are getting and that it is value for money. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Get credit healthy:</b></span> Remember that in terms of the National Credit Act it is necessary for the financial institution to do a full credit assessment on the applicant. This means you have to have a clean credit record and do not already have too much other debt. The ability to pay the loan is important – the more debt you have the less disposable income you will have to be able to repay the loan. So keep debt to a minimum, this will place you in a better position to obtain finance for those purchases few of us can afford to pay for in cash – a home and a car. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Shop around:</b></span> Make sure that you shop around when it comes to the bond provider – the lower the interest rate the less that you pay over the loan period. If you are able to pay in more (even if it is just a little more) than the required instalment you can reduce the loan term and save money in the long run. If you pay in 10% extra a month you reduce your 20 year home loan to 15 years. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Protection:</b></span> Once you have your home remember to protect it – your dependants need a roof over their heads irrespective of what may happen. Ensure that you have life cover in place should you die prematurely, before the bond has been settled.</span></div><h2 style="font-size: 16px; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-transform: uppercase;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">HOW TO BECOME A MILLIONAIRE<br /></span></h2><div class="black-text" style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Buy a lotto ticket, play the horses…… or if you truly wish to become a millionaire …plan, save and make your savings work for you. If you think it is impossible consider this: according to the banks, customers on average spend R5000 per month on car repayments. If you invested R5000 per month in an investment generating a 12% return a year you would be a millionaire in just 10 years! <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Have a plan:</b></span> People generally do not become millionaires by accident – it requires planning, foresight and insight – so find yourself a creditable financial adviser to partner you on the journey and to assist you with making the dream a reality. There are a number of savings vehicles on the market, with a range of benefits (including tax benefits) and costs associated with them so you need an expert to advise you to ensure that you make the right decisions which will enable you to meet your goal sooner rather than later. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Beat inflation:</b></span> Money in the bank is not going to do it over the long term. Also, the sooner you start the more likely your dream will be achieved – the power of compound interest is truly remarkable. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Save through tax:</b></span> Consider tax efficient savings vehicles – do not underestimate the benefit of retirement funds, in terms of which you may get a tax deduction on the contributions you make, and in addition no tax at all is levied on the growth – which makes it a real win. <br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><br style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" /><span class="blue-text-small" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><b style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Preserve:</b></span> If you should change jobs make sure that you preserve your benefits instead of cashing them in – you save the tax that you would have paid had you cashed them in, your growth remains tax free and due to the nature of retirement funds because the benefits are not freely accessible you are prevented from squandering the funds.</span></div><div class="black-text" style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div class="black-text" style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Credit: </span><em style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;">Geraldine MacPherson: Liberty Legal</em></div></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-84430886343189997492013-02-24T13:35:00.000+02:002013-02-24T13:37:33.696+02:00A Life changing event<br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WVt4wXoEzxs/USn0wCmUNHI/AAAAAAAAAYA/ilD3XSpDZ6E/s1600/RS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WVt4wXoEzxs/USn0wCmUNHI/AAAAAAAAAYA/ilD3XSpDZ6E/s1600/RS.jpg" width="240" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On Saturday 23 February 2013, I attended a life changing event. This event was held at the CTICC, (Cape Town International convention Center) and presented by World renowned author <b>Robin Sharma</b>. He is best known for authoring 12 magnificent books, titles that include 'The Monk who sold his Ferrari, 'The Greatness Guide' and 'The Leader Who had no Title'.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"> He is also founder of Sharma Leadership International, a highly respected global leadership training & consultancy firm that help people create winning leadership to build great organisations. He has helped organisations like Coca Cola company, Microsoft, Nike, Starbucks improve results and create a bigger impact globally.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The event I had the privilege of attending was Robin Sharma 'Leading without a Title' - Winning leadership lessons to build a Great Organisation. It was a superb event and one of the best investments i ever made in my life. The event was 3 hours long but the amount of insight i recieved with regard to changing and developing the mindset of a leader was invaluable. I have learnt some awesome tactics and suggestions to incorporate in my daily personal and working life. Those short 3 hours has empowered me, enlightened me and educated me.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Some important leadership nuggets i received from the event was that ANYONE can show leadership because leadership is not about a position, but about a mindset and a way of being. </span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Leadership is about 3 things:</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">1. Inspiration</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">2. Influence</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">3. Impact</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">To get stunning results all you have to do is small daily improvements in your life and do it consistently over time - as you lead your day, so you craft your life. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 24px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Successful leaders love being leaders – not for the sake of power but for the meaningful and purposeful impact they can create. When you have reached a senior level of leadership – it’s about your ability to serve others and this can’t be accomplished unless you genuinely enjoy what you do.</span></span><br /><div style="background-color: transparent; border: 0px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 15px; margin-top: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; word-wrap: break-word;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">In the end, successful leaders are able to sustain their success because they serve as the enablers of talent, culture and results.</span></div></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Here are some valuable leadership quotes and insights:</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Everyone can show leadership" - Oseola McCarty</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"You don't want to be merely the best of the best. You want to be the ONLY ONE who does what you do" - Jerry Garcia</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">"Almost everyone who has had an idea that's somewhat revolutionary or wildly successful was first told they're insane" - Larry Page</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"Being the richest man in the graveyard doesn't matter to me. Going to bed at night knowing we've done something wonderful matters to me" - Steve Jobs (co-founder of Apple Inc.)</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">"The goal isn't to live forever. The goal is to create something that will" - Chuck Palahniuk</span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 15px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-25293804696330074602013-02-20T11:36:00.002+02:002013-02-20T11:36:56.549+02:00Legendary Trader Jesse Livermore<br /><div class="content" id="content" style="line-height: 16px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="post-top" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="share" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Jesse Livermore</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> lost and made millions of dollars while shorting the </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">stock market</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"> in the early part of the 20th century.</span></div></div><div class="clear-both" style="clear: both; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div class="KonaBody post-content" style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXLj49gOBq4/USSXjytuhbI/AAAAAAAAAXo/jERH22yBrUk/s1600/livermore.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZXLj49gOBq4/USSXjytuhbI/AAAAAAAAAXo/jERH22yBrUk/s1600/livermore.jpg" height="353" width="400" /></a></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Jesse L. Livermore was born in South Acton, Massachusetts, in 1877. At the age of fifteen he went to Boston and began working in Paine Webber's Boston brokerage office. </span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">His job was to post the stock and commodities prices on the brokerage's price quotations chalk board. He studied the price movements and began to trade on their price fluctuations. When Jesse was in his twenties he moved to New York City to speculate in trading in the stock and commodities market.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Over a time period of fourty years of trading, he developed a knack for speculating on price movements in stock and commodity prices. He was said to have accumulated and lost millions of dollars several times over. He earned the nickname of Boy Wonder. Jesse Livermore created a set of trading rules, based upon the lessons of his personal trading experience. One of his foremost rules was: Never act on tips.</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 12px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The unofficial biography of Jesse Livermore was Reminiscences of a Stock Operator published 1923. Below are selected quotes:</span></div><div style="background-color: white; line-height: 18px; outline: none; padding: 0px 0px 12px;"></div><ul><li><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Another lesson I learned early is that there is nothing new in Wall Street. There can't be because speculation is as old as the hills. Whatever happens in the stock market today has happened before and will happen again.<br /></span></li><li><span style="background-color: transparent; line-height: 16px;"> </span><span style="color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I told you I had ten thousand dollars when I was twenty, and my margin on that Sugar deal was over ten thousand. But I didn't always win. My plan of trading was sound enough and won oftener than it lost. If I had stuck to it I'd have been right perhaps as often as seven out of ten times. In fact, I have always made money when I was sure I was right before I began. What beat me was not having brains enough to stick to my own game- that is, to play the market only when I was satisfied that precedents favored my play. There is a time for all things, but I didn't know it. <br /><br />And that is precisely what beats so many men in Wall Street who are very far from being in the main sucker class. There is the plain fool, who does the wrong thing at all times everywhere, but there is the Wall Street fool, who thinks he must trade all the time. No man can always have adequate reasons for buying or selling stocks daily- or sufficient knowledge to make his play an intelligent play.</span></li></ul><br /><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">It takes a man a long time to learn all the lessons of his mistakes. They say there are two sides to everything. But there is only one side to the stock market; and it is not the bull side or the bear side, but the right side.</span></li></ul><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">There is nothing like losing all you have in the world for teaching you what not to do. And when you know what not to do in order not to lose money, you begin to learn what to do in order to win. Did you get that? You begin to learn!</span></li></ul><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">I think it was a long step forward in my trading education when I realized at last that when old Mr. Partridge kept on telling the other customers, Well, you know this is a bull market! he really meant to tell them that the big money was not in the individual fluctuations but in the main movements- that is, not in reading the tape but in sizing up the entire market and its trend.</span></li></ul><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">The reason is that a man may see straight and clearly and yet become impatient or doubtful when the market takes its time about doing as he figured it must do. That is why so many men in Wall Street, who are not at all in the sucker class, not even in the third grade, nevertheless lose money. The market does not beat them. They beat themselves, because though they have brains they cannot sit tight. Old Turkey was dead right in doing and saying what he did. He had not only the courage of his convictions but the intelligent patience to sit tight.</span></li></ul><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">The average man doesn't wish to be told that it is a bull or bear market. What he desires is to be told specifically which particular stock to buy or sell. He wants to get something for nothing. He does not wish to work. He doesn't even wish to have to think. It is too much bother to have to count the money that he picks up from the ground.</span></li></ul><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">To tell you about the first of my million dollar mistakes I shall have to go back to this time when I first became a millionaire, right after the big break of October, 1907. As far as my trading went, having a million merely meant more reserves. Money does not give a trader more comfort, because, rich or poor, he can make mistakes and it is never comfortable to be wrong. And when a millionaire is right his money is merely one of his several servants. Losing money is the least of my troubles. A loss never bothers me after I take it. I forget it overnight. But being wrong- not taking the loss- that is what does damage to the pocketbook and to the soul.</span></li></ul><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">What I have told you gives you the essence of my trading system as based on studying the tape. I merely learn the way prices are most probably going to move. I check up my own trading by additional tests, to determine the psychological moment. I do that by watching the way the price acts after I begin.</span></li></ul><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">Of all speculative blunders there are few worse than trying to average a losing game. My cotton deal proved it to the hilt a little later. Always sell what shows you a loss and keep what shows you a profit. That was so obviously the wise thing to do and was so well known to me that even now I marvel at myself for doing the reverse.</span></li></ul><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">The loss of the money didn't bother me. Whenever I have lost money in the stock market I have always considered that I have learned something; that if I have lost money I have gained experience, so that the money really went for a tuition fee. A man has to have experience and he has to pay for it.</span></li></ul><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">In booms, which is when the public is in the market in the greatest numbers, there is never any need of subtlety, so there is no sense of wasting time discussing either manipulation or speculation during such times; it would be like trying to find the difference in raindrops that are falling synchronously on the same roof across the street. The sucker has always tried to get something for nothing, and the appeal in all booms is always frankly to the gambling instinct aroused by cupidity and spurred by a pervasive prosperity. People who look for easy money invariably pay for the privelege of proving conclusively that it cannot be found on this sordid earth.<br /><br />At first, when I listened to the accounts of old-time deals and devices I used to think that people were more gullible in the 1860's and 70's than in the 1900's. But I was sure to read in the newspapers that very day or the next something about the latest Ponzi or the bust-up of some bucketing broker and about the millions of sucker money gone to join the silent majority of vanished savings.</span></li></ul><br /><ul><li><span style="background-color: white; color: #454545; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 18px;">There are men whose gait is far quicker than the mob's. They are bound to lead- no matter how much the mob changes.</span></li></ul><br /><br /><div style="margin-top: 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Here are 21 trading rules by the legendary Jesse Livermore, which were written in 1940:</span></div><ol style="margin: 1em 0px 1em 10px; padding: 0px 0px 0px 16px; position: relative;"><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Nothing new ever occurs in the business of speculating or investing in securities and commodities.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Money cannot consistently be made trading every day or every week during the year.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Don’t trust your own opinion and back your judgment until the action of the market itself confirms your opinion.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Markets are never wrong – opinions often are.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The real money made in speculating has been in commitments showing in profit right from the start.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">At long as a stock is acting right, and the market is right, do not be in a hurry to take profits.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">One should never permit speculative ventures to run into investments.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The money lost by speculation alone is small compared with the gigantic sums lost by so-called investors who have let their investments ride.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Never buy a stock because it has had a big decline from its previous high.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Never sell a stock because it seems high-priced.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">I become a buyer as soon as a stock makes a new high on its movement after having had a normal reaction.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Never average losses.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The human side of every person is the greatest enemy of the average investor or speculator.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Wishful thinking must be banished.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Big movements take time to develop.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is not good to be too curious about all the reasons behind price movements.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">It is much easier to watch a few than many.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">If you cannot make money out of the leading active issues, you are not going to make money out of the stock market as a whole.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The leaders of today may not be the leaders of two years from now.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Do not become completely bearish or bullish on the whole market because one stock in some particular group has plainly reversed its course from the general trend.</span></li><li style="list-style: decimal; margin: 0px 0px 1em; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Few people ever make money on tips. Beware of inside information. If there was easy money lying around, no one would be forcing it into your pocket.</span></li></ol></div></div></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-19031699107775198852013-02-15T17:58:00.001+02:002013-02-15T17:58:35.915+02:00Savings will pay off BIG<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d3d3d; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.1875px;">When it comes to retirement planning, saving early is saving smart. Although you may not know what your </span>future<span style="background-color: white; color: #3d3d3d; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.1875px;"> holds, putting aside just a small amount of money each month can go a long way if you do this for forty years—especially when compound interest is factored in. The truth is in the numbers! Check out this interesting infographic below to see how much compound interest will pay off based on the amount you put away each year and the age at which you started saving.</span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d3d3d; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.1875px;"><br /></span></span><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C995-5oZO_A/UR5GhjaB5QI/AAAAAAAAAW8/-s2A6MdQvf8/s1600/compound_interest_pays_off_infographic.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C995-5oZO_A/UR5GhjaB5QI/AAAAAAAAAW8/-s2A6MdQvf8/s1600/compound_interest_pays_off_infographic.png" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d3d3d; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.1875px;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d3d3d; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.1875px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d3d3d; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.1875px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d3d3d; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.1875px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span><span style="background-color: white; color: #3d3d3d; font-family: Helvetica, 'Helvetica Neue', Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 25.1875px;"><br /></span>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-86282682230965938082013-02-05T09:00:00.000+02:002013-02-05T11:16:47.458+02:00How South Africans manage their finances & view their Financial future<br /><h2 class="arial_14_dark_grey" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; line-height: 16px; margin: 0px 0px 20px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif; font-size: small;">Middle- to high-income earners plagued by debt - Visa study.</span></h2><div id="articleBody" style="background-color: white; color: #333333; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;"><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Uo4wnWfw4Vo/UQ-w1Ih6v_I/AAAAAAAAAWQ/tMIsfK5zG5U/s1600/planning-for-your-future.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Uo4wnWfw4Vo/UQ-w1Ih6v_I/AAAAAAAAAWQ/tMIsfK5zG5U/s1600/planning-for-your-future.jpg" height="320" width="240" /></a></div><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">You don’t think you’ll ever be financially free, you cough up thousands a month in debt repayments, the country’s political issues are now more worrying than crime and retirement may remain a dream forever.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">These are some of the findings from the first annual Visa Wealth Worries Survey, which queried 2 000 respondents, aged 18 to 65, on their attitudes and behaviour toward moneymatters.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The majority (52%) say they will never be financially free with 15% stating that they do not plan on ever retiring. Those who do want to retire are aiming for 60, with 13% optimistic about retiring at the age of 50. Whether they will be able to retire is another story, seeing as only 85% of those who are planning to stop working at some stage actively save for their retirement.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The survey found that the main threats to wealth include the level of debt. A total of 29% of the respondents indicated that their level of debt is the single biggest threat to their wealth and inheritance, with the survey finding that the average amount spent monthly to pay off debt is R7 283.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">This is followed by inflation (19%), the global economy (16%), political uncertainty (14%), employment uncertainty (14%), poor investment returns (5%) and then the burden of children on wealth (2%).</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The latter is one of the indicators that children will not be able to look to their middle- and high income parents for a financial boost. Even though 71% of those surveyed did say that they plan to leave an inheritance, an overwhelming majority said that a good education is more important for their children’s financial wellbeing than leaving something after you pass away.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">The most pressing issues needed to be resolved in the country were found to be political leadership (27%), followed by job creation (26%) and crime (17%).</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">On a lighter note, many of us have toyed with the idea of what we will do if that Lotto jackpot comes our way. According to the survey South Africans are quite prudent, with 58% claiming that they would pay off all their debt and 15% saying they would invest some of it. Ten percent would buy a house, 6% would invest all of it and 5% say they would donate some it to their place of worship. Only 1% would go on a shopping spree.</span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><img src="http://www.moneyweb.co.za/mw/media_stream/mw/1/643695/images/VISA-Infographic-FINAL.jpg" height="644" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" width="650" /></span></div><div style="line-height: 16px; margin-bottom: 10px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Infographic source: Visa</span></div></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-67111920436949602952013-01-30T12:52:00.000+02:002013-01-30T12:52:08.826+02:00How to Harness the Power of LinkedIn – INFOGRAPHIC<br /><h1 style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; font-weight: inherit; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></h1><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; clear: both; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div style="background-color: white; border: 0px; float: right; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div id="getsocialmain" style="background-color: white; border: 0px; font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', 'Trebuchet MS'; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A presentation on the topic of how to cook a chocolate tart is going to “bomb”at a cheese maker’s convention.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.jeffbullas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/How-to-Harness-the-Power-of-LinkedIn-%E2%80%93-INFOGRAPHIC1.png" style="border: 0px; color: #3a639a; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: none; padding: 0px; text-decoration: initial; vertical-align: baseline;"><img alt="How to Harness the Power of LinkedIn – INFOGRAPHIC" class="alignright size-full wp-image-18278" height="339" src="http://www.jeffbullas.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/How-to-Harness-the-Power-of-LinkedIn-%E2%80%93-INFOGRAPHIC1.png" style="border: none; display: inline; float: right; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 10px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;" title="How to Harness the Power of LinkedIn – INFOGRAPHIC" width="339" /></a></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It will be the wrong audience for an interesting topic, but the cheesemakers didn’t pay $1,200 for a conference ticket to hear information about “Tarts”!</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">A paying participant at a car dealer expo will want to hear about horsepower and handbrakes and will either leave the hall or fall asleep if the speakers start talking about knitting and slipper making.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">The art of successful communicating and engagement involves selecting the right audience and providing them with information and content that resonates with their needs and wants.</div><h2 style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">Not all Social Networks are Equal.</h2><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">When it comes down to sheer popularity Facebook is the social network that wins.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Facebook is also about “<em>Identity</em>” whether that is a personal profile or a “business brand” persona.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Twitter is about “<em>Events</em>” which could be the next plane crashing into the Hudson river or letting your audience know that your latest blog post is published…that is an event!</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Google plus is “C<em>ore</em>” and is woven into the science of search as Google embeds it into every one of its web properties from Picasa to YouTube.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">It cannot and should not be ignored by marketers as social signals are now being measured and monitored by Google machines and is being woven into the DNA of search. Optimizing your online assets (blog and website) for search engines is vital.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Different social networks will be need to be included in your social media marketing strategy depending on your goals, audience and tactics.</div><h2 style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">Don’t Ignore LinkedIn</h2><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you want to communicate to a B2B audience and business professionals then LinkedIn with its 150 million members is a good place to play.</div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">If you want to engage with the business leaders and executives then it is the first channel to turn to.</div><h3 style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">So What are the Engagement Levels of LinkedIn?</h3><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Facebook and Tumblr have very high engagement levels but LinkedIn’s focus on the business community provides it with some serious online networking power.</div><ul style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">47.6% of users use LinkedIn 0-2 hours per week</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">26% use it from 3 to 4 hours a week</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">12.2 % use it for 5-6 hours per week (that is nearly 1,400 minutes per month)</li></ul><h3 style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">What are the Top 3 Favorite Features of LinkedIn?</h3><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">There are hundreds of thousands of “Groups” on the platform from retail to social media and marketing and much more you will find interests and topics on any business subject imaginable.</div><ol style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Groups – 79.6%</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">People searching – 70.6%</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">People you may know – 66.8%</li></ol><h3 style="border: 0px; color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-size: 13px; font-style: inherit; font-weight: normal; line-height: 15px; margin: 0px; padding: 5px 0px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;">How does LinkedIn Help?</h3><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">LinkedIn is a great online network community that that can help you with a range of tasks</div><ul style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 15px 10px; vertical-align: baseline;"><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">76.9% of users say LinkedIn helped them research people and companies</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">68.8% said that it helped reconnect with past business associates</li><li style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; list-style-type: disc; margin: 0px 0px 0px 10px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">49.7% said it was good for building new network relationships with individuals who may influence potential customers</li></ul><div>Credit:</div><h1 style="border: 0px; font-size: 13px; font-weight: inherit; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">by Jeff Bullas</h1><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ORCc66sq8pY/UQj4fSOvQTI/AAAAAAAAAV8/o9zi4hCu0sw/s1600/Infographic-500w.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ORCc66sq8pY/UQj4fSOvQTI/AAAAAAAAAV8/o9zi4hCu0sw/s1600/Infographic-500w.png" /></a></div><div style="border: 0px; font-family: inherit; font-style: inherit; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><br /></div></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1685025761036868852.post-54950931845214476702013-01-29T08:45:00.000+02:002013-01-29T08:45:03.854+02:00Deal with your debt<br /><h4 class="bold" style="border: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 6px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">Learn how to overcome the financial and emotional stress that debt can cause with valuable advice from Debt Expert <strong style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">Moeshfieka Botha</strong>.</span></h4><div class="spacer clr" style="border: 0px; clear: left; height: 10px !important; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"></div><div id="articleBodyContainer" style="border: 0px; line-height: 11px; margin: 0px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cBYSeOLQ2Lo/UQZKHo4QX2I/AAAAAAAAAVo/HxKO3lhLvzY/s1600/debt+stress.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cBYSeOLQ2Lo/UQZKHo4QX2I/AAAAAAAAAVo/HxKO3lhLvzY/s1600/debt+stress.jpg" height="400" width="286" /></a></div><div style="border: 0px; font-style: inherit; line-height: 1.5em; margin-bottom: 14px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;">After taking the first step and acknowledging you debt, you can look at doing the following:<br /><br /><b>1. Communicate directly with your creditors: </b><br /><br />Approach your creditors and explain your inability to meet your full monthly repayments. They will most likely ask you for a breakdown of your income and expenses. This should that reflect that you are not able to make your required repayments, most creditors will be prepared to lower the amount. They normally do this for a period of 3 – 6 months. Though , trying to get hold of the correct person to speak to at the creditor call –centre – is very often, a mission impossible!<br /><br /><b>2. Consolidate your debt: </b><br /><br />Now this is easier said than done. Many people seeking one loan and one repayment for all their debt, often have impaired credit records because of a bad payment history – and therefore don’t qualify for consolidated loan. It’s a vicious cycle!<br /><b><br />3. Go and see a registered Debt Counsellor:</b><br /><br />Debt Counsellors were put in place through the National Credit Act to help those who are over – indebted. And looking at the statistics – there are many who need help. A debt counsellor can negotiate with creditors on your behalf –and arrange for lower monthly repayments, longer terms and lower interest rates.<br /><br />If you are under Debt Review – you also do not have to deal directly with your creditors. They have to deal with your debt counsellor. Debt Counsellors and the industry are regulated by the National Credit Regulator.<br /><br />These are by far not your only options. But you have to start somewhere. You have to get out denial, take responsibility and start looking forward to a more debt – free existence.<br /><br />Also, let’s stop the blame game. There are many reasons why people are unable to cope with their mounting debt. Debt surely did not only come about by people wanting to keep up with the Jones’s!<br /><br /><b>A recent study has shown that: </b><br />26% of people who borrow money, do so for food.<br />16% do so for work and school transport.<br />7% do so for school fees.<br />5% do so for electricity.<br /><br />There is a very sad reality to this situation. Some people are incurring debt -simply to SURVIVE . Most South Africans are struggling. Roger Brown, Chief Executive of national Debt Counselling firm Credit Matters says “We have seen a huge increase in the amount of people seeking help for their debt problems. The amount of enquiries we have received for January 2013 – is virtually double that of January 2012. Debt Counselling may not be the solution to everyone’s problems – but I strongly urge people to at least view it as an option.”<br /><br />Let’s stop feeling ashamed and demystify the topic. Let’s get talking about our debt. Only once we start openly debating, discussing and communicating on debt, will we realise that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Only once we put the problem out there – will we find more accessible and appropriate solutions.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b>National Credit Regulator (NCR ): www.ncr.org.za – 0860 627 627<br />National Debt Mediation Association (NDMA ): www.ndma.org.za – 0861 11 6362<br />Debt Counselling: www.creditmatters.co.za – 086 111 6197<br />Debt Expert: Moeshfieka Botha – moeshfieka@generationb.co.za</b></span></div></div>Basheer Palekerhttps://plus.google.com/109655375915343625039noreply@blogger.com0