Carbon offsets, noble as it seems, is a concept that my green heart struggles with. A carbon offset is a credit that is bought to reduce carbon footprint. The credit represents financed projects…

Sam Bankman-Fried’s trial kicked off in New York. He is accused of multibillion-dollar fraud through his now bankrupt crypto exchange FTX…

A hundred US dollars invested in Bitcoin 2 years ago is worth USD55 as of 31 August 2023. It is unsurprising…

Extreme Value Theory (EVT) is particularly useful for analysing events that have a low probability of occurrence but can have significant impacts, such as severe floods, large earthquakes…

Several fund managers use the ARK Innovation ETF investment growth chart to show how NOT to invest. The rise and fall in the performance profile does look dramatic…

Assets in global sustainable funds stand at a significant USD 2.5 trillion according to Morningstar data, as at 31 December 2022…

It is earnings season in the United States and earnings can spark serious volatility in markets. The earnings season is the time when most publicly traded companies report quarterly or annual earnings…

Market participants are increasingly getting worried about the possibility of “something breaking” within financial markets because of rising interest rates. Breaking in this case refers to a crisis which might result …

The current market environment is difficult to navigate, with investor sentiment negative. Investors are worried about several issues that have resulted in volatile markets and negative returns across asset classes. Issues range from elevated inflation, rising interest rates, possibility of a global recession and problematic geopolitics.

From chatter across print media, social media and online in general, it seems the relationship between clients and the investment profession – firms, advisors, planners, et cetera – is facing challenges. What has been expressed in some social circles implies a diminishing level of trust by clients.

The last decade has seen significant growth in high-quality equity funds. The success of the United Kingdom’s largest retail fund, Fundsmith Equity (£24 billion fund size at the end of July 2022), is testament to this.

This is fund manager Nick Train’s simple tip for successful investing because it is strategically advantageous to think positively about stock investments long term. Almost 30 years on from…

The “January effect” hypothesizes that the stock market tends to rise in January more than other months. This was first observed by Sidney Wachtel an investment banker in 1942. Having held for some time, more recent data particularly in the last 20 years, shows the effect being less pronounced.

The constant barrage of negative news adds to information complexity when looking at investments. It is hard to not be pessimistic about the financial situation given the kind of headlines we are exposed to daily. Morgan Housel wrote about the seductive power of pessimism …

Nassim Taleb called it the “noise bottleneck”. This refers to the increased noise (irrelevant information) relative to the signal (relevant information) expected to be gained, when one consumes more data, with increasing frequency.

The Short List is a list of carefully selected funds, using Seed’s qualitative and quantitative manager research process. The funds are researched and monitored as part of the ongoing due diligence process.

In this article, we explore making long-term investing more manageable for clients. Consistent long-term outperformance greatly improves the chances of clients meeting their investment objectives.

Many consider investing to be one of the more complex processes when it comes to personal finance management. Investors are constantly trying to find answers to their questions.

Understanding the technology behind it is a key part of the investment thesis, but for some investors, the attraction is the sheer amount of growth in value that has been achieved.

The far-reaching effects of the Covid-19 pandemic exposes the huge risks the global economy is under. The extent to which the economy will be impacted remains uncertain, but the global financial system is clearly under strain …

Fears surrounding the Corona Virus (COVID-19) and its potential impact on the global economy sent markets tumbling over the last few weeks. Investors are rightly concerned, having watched investment values declining …

South Africa’s Sovereign Credit Rating has been a key topic of discussion in recent years. For a protracted period of time the country’s economy has been weak…

Recent headlines have been very depressing, bringing to the fore the social challenges we face. Growing inequality and prevalent poverty has amplified these challenges…

The South African Unit Trust industry has seen robust growth over the last two decades. Assets totalled just under R 100bn twenty years ago and have grown to R 2.4tn…

Diversification is a tried and tested method of reducing investment risk. South African investors embrace this, as seen by the popularity of multi-asset funds.

The use of technology has grown in the investment industry as in other industries. Active managers have long
analysed structured data like financials…

Low market returns in recent years and prospects of a potential slowdown or recession has left investors in a conundrum. Investors are rightly disappointed by the returns whilst also nervous about the uncertain future.