I have always been fascinated by the concept of human perception, especially when it comes to the selective decision-making process of what to remember and what not. As a young man, I fell in love with the Alfa GT Junior sportscar. To me, there was no car more beautiful than that little red monster. It […]
In their book, The Enigma of Reason, Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber writes: “Two major features of the production of reasons: it is biased – people overwhelmingly find reasons that support their previous beliefs – and it is lazy–people do not carefully scrutinize their own reasons. Combined, these two traits spell disaster for the lone […]
I have made reference to the phrase, “swimming upstream” before, and mentioned how it always reminds me of the joke about the man who was travelling on the N1-highway when he got a phone call from his panicked wife. She had heard on the radio that on the same highway, a vehicle was travelling in […]
Investors who have followed my reports over the years, would know that I like to use well-known sayings to either point out or describe a variety of terms or market movements. But there is one saying that regularly makes its appearance in the investment world: “High risk, high reward.” Without wanting to offend thrill seekers, […]
It’s a scientific fact that no two people are exactly alike. A few years ago, my family and I took a road trip through the Klein Karoo. Aside from being one of the most breathtakingly beautiful places on earth, it is also known for some of the world’s most beautiful mountain ranges. We spent the […]
We live in an era dominated by superheroes, and when I say this, I’m not referring to the real brave man climbing up the side of some building to rescue a child that’s hanging by a nail. No, I’m talking about comic book characters that usually find themselves on the big screen in a wonderfully […]
Those of you who follow my reports on a regular basis, will know that I often use the analogy of the water skier to illustrate how share prices (and ultimately, indices) sometimes find themselves in front of the proverbial boat, or earnings. Without the pulling action from the boat, the skier will lose momentum, but […]
Whether it’s Formula 1’s four wheels or the two wheels in MotoGP, I absolutely love motorsports. Many readers may point out, however, that motorsports have become boring in recent years, mainly because the previous week’s winners (usually Lewis Hamilton or Marc Márquez) typically end up winning the following week’s race as well. To date, between […]
We still find ourselves in the month of July, which also happens to be National Savings Month. In my previous three columns, I discussed the importance of saving both before and after retirement. This week, I would like to touch on something that has recently appeared regularly both in the press and on social media: […]
Defensive stocks are predominantly found in industries where companies are mainly focused on delivering cheaper products or services that consumers find hard or impossible to manage without. Typical examples of areas where defensive investments can be found include food manufacturers and retailers, medical care and the tobacco and alcohol industries. The fact that delivering these […]
I’m sure that most people are familiar with the saying about something going hand in hand with something else. Let’s use a cycling team in the Tour de France (TdF) as an example. A team consisting of Peter Sagan and Mark Cavendish simply wouldn’t make sense, because their goals for this year’s TdF, and their […]
We find ourselves in the sixthmonth of 2019, a year that can definitely be described as a rollercoaster year. Just over a month ago investors were all excited to see the FTSE/JSE trading positive by 14.5% for this year (up to 23 April 2019) and there was a general feeling of optimism. Now the market […]
“`During my years in this industry, I have met countless investors who simply aim too high with their growth expectations and often refuse to invest according to the risk profile recommended for them. Upon inception, they want to invest as aggressively as possible to achieve the best possible growth, until markets take a turn for […]
As hard as it is to believe, we find ourselves in May yet again, and every year I remind investors who believe in myths and sayings to make sure that the actual data supports what they believe to be true. As I was writing this, the FTSE/JSE Capped Swix All Share Index had already strengthened […]
We all have that one thing or event that can take you right back to some of the best times in your childhood. I have plenty, but one that will always stand out is playing board games with my family at the dinner table during holidays. Unlike most families, we didn’t play Monopoly or Trivial […]
A friend of mine always tells the story of the farmer who bought a few lambs with the intention of expanding his farming activities. He fed them well and placed them in a small pen. He then set up his camping chair next to the pen, so he could keep a close eye on them. […]
Bertrand Russel said “Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd.” This is particularly fitting when we consider investments, as fear and greed are seen as the two main emotions in driving our markets. For this purpose, however, I would like to […]
The French have a saying, “comparer des pommes et des poires,” which means to compare apples to pears. While there are numerous scientific reports on the similarities between apples and pears, the moral of the story is that when comparing things, you have to make sure that they are actually comparable and that you don’t […]
I have found that it’s often the events that we look forward to the least, that turn out surprisingly well and that many events that we have looked forward to for a very long time, often tend to disappoint us. At the beginning of 2018, there were great expectations and hopes that our local stock […]
Long Top5 oversold/overbought according to RSI & $JSETON by SchalkLouw on TradingView.com End of week 1Mar19. Nice little comeback from both Richemont and AECI – personally still like them both. FTSE/JSE Allshare ( JSE:J203 ) Top5 oversold/overbought according to 14day RSI indicator as follow: JSE:DLT 12 JSE:TON 21 JSE:OMN 27 JSE:MNK 27 JSE:CSB 30 JSE:CFR 81 JSE:CPI 78 JSE:DTC 78 JSE:AFE 77 JSE:QLT 75 Spending a few minutes on […]
