Many South Africans feel that their future, like the present, is out of their\u00a0control because of the government\u2019s maladministration, many shocking findings from the various commissions of inquiry, and fears about land expropriation.<\/p>\n
Many South Africans\u2019 confidence in the country and its economy has taken a knock, leaving them reluctant to save or invest long-term<\/strong><\/a>. With the upcoming elections in mind, many are even more hesitant to invest.<\/p>\n The country has also seen rather low GDP growth over the past few years, and when you add that to high unemployment rates, it becomes clear that this is not an ideal environment for investment.<\/p>\n Steven Nathan, founder and CEO of the disruptive asset manager 10X Investments, points out that people\u2019s hesitance to invest is understandable as the country is knee-deep in debt, while corruption and maladministration keeps draining the country\u2019s savings. But he warns that people should not base long-term decisions on short-term concerns.<\/p>\n According to Nathan, because we’re in an uncertain, negative environment, ordinary South Africans are blinded by short-termism. From an investment point of view this is concerning, as people aren\u2019t actively creating long-term wealth and contributing to the economy.<\/p>\n \u201cAs humans, we’re conditioned to put a lot of emphasis on the recent past. When things have been really great over the last 6 months, we think it’s going to be great forever, and when things are really lousy, we think it’ll be lousy forever.<\/p>\n This is the wrong mindset to have. South Africans\u2019 saving and retirement planning is very much in their own hands. They must simply become more informed.<\/p>\n \u201cSuccess is built over decades, not over months. To start building, we need to evaluate what can be controlled, and how the future can be secured. This also means being constructive and positive by focusing on saving. We can all have some influence on our country, with a medium-term outlook,\u201d said Nathan.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the last 2-3 years, we’ve also seen far less saving in SA, and more demand for saving outside of the country. While it’s not a bad thing to invest in other markets, less investments in the country means less growth,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n One option for reluctant South African investors is to invest in the JSE, for example, as 50% of that investment will receive offshore exposure, meaning they won\u2019t only get exposure in South Africa.<\/p>\n Another positive is that we now have a more open dialogue with government, which we\u2019ve previously never had. \u201cThis is because President Ramaphosa has a good relationship with business, and so we\u2019re already in a much better space,\u201d said Nathan.<\/p>\n Despite what\u2019s going on with the government and the economy, the financial services industry is guilty of confusing people by making saving and investing very complex. For ordinary investors, even just investing for retirement or saving for a child\u2019s education has become intimidating and confusing because of the multitude of products available.<\/p>\n Nathan said that as a starting point, investors need to know what value they are getting for their investments and whether it is competitive or not. What matters, he says, is the fees you pay and the return you earn.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, most people have no idea what that is and, of course, their ignorance is any retirement fund manager\u2019s bliss,\u201d he said. \u201cAll in all, South Africans are getting poor value for their money.\u201d<\/p>\n 10X Investments offers a simple, low cost, transparent product that eliminates complexity, high fees, and underperforming fund managers.<\/p>\n \u201cWe use index funds, which have been shown to outperform about 80% of actively managed funds in South Africa, and so we’re giving people a simple low-cost solution that delivers competitive returns,\u201d said Nathan.<\/p>\n The combination of competitive returns and low fees, especially when compounded over the years, means that you will end up with much more money. \u201cThe average total fee in South Africa is 3%, while 10X charges only 1%. This means you save 2% on fees, which when compounded over a savings lifetime, means you could end up with 60% more at retirement.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe main difference is that we give you a solution without any options. We give you our single best portfolio,\u201d said Nathan.<\/p>\n Another problem with retirement saving is that people don\u2019t know how much they will need, what they need to be saving to get there and if they are on track.<\/p>\n 10X Investments\u2019 online retirement calculators<\/strong><\/a>, which are free to use, solve this problem. Input your basic numbers and the calculator will create a simple, unique plan for you.<\/p>\n Their policy of simplifying the options and giving people just the one choice, is surely what people want: simply the best investment view and the best possible chance to retire with dignity.<\/p>\n To find out more, visit the 10x Investments website<\/strong><\/a> or download this eBook<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here\u2019s how you can build wealth for retirement in South Africa\u2019s tough savings and investment environment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":313670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10459],"tags":[11953,26],"class_list":["post-313668","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-industry-news","tag-10x-investments","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313668","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/53"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=313668"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313668\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":313674,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/313668\/revisions\/313674"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/313670"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=313668"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=313668"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=313668"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Blinded by short-termism<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Where to start <\/strong><\/h3>\n