By Sydney Sekese, CFP® professional and member of the Financial Planning Institute “Mmangwana o tshwara thipa ka bogaleng”, this is a Sepedi idiom that loosely translates to the fact that a mother would go to any length in protecting her children. By the time you read this article, South Africans would be celebrating Mother’s Day which…
Achieving Financial Emancipation
By Sydney Sekese, CFP® professional and member of the Financial Planning Institute This article is written on the eve of the Freedom Day which would have been commemorated on 27th April. For many South Africans, Freedom Day brings back memories of the euphoria of 1994, when Black, Indian and mixed-race voters stood in long meandering lines to…
EPIC approach to investing
By Sydney Sekese, CFP® professional and member of the Financial Planning Institute The other day I attended a seminar where the guest speaker, Ms. Thuli Madonsela indulged the audience about EPIC lifestyle. She mentioned that the word is an acronym which stands for Ethical, Purposeful, Impactful, and Committed. We were encouraged to adopt these principles…
Start building your wealth in 2023
By Sydney Sekese, CFP® professional and member of the Financial Planning Institute Do you want to be a millionaire? Most people probably do, but it is famously, not an easy pursuit. The growing wealth gap between the rich and the poor makes it seem impossible for most of us. I would like to suggest that wealth creation starts with…
Pyramid schemes are as spooky as Halloween
By Sydney Sekese, CFP® professional and member of the Financial Planning Institute Halloween is celebrated in most North American and European countries on October 31. In Africa, Halloween is barely celebrated because most people believe it is some kind of black magic or witchcraft since it involves the dead coming back to the land of…
Don’t put all eggs in one basket │Consider offshore investing
By Sydney Sekese, CFP® professional and member of the Financial Planning Institute Do not put all your eggs in one basket is an idiomatic phrase, meaning that one should not focus all his or her resources on one hope, possibility or avenue of success. If you put all your eggs in one basket, you risk everything…
Become a straight arrow investor this spring
Spring is the season during which the natural world revives and reinvigorates after the colder winter months. During spring, dormant plants begin to grow again, new seedlings sprout out of the ground and hibernating animals awake. This could be the right time to reflect on our investor behaviours and refocus our approaches for a better financial…
Retirement planning through the lens of a woman
Sydney Sekese, CFP® professional and member of the Financial Planning Institute As I write this article, South Africans would be we paying tribute to the more than 20 000 women who marched to the Union Buildings on 9 August 1956 in protest against the extension of Pass Laws to women. These women had a vision,…
It’s savings month. Do you have a month after pay-day?
By Sydney Sekese, CFP® professional and member of the Financial Planning Institute The Savings Institute of South Africa has designated July as the annual “Savings Month” on the South African calendar. The purpose of this initiative is to challenge consumers, to strive towards living within their means and to reinforce positive financial behavior. With the…
Is there financial utopia for the youth?
By Sydney Sekese, CFP® professional and member of the Financial Planning Institute This article is dedicated to the youth (irrespective of age) considering that the month of June is regarded as a youth month. A major financial aspiration which is quickly catching on and evolving into a trend among youngsters across the world is FIRE…