Piet Viljoen

Respected investment professional in the South African asset management industry, Piet Viljoen from Merchant West Investments and RECM, shares his favs with us.

How long have you been investing and what got you started?

I have been investing for almost 40 years. I started investing at university, after my lecturer got us involved.

What was the first ETF you bought and why did you buy it?

I have never personally bought an ETF, although one of the funds I manage has bought a few (and I am personally invested in that fund, so I guess you can say I have actually bought an ETF).

How many ETFs do you currently hold?

The Merchant West SCI Worldwide Flexible Fund owns 4 ETFs.

This is a broad asset allocation funds, so ETFs make a lot of sense for it. The other funds I manage are more of a stock-picking nature, so I don’t own ETFs in them.

What’s your favourite local listed ETF, and why?

I don’t own any locally listed ETFs.

What’s your favourite offshore listed ETF, and why?

The Horizon Kinetics Inflation Beneficiaries UCITS ETF (Euronext Amsterdam code: INFBN). It invests in a diverse group of unique and under owned stocks, which either act as a hedge against inflation or, potentially benefit from inflation. I believe inflation is one of the greatest unappreciated risks to investors ability to protect and grow their wealth. This ETF is a healthy antidote to that particular poison.

Do you also hold individual shares?

Yes, quite few, although in this particular fund I prefer to invest in ETFs, funds or Investment Holding companies.

What is the percentage split between ETFs and shares?

In this fund, equities and commodities make up around 50% of the asset base. Around 40% of this is in ETFs – So 20% of the total fund. I anticipate this number to increase over time.

The other 50% of the fund is in cash or fixed income, where I prefer to invest directly in the assets themselves, not ETFs.

You can follow Piet on X @pietviljoen. His companies’ websites are www.recm.co.za and www.merchantwestinvestments.co.za and you can sign up for his weekly newsletter here.

At Just One Lap, we are big fans of passive investment using ETFs. In this weekly blog, we discuss ETFs on the local market and the factors you need to consider when choosing an ETF. If you have wondered how one ETF differs from another, this is where you can find out. We explain which index each ETF tracks, what type of portfolio could benefit from holding each ETF, and how the costs will affect your bottom line.