💸 Know Your Fees: Effective Annual Cost (EAC)
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Not all fees are created equal — EAC is the real number to watch.
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Applies to retirement products, LISPs, and unit trusts — not to stockbrokers.
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📊 Understand the difference:
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TER (Total Expense Ratio)
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TIC (Total Investment Cost)
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EAC (includes platform + advisor + product fees)
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🍏🍏 Apples-to-apples: Compare funds using EAC.
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🎯 Target an EAC between 1.1%–1.5%.
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💬 Negotiate! Advisor and platform fees are often flexible.
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🔍 Beware: Some brokers refuse to give the number — that’s a red flag.
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❗ Platform fees: Flat > Percentage. Otherwise, your 1% could become R100,000 in fees!
🛢️ Oil Wipeout & Geopolitics
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Weekend U.S. strike on Iranian nuclear sites 🔥 led to… a shrug from the oil market.
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📈 Oil hit $81.40 early Monday, then crashed to $67.70 by Wednesday.
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That’s a $14 drop, nearly 20% down — massive.
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🌍 Global market awash with oil:
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🇻🇪 Venezuela, 🇮🇷 Iran, 🇷🇺 Russia all pumping through sanctions
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⛽ OPEC+ supply increases kicking in soon
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⛴️ Straits of Hormuz risk overstated — markets unconvinced
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📉 Oil heading to $60? Possibly.
⚙️ Sasol: Much Ouch
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❌ Not a fan of Sasol — never been on that bus
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📉 Sasol collapsed this week: down 14–15% Tuesday
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Currently hovering at R96, with support around R77
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🧪 Chemicals weak, oil down, Rand strong = triple whammy
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⚠️ Not going bust, but it’s in real pain
💱 Rand Rollercoaster
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💵 USD/ZAR down from 18.15 to 17.76
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🔻 Dollar weakness a key driver
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🎯 R17 still very much in play
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😬 Strong Rand not helping exporters like Sassol
🏦 Fed Watch: FOMC & Powell
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🕊️ No rate change last week, as expected
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📣 Powell grilled by Congress — MAGA heat incoming
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📉 Fed still guiding for two cuts in 2025
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Data outlook softening:
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🏭 GDP ↓
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📈 Inflation ↑
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👷 Unemployment ↑
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🧠 Powell’s just doing his job — not playing politics
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SA’s MPC, on the other hand… maybe a bit behind the curve
⚗️ PGMs: Shiny Again?
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💬 Chat with Old Mutual: rotating out of gold, into PGMs
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🔼 Platinum at 10-year highs, last seen in Oct 2014
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🇿🇼 🇿🇦 Platinum from Southern Africa; 🇨🇦 🇷🇺 Palladium elsewhere
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📦 Stockpiles, especially palladium, still working through
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🚗 EVs: Now only expected to be 40% of sales by 2035
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Existential crisis for PGMs? Delayed… for now
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🧊 Recycling paused — not worth it at these prices
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🥇 Pick your poison: Impala, Northam, Sibanye Stillwater*…
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📦 Sibanye with PGMs, palladium & gold exposure
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🪙 Gold: Still Glowing
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🧲 Pullback to support around R3,330/g
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Could go as low as R3,200 — but not rolling over
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💡 Structural shift in how investors (especially in developed markets) view gold
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🛡️ Post-2022 shift: Central banks hedging against future sanctions with more gold
All charts by KoyFin | Get 10% off your order
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JSE – The JSE is a registered trademark of the JSE Limited.
JSE Direct is an independent broadcast and is not endorsed or affiliated with, nor has it been authorised, or otherwise approved by JSE Limited. The views expressed in this programme are solely those of the presenter, and do not necessarily reflect the views of JSE Limited.
Wednesdays are all about hard-core investing and trading with Simon Brown’s famous JSE Direct podcast. JSE Direct started life on ClassicFM in July 2008 and became a podcast in 2011. Every week Simon shares his views on the state of global economies, individual shares and events moving markets.
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JSE – The JSE is a registered trademark of the JSE Limited.
JSE Direct is an independent broadcast and is not endorsed or affiliated with, nor has it been authorised, or otherwise approved by JSE Limited. The views expressed in this programme are solely those of the presenter, and do not necessarily reflect the views of JSE Limited.
