Kristia van Heerden Archives - Page 5 of 36

ETF: Bonds in your ETF portfolio

Kristia van Heerden 9 September 2020ETF Blog, Latest

Danish fund manager and author Lars Kroijer advocates for a simplified do-it-yourself investment strategy comprising of two simple investments. The first is an ETF with global exposure. The second is bonds with a time horizon similar to our investment horizon. For the ETF, the Ashburton 1200 caught our attention because it offers a small amount ...

The Fat Wallet Show with Kristia van Heerden

Podcast: How to make up for lost time

Kristia van Heerden 7 September 2020Latest, The Fat Wallet

Most of us kick our 20-year-old selves for spending all our money making poor decisions in Melville instead of taking full advantage of compounding. The financial independence, retire early (FIRE) movement has given us valuable tools to reach our financial goals despite those late nights in Melville. I discussed that with FIRE-man Patrick McKay here. ...

ETF: Short-term investment ETFs

Kristia van Heerden 2 September 2020ETF Blog, Latest

In a lower interest rate environment getting inflation-beating returns on cash is challenging. If you have a five-year savings goal, this could have a real impact on your returns. A potential solution to this is short-term investing. The most important consideration here is the relationship between time and risk.

Podcast: Monthly income at retirement

Kristia van Heerden 31 August 2020Latest, The Fat Wallet

There’s more guesswork involved in retirement planning than we’d like to admit. If you’ve ever gone through the retirement planning process with a financial advisor, you know what I mean. To calculate how much money you’ll need for retirement, you need to factor in the expected inflation rate as well as the expected growth rate ...

ETF: Should I sell my old ETF?

Kristia van Heerden 26 August 2020ETF Blog, Latest

Just One Lap users often want to know whether to sell their existing ETFs. It makes sense to pay attention to the weightings of ETFs in your portfolio and how that relates to your strategy. Since new exchange-traded funds (ETFs) list on the market every year, a product more suited to your strategy might be ...

Podcast: DIY diversification

Kristia van Heerden 24 August 2020Latest, The Fat Wallet

What is diversification? Should you care about it? If you do care about it, how do you do it? In this week’s episode of The Fat Wallet Show, we spend some time at the intersection between risk and diversification. We help you think through the role of cash in a portfolio and once again reject ...

ETF: Understanding the Sygnia Japan ETF

Kristia van Heerden 19 August 2020ETF Blog, Latest

We've updated this ETF review in April 2024. This week, we take a closer look at the Sygnia iTrix MSCI Japan (share code: SYGJP) ETF. The Japanese economy remains one of the largest in the developed world. Japan is the second-biggest holding in the MSCI World Index, as well as the S&P Global 1200 Index. ...

Podcast: How to compare investment products

Kristia van Heerden 17 August 2020Latest, The Fat Wallet

Not all investment products are created equal. This week, listener JP was struggling to understand why his RA was performing so poorly while his tax-free account was making money. The answer is important for everyone who holds more than one investment product. This week we help you (and JP) work out what exactly you should ...

ETF: Commodity ETFs in your portfolio

Kristia van Heerden 12 August 2020ETF Blog, Latest

Commodities tend to give investors a sense of security. Gold is especially popular during political and economical turmoil as the current COVID rally is making abundantly clear. The presence of a tangible asset at the other end of the transaction is comforting to those who are at all times geared for the apocalypse. While it’s ...

Podcast: How to invest BIG money

Kristia van Heerden 10 August 2020Latest, The Fat Wallet

Those of us slowly building a portfolio every month accept our investments will be determined by our overall strategy. This strategy would include our ultimate financial goal, plans around asset allocation, diversification, tax planning and future drawdown management. We understand we have to consider these variables throughout our portfolio, including our retirement products. New money ...