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Bottom-up and top-down investment strategies

The investment industry, like most other professions, has evolved over time with various approaches and strategies coming to the fore, each with its own inherent characteristics. When investing in listed shares, two dominant approaches stand out: Fundamental bottom-up and top-down investment strategies. These approaches represent distinct methodologies for selecting and managing investment portfolios, each rooted in a unique perspective and analysis framework.

Tough times never last

Last week, prices of both grades of petrol went up by R1.71 per litre while diesel increased by close to R3 per litre. The recent jump in fuel prices is driven by a twofold weakening of the exchange rate and a substantially higher oil price. Having started at around R17 to the United States (US) dollar at the start of the year, the rand has now depreciated by more than 11% year-to-date. The oil price, in turn, has increased by more than 10% already this year, reaching its latest level just above $90 a barrel. A higher oil price will likely add to inflationary pressure, although the impact of higher fuel prices is usually overstated.

The superiority of independent, holistic financial advice

The term “economics” has its roots in ancient Greece. It is derived from two Greek words, namely “oikos”, which means “house”, and “nomos”, which means “law” or “custom”. When combined, “oikonomia” roughly translates to “household management” and concerns itself with the efficient allocation of resources within a household.

Stick to the principles

Central banks in many countries around the world keep on talking a big game, and rightfully so. If consumers start believing that above-trend inflation is over, they might push inflation higher into unwanted territories again. But for now, it seems as though central banks have succeeded in containing inflation.

Behavioural finance and why it matters

The world of finance and investments is often associated with numbers and statistics but the real-world experience looks a bit different with behavioural patterns often playing a significant role in financial markets. Behavioural finance is the study of the psychological influences and biases that both investors and financial practitioners experience when making financial decisions.

Steps towards a more equal South Africa

Dr Francois Stofberg Managing Director: Efficient Private Clients. For…

How to grow the South African economy

Theoretically, it is not difficult to grow an economy. But practically, it is a nightmare to execute. Although there are many ways to approach economic growth, I would like to focus on the collective ideas of improving the ease of doing business and facilitating sound money. Overall, these collective ideas can encompass most of what is needed to sustainably grow the South African economy. However, knowing what to do, or even how to do it, is not as important as knowing why you are doing it. We should have more capitalist collectivism and less bureaucratic collectivism.

20 Years On… And The Efficient Group Is Still Standing Strong

Efficiency can be defined as the ability to achieve an end goal…

Global uncertainty and some good news for South Africans

Dr Francois Stofberg Managing Director: Efficient Private Clients. The…
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