The background for anyone reading this for the first time:
- This blog series follows 9 small investors with different risk (and personality) profiles (for their profiles read this post, and your can find their investment strategies here).
- I’m a fan of equities (because I believe in productive assets) and of passively-managed exchange-traded index-tracker funds (because I mostly don’t believe in investor management fees) – so this is also really an experiment to see how the Satrix SWIX Top 40 (an equity ETF) bears out against the other options available for small investors.
In their own words:
The Contented Pragmatist
Vindication.
End of Week 5, and the Satrix is still ahead overall. You see that chart above? That’s me in the top line. I’m not saying that’s where I should be – but I’m making the observation. And even if my week wasn’t as good as everyone else – it’s performance over time that’s important. I mean – I’m not about to change investments each week – any extra return would be completely destroyed by fees to sell and then fees to repurchase something else.
Looking at the competition…
The thing is, even when my Finance Graduate friend has a good week, he’s completely cock-blocked by that ridiculous FNB share saver trading program that he’s using. Perhaps if he had more money to play with, those fees would impact less.
The only real competition is the guy with the Nedgroup unit trusts. I’m not sure if he intended it – but he may have a point. Smaller companies can’t really be traded in an index fund – they’re not always listed, and even when they are, they’re not really bought by the big investment managers (owing to being too small).
The Recent Finance Graduate
Boom.
Naspers up 3.22% from last week on news that Tencent partnered with Candy Crush in China. Annualised, that’s an increase of 465% – I am a finance GOD*.
*Yes, but you’ve made an overall loss in the last 5 weeks of -14.06%. “Annualised”, that’s a loss of 80% of your investment. Do you see how that doesn’t make sense in the real world? Stop annualising, you fool.
Signed, The C.P.
The Goldbug
The gold price is down. What manner of ungodly generation would reject the biblical superiority of gold in favour of the paper mammon printed by those devils in their Central Bank halls of Babylon? I know it’s in the Lord’s hands – perhaps it is His will that I carry the burden of their foolishness.
How eagerly I anticipate the day when the wicked shall perish and the righteous rejoice in their burning. How I shall rejoice! Fire and hyperinflation brimstone.
How I long for that day.
The Daredevil
Seriously?
All I’ve made is R38 in five weeks?
You do realise that I could have taken that R3,500, bought ingredients, baked cookies and sold them at a profit – repeatedly – in that time? And that’s just one example. Maybe I should do some deals with stuff on ebay. Buy the stuff cheap from Asia or somewhere, then sell it here on Gumtree.
I’m pretty sure that, in 5 weeks, I could make more than R38*.
*Almost certainly true. But then that would also take up your time… Is your time free? And the effort you put into it?
Signed, The C.P.
The South African Bear
Nothing but interminable Platinum mining strikes. And yet the Rand remains unchanged!
I just don’t understand.
Also – the weather is so annoying this week. I hate autumn. You sweat under the blanket, but then you throw the blanket off and you freeze. How does a temperature get this awkward?
The Art Enthusiast
It’s trashy, but I love Buzzfeed. I took a quiz on whether I would pass high school math. Seems I can – as long as I can google the answers. Which always made sense to me – why learn it if you can google it? I’ve been speaking to some people, and I think I’ve found a place that will make me a book display for the Keynes First Edition. But apparently you shouldn’t leave it open in the display, because that will damage the spine. My question: how then will people know that I own a Keynes First Edition? Perhaps I should get one of those bronze plaques engraved. It’ll be completely retro. Love it. And that way – who cares if the book is only worth a third of what I paid for it?
The Honourable Jeffrey
The fixed deposit did exactly what it did last week: it earned R1.54 in interest.
Please, it’s so unseemly to discuss money. Let’s not continue this conversation.
The Circumspect Whore
Yes, I realise that I “made” R105 this week. But actually, it was only recovering what I’d lost in the previous weeks, not so? Overall, I’ve not really done anything.
Anyway – I seem to be doing a bit better than most. And that’s all I really want.
The Scrooge
Down slightly. I thought that bonds weren’t really meant to go down.
*looks glum*
Until next week.
