Is HALE the New Standard for Retirement Planning? For decades, retirement planning has revolved around one central variable: “how long you’re likely to live”. Life expectancy tables, actuarial assumptions, and longevity projections have formed the basis of financial models. But as our understanding of health, aging, and human wellbeing evolves, a simple measure of lifespan…
Decisions in the Fog Every investor dreams of certainty. But the truth is, you never really get it — not with markets, not with money, not with life. What you get instead is a fog. You can’t see far ahead, and the best you can do is make decisions with the information right in front…
The Cost of Constantly Preparing for a Crash In December 1996, U.S. Fed Chair Alan Greenspan warned that markets might be showing signs of “irrational exuberance.” At the time, the S&P 500 sat at 744. Over the next three years, it nearly doubled. Then came the dot-com crash — and yet, even at its lowest…
Why Smart People Fall for Ponzi Schemes Ponzi schemes are one of the oldest tricks in the financial playbook. Despite decades of headlines, legal crackdowns, and public warnings, people still fall for them. Recently, NTC Global Trade, a crypto firm investigated by slain attorney Bouwer Van Niekerk, was placed under provisional liquidation. Several investors accused…
From Selling to Guiding: The Real Value of Financial Advisors For a long time, the value of a financial advisor was framed in terms of products sold, promises of market-beating returns, or projections of where the economy might be headed. That era is fading. Today, the advisor’s role is no longer about selling and telling—it…
One Marshmallow Now or Two Later: The Investor’s Dilemma The marshmallow test is a well-known psychology experiment. A child is offered a choice: one marshmallow immediately, or two marshmallows if they can wait. It is a simple test of delayed gratification, but its lessons apply far beyond childhood. In investing, we face the same choice…
Investing Is Not a Competitive Sport If the purpose of investing is to fund a very specific, very personal future objective, why do so many investors spend their energy trying to “beat the market” or chase the so-called “best funds”? It is an easy trap to fall into. The financial world thrives on comparisons: indexes,…
The Real Nature of Risk – A Fine Line Between Friend and Foe For most investors, “risk” is a four-letter word — something to be avoided, feared, or managed away entirely. The industry reinforces this view by talking about risk only in terms of volatility, drawdowns, and probabilities of loss. But this shallow definition hides…
The Stories We Tell About Money Money is important as it touches every part of our lives. Yet too often, we lose sight of its true nature, and it becomes an emotional experience rather than a practical tool. What if the biggest influence on your finances is not the markets but the story you believe…
Why We Launched Our Unit Trust Range In 2024, we began the process of launching a range of 2IP-managed Unit Trusts. This was a deliberate decision, shaped by how the investment industry is evolving and how we can best deliver our expertise to serve clients and advisors. Our goal is to make investing simpler, more…