Over the past few years PSG Wealth and Insure have hosted a Business Breakfast where they invite speakers from various investment houses to Makhanda (Grahamstown) to share their insights and thoughts on the economy and investment landscape. This year their guest presenters were Chrisley Botha, Investment Specialist from PSG Wealth and Duncan Artus, Portfolio Manager with Allan Gray. Botha spoke about the need to focus on what one can control when investing, such as one’s emotions, spending time in the market and investing in a diversified portfolio and not what one cannot control, such as inflation, market returns or the political and economic landscape. She also showed how investment returns have historically improved dramatically after periods when the market has performed dismally such as the performance we have experienced in recent times.
Artus, who co-manages the R 158 billion Allan Gray Balanced Fund – the largest balanced unit trust in the country – provided insight into why Allan Gray has invested in certain shares such as Standard Bank, Naspers and Woolworths. He spoke about the pros and cons of investing in property and tobacco company shares and provided the audience with some ideas as to changes that have taken place over the past few years, such as a focus on values investing rather than value investing, and that now there is a technology arms race rather than a nuclear arms race.
