A great number of high-level financial services players are leaving the business world to pursue "personal interests". Over the past two years, we have seen Pete Backwell of Nedcor head off to become an avocado farmer, then Wendy Lucas Bull packed up, after heading FNB Retail for four years, to pursue altruistic causes, and last year Laurie Dippenaar, CE of FirstRand, decided he needed to slow down.
This seems to be the year of changing the guard in the life industry. Roddy Sparks’s resignation as MD of Old Mutual South Africa is the third in the life industry since late last year. As Sparks steps down, Paul Hanratty, head of Old Mutual’s retail business, prepares to take on the role as from July.
If you want an inexpensive weekend getaway less than two hours from Johannesburg and Pretoria, the Pilanesberg National Park in the North West offers a fantastic bush breakaway.
Bulking is the new buzzword in questionable practices among pension funds and their administrators. Bulking is when pension administrators put all their members’ funds together to obtain preferential rates or to lower costs. The Financial Services Board has now raised the question of whether pension funds are making secret profits from bulking.
Over the past few years, cellphones have metamorphosed from a useful communication tool to the equivalent of a Swiss Army knife. Soon, the only thing you will have to have in your pocket when you leave home will be your cellphone. Today, a cellphone can be used to pick up e-mails, take photographs and videos, listen to music and pay accounts.
Watching one of the most awesome cricket matches of all time, Bruce Hemphill was understandably tense. Along with other South African cricket fans, he was pleasantly shocked by South Africa’s win. His appointment to the top job at Liberty came as no less of a surprise. The new chief executive said: "I knew that I was possibly in line for the job, but it came a lot sooner than I anticipated."
The bookies must be in mourning this week. After Australia’s record-breaking first-innings 434, odds on a South African win were running at as high as 80/1. But the company-sponsored boxes, reserved for corporate head honchos and their clients (and the odd hack), were buzzing with bets on South Africa.
The middle of January is probably the worst time of the year for everybody. New Year’s resolutions have already been broken; people are experiencing back-to-work blues while counting the days to the next public holiday, which is unbelievably a whole three months away. Then there are the bills.
Before you start investing, you need to understand the risks involved in buying shares. Last month we highlighted the benefits and said that over time equities prove an excellent investment, although there are risks that need to be managed. The interest earned from cash is considered a "risk-free rate".
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/ 28 February 2006
Larry Williams hit headlines when in one year he traded $10 000 into $101-million in the 1987 World Cup Trading Championships. Ten years later his home-schooled 16-year-old daughter made the news for winning the same competition, trading her $10 000 into more than $110 000. He is currently in South Africa conducting seminars around the country.