#CartesianTalks a weekly habit for the serious investor

CN&CO recently hosted the latest webinar is a series of webinars presented by Anthea Gardner, MD of Cartesian Capital.

The Cartesian Talks webinar series is in full swing. Each week, Cartesian Capital MD Anthea Gardner talks guests through a different financial topic that’s both interesting and relevant to today’s investor.

This week she discussed the behaviour of the rand in the context of the politics of the day.

“The rand is a structurally weakening currency,” she said. “It is always going to weaken against hard currencies such as the dollar. This is in keeping with other emerging market currencies such as the Turkish lira, Russian rouble, Brazilian real and Indian rupee.”

In fact, since 1992, when it was R3.05 for a US dollar, the rand has weakened more than 500% to Thursday’s price of around R17.20.

Of course, that depreciation doesn’t follow a straight line. There are domestic and global events that influence the value of the rand in the short term. Have a look at the graph below to see the impact of some of these events between 2008 and 2019.

One of the most important things to remember in the face of the volatility of the rand is always to keep your assets and your expenses in the same place, especially if you are retired.

“If you are retired in South Africa, your money should be here,” she said. “It’s just too risky to leave it overseas. Of course, offshore should always form part of your investment portfolio as you prepare for retirement, but once you retire your money should all be in the same country as you.”

Anthea’s special guest on the show was political analyst and author Judith February, who provided some excellent, considered insight into our current and past political situation.

“Covid has laid bare the fact that we have a government incapable of delivering,” she said. “Citizens need to use their democratic muscle to demand satisfaction in big and small ways.”

She warned that there are no quick fixes.

“This is the work of generations – and it requires action,” she said. “Talking is great, but at some point we have to do!”

She called on the general public to support civil institutions in order to uphold the constitution.

“The constitution is our guarantee of democracy,” she said. “It’s vital that we protect it.”

Watch the full talk below:

Watch previous talks here.

Both Judith and Anthea have books out. Judith’s book is called Turning and Turning: Exploring the complexities of South Africa’s democracy. Anthea’s is called Make Your Money Work For You: Think Big, Start Small.

This article was initially published on the EasyEquities blog with the title “Cartesian Talks are a great weekly habit for the serious investor“