Investing can be overwhelming because there are so many moving parts. You need to understand what a broker is and then make a decision about which one to use. You need to familiarise yourself with investment products like index-tracking funds and then make a decision about whether to go that route or invest in individual companies. If you go for individual companies, you can easily spend the rest of your life pouring over company results and reading SENS announcements. All of this happens before you even buy your first investment.

Once invested, things get even more hairy. Fees are always a big concern, followed very closely by capital gains and dividend withholding tax. More often than not there seems to be no good reason for market movements (although there's no shortage of experts who will dream up reasons). Political events can have a huge impact on a portfolio. Economic conditions reflect in your portfolio long after real economy has gone in a completely different direction. Add, on top of all of this, currency moves and inflation and it's little wonder that the decision to start investing can take years.

In this episode, Simon and I discuss the impact of inflation on capital gains liability. I realise there's something that will impact my investments that I've literally never thought about. The worst part is there's nothing to be done about it.

André du Toit's spreadsheet that takes into account inflation can be downloaded here. Thanks very much, André. CGT Local vs Offshore revisited

Links and resources

Our Fat Wallet Listener Love Index has been flirting with, but not quite committed to, being 3% in the hole. This displeases me.

We don't advise opening a tax-free investment for a child's education. The video below has everything you need to know about tax-free accounts.

Kris