China is a land that is fraught with risk and brimming with opportunity. With enhanced upside as well as downside protection, International Opportunities Limited is a structured product that seeks to balance the risks and rewards available in Chinese equity markets.

International Opportunities Limited offers 1.3x geared exposure to the CSI 300 Index, capped at 60% growth for a maximum return of 78% in USD. In addition, there is 100% capital protection at maturity in USD.

Japie Lubbe of Investec Structured Products joined me on this podcast to discuss the investment characteristics of the Chinese market and the way in which this product has been built in that context.

Applications close on 7 March 2025, so you must move quickly if you are interested in investing. As always, it is recommended that you discuss any such investment with your financial advisor.

You can find all the information you need on the Investec website at this link.

To close out the year, René Basson of Satrix* made her debut on Ghost Stories for a fascinating conversation on the topic of money dysmorphia. This is a mismatch between financial behaviour and financial means - and yes, it can work in both directions i.e. whether you have plenty of money or not enough!

In addition to some great personal finance hacks to help you combat these feelings, René shared some helpful statistics from the SatrixNOW platform and talked about some of the observable trends in investing across genders. We also closed out the discussion with some important tips for the festive season around cybersecurity, so there really is a lot here to sink your teeth into.

*Satrix is a division of Sanlam Investment Management

Satrix Investments Pty Limited and Satrix Managers RF Pty Limited are authorised financial services providers. Nothing you have heard in this podcast should be construed as advice. Please do your own research and visit the Satrix website for more information on all their ETF products. This podcast was published on the Satrix website here.

Raising equity funding is not easy for small businesses in South Africa, but thankfully the Mineworkers Investment Company's (MIC) Khulisani Ventures initiative is an early-stage funding vehicle that provides capital for businesses that are ready to aggressively grow.

If you are a Black-Owned business in South Africa and you meet the criteria for this investment, then listen carefully to this podcast because your application needs to be by the end of January 2025. This whole thing will be wrapped up just a couple of months later, with funds expected to flow by March 2025.

If this sounds interesting to you, check out the website for more information and to apply for investment. This podcast is brought to you by I Am an Entrepreneur and the Mineworkers Investment Company, represented on this podcast by Keitumetse Lekaba and Nchaupe Khaole respectively.

The Satrix Global Balanced Fund of Funds ETF aims to provide local investors with optimally diversified exposure to a global basket of indices representing different asset classes. This is a low-cost, easy way to invest in a mix of equities, bonds, infrastructure, property, credit and cash assets.

Nico Katzke of Satrix joined me to explain the concept of a balanced fund, the strategic asset allocation in this ETF and how Satrix has managed to achieve this exposure at just 35 basis points a year in costs.

You can learn more about this brand new fund here.

Satrix Investments Pty Limited and Satrix Managers RF Pty Limited are authorised financial services providers. Nothing you have heard in this podcast should be construed as advice. Please do your own research and visit the Satrix website for more information on all their ETF products.

Shari'ah-compliant investing is a fascinating area in the world of finance. For those of the Islamic faith who choose to invest in this way, these products offered by Satrix are an excellent way to diversify a portfolio - especially with the launch of the Satrix MSCI World Islamic ETF which listed on the market on 22 October 2024.

For those who aren't familiar with the Shari'ah rules and for those who want to brush up on them, this discussion with Yusuf Wadee of Satrix is a great way to understand the technical process behind identifiying companies in an index that must be excluded to make it compliant with Shari'ah principles. Of course, this leaves a different sector exposure mix and a fund with far less underlying debt, so that's an interesting topic as well.

Satrix Investments Pty Limited and Satrix Managers RF Pty Limited are authorised financial services providers. Nothing you have heard in this podcast should be construed as advice. Please do your own research and visit the Satrix website for more information on all their ETF products. This podcast was published on the Satrix website here.

Fedgroup is a specialist financial services provider with a legacy of putting people before profit, offering a range of stable and diversified investment options that help investors steer clear of market scares. With billions under management, Fedgroup ensures your investment decisions are stable so you don't have to worry about them coming back to haunt you.

And in the month of Halloween, with ghosts everywhere (including on this podcast of course), it was great to be able to chat to Paul Counihan from Fedgroup about how to make the markets less scary and daunting, a topic close to my heart. For more information on Fedgroup, visit their website here.

Fedgroup Financial Holdings (Pty) Ltd is a licensed controlling company, and companies within the Group are authorised FSPs. Ts and Cs apply.

The Investec Rand India Accelerator offers geared exposure to growth in the iShares MSCI India ETF over the 3.6-year term. The ETF tracks the large and midcap Indian market, covering 85% of the India equity universe.

Investec Rand India Accelerator is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange and offers 1.5x geared exposure to the ETF capped at 40%, for a maximum return of 60% in Rands. In addition, the Accelerator provides a high degree of capital protection.

To explain the opportunities and risks of this product, Brian McMillan of Investec Structured Products joined me on this podcast.

Applications close on 15 November, so you must move quickly if you are interested in investing. As always, it is recommended that you discuss any such investment with your financial advisor.

You can find all the information you need on the Investec website at this link.

Factor investing takes ETFs to the next level. Instead of tracking a stock index (like the JSE Top 40), these ETFs have a set of rules based on investment fundamentals like valuation multiples or even levels of debt. The sky is the limit with the creativity that goes into these factors, but do they actually work?

To unpack these types of ETFs and the thinking behind them, Nico Katzke of Satrix joined me for an insightful discussion.

Satrix Investments Pty Limited and Satrix Managers RF Pty Limited are authorised financial services providers. Nothing you have heard in this podcast should be construed as advice. Please do your own research and visit the Satrix website for more information on all their ETF products.

In this Ghost Stories podcast, Elzahne Henn of Forvis Mazars in South Africa sheds light on the common mistakes and misconceptions related to cross-border employment.

This includes structures like South Africans working abroad, or working in South Africa but for a foreign company, along with other permutations.

These insights are valuable for employers and employees alike.

For clients who wish to obtain more information from Elzahne and the team at Forvis Mazars, she can be contacted at this link.

With a strong belief that both ETFs and single stocks are relevant to any long-term portfolio strategy, The Finance Ghost hosted Siyabulela Nomoyi of Satrix to talk about why ETFs are so helpful - especially in the context of Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSA).

Siya didn't waste the opportunity to ask questions about single stock research as part of the discussion, showing just how different the process is for choosing ETFs vs. single stocks.

For those willing to put in the effort to expand their investment knowledge and build wealth, this is a fantastic podcast. This podcast was first published here.

Satrix Investments Pty Limited and Satrix Managers RF Pty Limited are authorised financial services providers. Nothing you have heard in this podcast should be construed as advice. Please do your own research and visit the Satrix website for more information on all their ETF products.