Empowering individuals to take control of their money is a hallmark of modern technology. Nowadays, you can make life-changing investment decisions at the click of a button. But with all that control comes added responsibility, which can feel a little overwhelming, can’t it? This is where Moneybetter comes in.

Moneybetter is a platform that changes how you view “DIY” investing. With its innovative approach to guided investing and a user-friendly interface, Moneybetter lets you make the most of your financial strategies and explore new ways to grow your money. And the best part? You don’t have to switch between financial institutions to invest in different products from different providers or scour various content sites for the education you need to make better-informed decisions. Here, everything you need is conveniently consolidated in one place. Want to see what Moneybetter looks like? Watch the walkthrough video

What does “more-in-one” mean for you?

So, you’ve decided to start taking control of your money by embarking on a self-directed investment journey. Or maybe you’ve made it past the “Investing for Dummies” stage and are now executing more complex strategies. Either way, you don’t want to feel alone on this journey. Here’s how Moneybetter’s approach to guided investing can give you the support you need:

1. More user-friendliness 

Moneybetter stands out in the crowded online broker space with a platform built on guided architecture to support you on your investment journey. The goal is to make you feel less alone and more confident in your decisions. The platform boasts an intuitive design and user-friendly interface, making it easy to navigate your investments and review your performance with consolidated data and reports. With Moneybetter, you’ll spend less time trying to understand the tech behind the platform and more time investing.

2. More ways to grow your money

The platform gives you direct access to the award-winning TraderGo execution engine, which lets you browse over 50,000 instruments, across 9 asset classes, and 40 global exchanges, with arguably the best offshore offering in South Africa. Additionally, you gain access to essential information like news feeds, market data, and economic reports, with professional-grade features such as charting tools, trade signals, watchlists, and various order types. Whether you’re executing complex multi-leg strategies or single trades, TraderGo ensures smooth execution every time.

For those more inclined towards managed investments, Moneybetter offers access to products like Tax-Free Savings Accounts, Retirement Annuities, Exchange-Traded Fund portfolios, and Structured Notes.

3. More education to guide your decisions

Don’t worry if the idea of DIY investing seems overwhelming because Moneybetter is here to give you the education you need to make better choices for your money, now and in the future. Whether you’re a beginner trying to grasp the fundamentals or a seasoned investor in search of advanced strategies, the Moneybetter content hub provides access to a variety of resources, including articles, tutorials, and expert opinions.

4. More control over your money

Investing doesn’t have to be complicated. With Moneybetter, you can easily withdraw, transfer, and deposit funds into your investment account. With the added benefit of third-party verification, you can feel at ease knowing that your transactions are processed smoothly without any unnecessary delays or security concerns.

5. More insight into your investments

For those who require a review of their investment data, Moneybetter provides access to detailed reports and statements such as month-end reports, end-of-day files, tax certificates, and capitalgains. You can generate these reports whenever you need. And because these reports are consolidated, you’ll have a single view of your money’s performance throughout your investment journey.

6. More human support when you need it 

Moneybetter is more than just a platform, it’s a community of like-minded investors and industry experts committed to mutual success. For those of you who prefer human interaction over chatbots,
rest assured that real people are behind the Moneybetter screen. Feel free to reach out to the Moneybetter team if you have any questions and feel confident knowing that they are dedicated to ensuring a seamless experience for you.

Moneybetter is not just another DIY investment platform. If anything, it’s a “Do-It-Together” platform. With its intuitive interface, access to a myriad of investment options, and comprehensive educational resources, Moneybetter empowers investors of all skill levels to take control of their financial futures. With the added reassurance of robust security measures, safety of assets, and invaluable human support, you can start to invest with real confidence.

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The Good: Fortitude

At High Street our investment process is consistently applied while our investment style is determined by the respective fund in consideration. One of the oldest debates is between “value” and “growth” which we believe can only be applied loosely at best given the vast array of style classifications. That said, what is evident is the differentiation in annual performance between the two styles.

Source: Bloomberg & High Street Asset Management

Our local balanced fund is designed for retirement savers seeking to maximise offshore exposure and minimise local risk, within the limits as set forth in the Pension Funds Act. In recent years, it has had a bias towards “growth” stocks as this is where our process suggests the greatest upside exists. This allocation buoyed returns in 2020 which led to our local balanced fund being one of the top performing funds in category over a three-year period ending December 2021. Joy quickly turned to despair as the Fund underperformed the peer average by -23.4% in 2022 following “growth” underperforming “value” by the second biggest margin on record going back to 1979, primarily due to the current unprecedented interest rate hiking cycle which we have previously commentated on. For the year-to-date, the weakening of the Rand, coupled with a re-emergence of “growth” stocks, has seen the Fund’s mandate shine through by outperforming its peers by over 30% to regain a position in the top performing quartile since inception for similar funds.

Source: Bloomberg & High Street Asset Management

Short-term performance will no doubt swing with the vagaries of the market, however, the Fund will always adhere to its mandate of protecting the global value
of your retirement savings. Our thanks goes out to our investors who stomached the short-term volatility seen in 2022, it definitely escalated the balding process for our Chief Investment Officer.

The Bad: SA Inc

In February 2018, Cyril Ramaphosa took office with the promise of a “new dawn” for South Africa. Many took solace in the belief that this could mark the beginning of the rejuvenation of our country, our economy and the businesses that operate in within our borders. Unfortunately, more than 5 years later this has not been the case. The same problems still prevail.

This is exemplified by the performance of the South Africa’s domestic shares, or ‘SA Inc’, being companies who earn the bulk of their revenues locally. These companies are at the mercy of SA’s economic inefficacies and the risk premia investors place on our country. The table below shows the total return of the 4 biggest SA Inc companies, per each of the sectors they operate in.

Source: Bloomberg & High Street Asset Management, Data from: 01/01/2018 – 26/05/2023

These are household names whose products and services are ingrained in our daily lives. Yet their returns have been dismal. On average these names returned -11% in Rands and -44% in USD. Not one has managed to post a positive return in dollars. This level of wealth destruction is severe for those invested in these, especially over such a prolonged period. It also doesn’t help that the average price of goods and services in SA has increased by almost 30% in that time.

Yes, the JSE Allshare did manage to return 8.7% per annum in Rands over the period (although still negative in USD), but this return has largely been driven by the performance of the Rand-hedge names (Richemont, Bidcorp, miners etc). In general SA Inc has had torrid time as the weak state of our economy has weighed heavily on them.

While we would welcome a rebound in the SA economy, we will not bet on it. The fact that in 2001 there were 601 companies listed on the JSE, but now are just 348 highlights the difficulty of operating successfully in South Africa. At High Street we focus on growing your wealth as a global citizen. Our local balanced fund aims to achieve this through its differentiated ability to minimise South Africa specific risk via 95%+ Rand-hedge exposure.

& Powering the AI revolution

The emergence of generative AI has been one of the most forceful drivers of market returns so far this year. Hyperscale cloud vendors, cyber security merchants, and semiconductor manufacturers have all benefitted from the anticipated benefits of this revolutionary technology. However, beneath the excitement there remained the pressing question about whether this level of optimism was justified, or whether this was yet another bubble waiting to pop. That was until the release of Nvidia’s Q1 earnings…

Source: Statista

Nvidia, the world’s leading chip designer, rocketed up 24% and added $184bn to its market cap in what became the third largest single-day addition of value in US stock market history. Their impressive Q1 results came in well above expectations, however it was their outlook for the future that captivated market participants. Management indicated that they expected next quarter sales of around $11bn, more than 53% higher than what Wall Street analysts had been projecting.

This overwhelming evidence of physical demand helps put credence to the essential role Nvidia plays in powering the AI movement. Nvidia is currently the only company on the planet that can design the high-performance chips that can accelerate development and reduce training costs for AI “large language models”. Their H100 chip, for example, has five times as many transistors as Apple’s newest iPhones. Increased power comes at a higher cost, with specialised chips selling for as much as $40k each. Tesla CEO Elon Musk recently indicated that the minimum investment to set up generative AI capabilities sits at around $250mn of server hardware.

While competitors will no doubt invest heavily to avoid missing out on this huge potential revenue driver, Nvidia currently leads the rest by a wide margin. The opportunity ahead of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang is enormous; their accelerated chips are becoming the clear preference for the data centre industry, and yet the majority of the $1 trillion market is currently unaccelerated. Industry insiders see Nvidia chips as being “among the most scarce engineering resources on the planet”, and demand for this crucial technology is unlikely to slow any time soon. High Street clients continue to benefit from exposure to this critical industry, both from direct exposure to Nvidia itself and also a number of other key players.

The post The good, The bad. Powering the AI revolution.  first appeared on Moneybetter.

With so many investment platforms to choose from in South Africa, how do you pick the one that’s right for you?

To help you decide, we have created a checklist of six questions you should ask your online platform to help you separate the good from the bad and the ugly.

1. What selection of investment do you offer?
2. Is your platform professional and easy to use?
3. What are your fees?
4. If you go out of business, what happens to my money?
5. What sort of information do you provide?
6. Can I speak to a human?

Let us take a look at each of these questions in depth.

What selection of investment do you offer?

Diversity is key to any successful investment strategy. You’ll want an investment platform that offers multiple asset classes across various exchanges. 

Check how many investment instruments they offer and what asset classes they cover. Make sure it offers more than just the local JSE and offshore exchanges. 

If you have an appetite for a particular type of investment, such as unit trusts. Check with them first—because when it comes to market access, not all platforms are made equal.

Is your platform professional and easy to use?

Most professional investment platforms offer advanced functionality, with usability being the direct trade-off. Assuming you’re not a character out of Wolf of Wall Street, you’ll want a platform that strikes a balance: offering all the bells and whistles that are just as easy to use.

DMA’s TraderGo platform, for example, is a professional-grade platform that combines sophisticated tools with a flexible layout. Making it easy to surface only the tools you need. 

When looking for the right investment platform for your money, you’ll also want to check if the platform makes it easy to switch between desktop, tablet and smartphone.

A good idea is to ask for a demo account, which will give you a good feel for the platform without using real money. 

What are your fees?

Fees (or commissions) are what online investment platforms charge for their services. Some require an initial minimum deposit to fund your account.

All investment platforms will charge either a flat fee or a percentage for every trade you place—all of which will eat into the relative performance of your investments. 

As with most things in life, you get what you pay for, so you’ll need to work out what you value and how much you’re willing to pay over in fees. 

If you go out of business, what happens to my money?

The safety of your assets is one of the most important factors to consider—if the investing platform goes under, your money shouldn’t go with it. 

DMA uses two banks in the UK, HSBC & Crowns Agent. All transactions are recorded and held in a separate trust, so your money is always retrievable. 

What sort of information do you provide?

The financial markets can be a wild and lonely place. An investment platform should do more than provide access to the market. It should educate the investor, keep them informed with up-to-the-minute news, and provide tools to help manage your risk. 

Can I speak to a human?

A good investment platform isn’t just about the tech. It’s about the people and customer support behind the tech.

• Can you find a phone number on their website?
• Can you speak to someone with a name, not just an automated bot?

When timing is of the essence, knowing you have people you can trust looking after your account is essential. 

Picking an investment platform or investing app that suits all your needs and ensures that your money is well looked after can be tricky. No one can make this decision but you. Using the six questions as a starting guide will make the process slightly less daunting.

(Full disclosure: This blog is paid for by DMA, whose investment platform is mentioned in this article. We believe the platform ranks right up there with the best, but you’re encouraged to do your research before deciding.) 

The post Online Investment Platforms | Make Your Choice | Moneybetter first appeared on Moneybetter.