Sandy D’Arcy’s “ship” sailed for the UK on the 6th June this year where she and her husband Ian have decided to settle. While we knew it would be no easy task finding a replacement for Sandy – we were determined to select a top quality person who shared in our values and ethics. We are really pleased to welcome aboard Rowan Allpass who we “head-hunted” from Momentum.
Rowan was born and educated in KwaZulu-Natal. Like Sandy, he cut his career teeth in the Banking industry, spending time with both Standard Bank and Wesbank. He has travelled overseas extensively through Europe, the UK and the USA during a 2 year period before returning to South Africa. He joined the Sage Financial Group in Pietermaritzburg as a marketer in 2003. Sage was later bought out by Momentum, where Rowan remained until end of July 2010, finishing his career with Momentum as an investment specialist marketing adviser.
Rowan is married to Mandy and they have a 3 year old son named Jared. Both Mandy and Rowan are enthusiastic hockey players – they met playing hockey, still play Masters Hockey, and Rowan coaches a local club side.
Like Sandy, Rowan has spent the last several years specialising in the wide range of investment products available to clients and will continue with the research work vital to our success here at Finlaw. We wish him a long, happy and successful career with Finlaw.
Local and International Investments.
As you will see from your investment reviews – the markets have all gone sideways over the past 6 months and most are negative over the third quarter of 2010. The month of August ended on a low note [typical for our quarterly reports!] – but have picked up well so far in September … so don’t focus too much on the end August values.
The graph on the following page shows both the sideways trends in the US, UK, European and Global markets – with an encouraging “tick” upwards in September.
The vast majority of economists have dismissed the double dip theory and believe the global economic indicators do not support another severe slump in equity prices.
Note how the European index of equity shares [green line above], which took such a pounding towards end May this year following the Greek crisis, has recovered really well.
Our currency remains incredibly strong relative to the “big three”. In fact, after better than expected news about the RSA Current Account Deficit this morning, the Rand broke briefly below the R7,00 to the US$ level. We may well see the Rand below R7,00 in the short term – another blow to our exporters. Until the huge capital inflows from foreigners dry up – we will continue to have a strong Rand. The trouble is it can turn South very quickly, remember that we had R18,00 to UK Sterling, R14,00 to the Euro and R12,00 to the US$ in December 2008. The last three months of this year could prove interesting!
If you have any concerns about your portfolio, have had a change in your financial circumstances and perhaps need to review your investment strategy – please do not hesitate to call on us.
John Wallace – 22 September 2010.
