I’m about to make R1 million at 34!

[leonariver]

I’m a yoga teacher, single, child-free and this month I will reach R1 million in savings and investments at 34 years old. I work in Japan at a holiday resort and can save my entire salary of R24 000 net a month because food and accommodation is taken care of.

I have R48 000 in my Japanese bank account, an emergency fund in a Standard Bank Money Market Select Investment account of R275 000 at 8.7% per annum (I use the interest to pay for my retirement annuity), a retirement annuity with Sanlam Cumulus Echo Bonus (R39C) of R212 000, R35 000 invested in Bitcoin, Ethereum and USDC currently worth R76 000, impact farming investments of R130 000 in 300 blueberry bushes at 10% per annum for 8 years and 300 moringa trees at 10% per annum for 3 years with Fedgroup with a current return of R38 500, a unit trust with Allan Gray worth R56 500 from a R20 000 investment, TFSA of R36 000 at 11.3% per annum with Fedgroup currently at R41 600, TFSA with Easy Equities In Nasdaq 100 (R36 000 investment) currently worth R64 500, S&P 500 (R24 000), and S&P500 Info Tech (R24 000), and MSCI World (R24 000) ETFs.

• Is this good for 34?
• Is my portfolio diverse enough?
• Should I balance my portfolio in any way?
• What else should I invest in for long-term? Gold, fixed deposit accounts, retail bonds, foreign currency accounts?

 

[davidricca]

@leonariver I’m 30 with only R30k so yes your doing great bro

 

[krys77]

@davidricca We all have VERY different origins and lives, you are doing great too.

 

[davidricca]

@krys77 Nah I’m slacking hard fam

 

[firebrand]

@davidricca By design.

 

[livebyfaith777]

@davidricca You say you slackin. Im 27 and sitting on -R30k my goal is to just be at 0 end of this year right now. Its shitty but thats how life is. You should always be proud of making it where you are now. Dont compare yourself to others. Its the biggesr mistake a person can make.

 

[grzedar]

@davidricca Have you considered, less sorbet?

 

[gracer]

@leonariver Your investments are very concentrated or at horrible funds. Sanlam is destroying you with annoual fees on their Echo bonus RA, it just makes a financial advisor rich with their commissionpayment on signuo, think its like R16k per client. You'll make a lot more money on a cheaper RA like Sygnia Skeleton over the long run. Impact farming isn't great as you don't get your principle amount back, only the interest you made. You also pay income tax on that interest if it goes above R22k/year.

I wouldn't increase my bitcoin exposure, just leave as is. Allan Gray and EE looks okay.

I'd definitely focus more on diversifying my portfolio if I were you. VTI or Coreshares total world index on EE.

I think R1m is good for your profession and age, but you'll need to sort out your funds as these are getting eaten in the long run by the fees.

 

[symphorian]

@gracer That Sanlam ra is charged at like 3% pa it’s crazy

 

[mightyrose]

@gracer I was able to move my funds from the Sanlam echo fund. Was pretty upset with my financial adviser because he tried to convince me to set up a second identical fund and nearly put r20000 per month in the two. I wasn’t really penalised either and got a new adviser

 

[greenleaf62]

@mightyrose "Adviser" - they are all clueless.

 

[paulw2647]

@greenleaf62 If someone is an agent for something, regardless of what it is, take their advice with a pinch of salt in general.

 

[munchkin88]

@gracer I am in a similar situation with the Sanlam RA, feel sick when I see the charges. I inherited this financial planner via my PPS income protection.

Would you suggest moving all the money out of the Sanlam RA into a different one? Or just starting a new RA with contributions going into that going forward? Probably have in the region of R800k in the RA.

 

[gdub81]

@munchkin88 10x or Sygnia asap.

 

[gracer]

@munchkin88 Move it

 

[cartesian12]

@munchkin88 Move it ASAP.

 

[christian1991]

@munchkin88 100% move it to Allan Gray or Synia.

 

[leonariver]

@gracer Fedgroup says that the interest and the investment capital for impact farming is paid back?

 

[gracer]

@leonariver I could be mistaken. It's been a while since I've looked at it. But I still see it as a bad investment because it's in Rands. If you put that initial amount in dollar investments you'd make about 10% on rand devaluation alone, then anout 8% on the ETF.

 

[alfiano]

@gracer This is fallacious thinking. If you’re so sure the rand is going to devalue, why not open a forex account with leverage and short the rand?

An investment in rands is not inherently a bad investment. And you’re definitely not going to make 18%pa in rands on dollar ETFs in the medium term.

Edit: apologies, I always think in real terms, so 18%pa in nominal is possible while interest rates are high but is on the high end of expectations. But your expected return has nothing to do with the assets being USD based.