Wow, what an interesting week it has been! It started with students standing side by side, demanding change and ended with President Jacob Zuma promising no University fee increases. It also got us all wondering about the funding mechanisms. I think Government realised that with the youth standing together; this show of solidarity was not about politics, race or social status but about education being a basic right and it being affordable for all. I love how the youth are changing the landscape and will hopefully keep our Government on their toes.
I posted an article last week about the funding options open to Government. You can read it here:
It is rather long but worth the read. Affordable University fees for all would be the aim and I am excited to see if this can be achieved. The shortfall – around R2.6 billion, has to be funded or there will be a decrease in the standard of education at Universities. I am looking forward to seeing some interesting solutions.
Even more exciting, is the return of the market! Since April this year till date there has been a decline in the stock market, and fund performance has looked dismal. This past week things improved and annual returns improved from around 2% per annum to 9% per annum. Asset Managers obviously did better or worse, but it reminded me that we must invest according to our investment time horizon. The longer the investment term – the more aggressive we can be; the shorter the term – the more conservative.
As for the rest of the world… China cut their interest rates towards the end of last week in an effort to boost their economy, as a result European markets rallied. The United States had lower than expected September employment figures, which may delay the Fed’s interest rate increases.
Some predicted that 2015 would to a tough, hard year for the markets. It will be interesting to see what else the year holds – it’s not over, another two months to go. I just hope stock markets continue to improve and we end the year on a high!