We think it’s worth interrupting our regular programming with some exciting news.
It’s our pleasure to announce that 1nvest has been recognised by both the South African Listed Tracker Awards (SALTAs) and the News24 FundHub Awards.
On 24 March 2026, our 1nvest products earned us silverware at the SALTAs:
But that’s not all ...
Earlier in March, the 1nvest S&P 500 Info Tech Index Feeder Fund won in the Global Equity General (5 Years) category at the News24 FundHub Industry Performance Awards 2026.
Congratulations to the entire 1nvest team, and a special thanks to all our clients who make this possible.
Full details and the basis of the award are available from your fund manager.
And now for our other March news:
From closed doors to open platform
It wasn’t long ago that investing was slow, difficult and inefficient – not to mention expensive. If you wanted to buy shares, you phoned a stockbroker. Orders were placed manually. Fees were often high, minimum investments could be prohibitively high, and confirmation could take time.
Information was also hard to access. Data was the preserve of a few. Where retail investors did have access to information, it might have been monthly or quarterly.
Bonds were largely institutional instruments. Commodities, such as gold, meant physical coins – imagine the cost and stress of storing Krugerrands. Offshore investing involved paperwork, foreign accounts and regulatory complexity.
The result was that sophisticated investing was technically available, but practically reserved for those with capital, connections or specialist knowledge.
But that was then.
The quiet technology revolution
Two decades of technological advances add up to unprecedented access. Today, you can open an account online in minutes. Identity verification is crucial, but can be done quickly. Funds move electronically. Portfolio balances update in real time. What once required intermediaries like brokers (who needed to be paid) and administration now requires little more than a secure login.
Institutional-grade investing for everyone
The technology has been accompanied by smart “packaging” of assets. Modern index-tracking exchange traded funds (ETFs) illustrate this shift perfectly. Instead of selecting individual shares and paying brokerage on each, an investor can buy a single ETF that tracks an entire index – whether the FTSE/JSE Top 40 or a global equity benchmark. In one transaction, you gain diversified exposure to dozens or even hundreds of companies.
These are the same types of building blocks used by pension funds and large institutions. The difference is that, today, they are available to everyday investors.
Because index funds are designed to track the market rather than attempt to outguess it, their costs are typically lower. And cost matters. Every rand saved in fees is a rand that continues compounding over time.
Gilded edge
Products like ETFs and unit trusts aren’t limited to shares and bonds. They can package just about anything. Given the impressive spell for precious metals, some excellent examples are gold and platinum.
Forget storing physical gold in a safe or under the bed. Commodity ETFs let you hold your own share of physical gold with a JSE-listed fund. Storage, security and transport are things of the past. You can track price changes in real time and buy or sell with a mouse click.
Global markets, local access
In years gone by, the status of international investors was an exclusive one. We needed significant wealth to afford the necessary expertise and navigate the bureaucracy. Today, we can all be international investors with relatively small sums and a smartphone.
In South Africa, we can invest globally using rands and Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) products. A click of a button makes you the holder of a bundle of tech stocks in the US or major corporations in the emerging Asia region.
Suddenly, everyone from Karkloof to Krugersdorp can boast globally diversified exposure.
There’s an app for that
Whether it’s the biggest firms on the JSE, the tech giants of Wall Street, or the physical gold behind our 1nvest Gold ETF you’re after, there’s an app for you. All the benefits of the investing access revolution are alive on the Shyft portal from Standard Bank. Sign up here. We’ll meet you there!
Collective Investment Schemes (CIS) are generally medium- to long-term investments. The value of participatory interests may go down as well as up. Past performance is not necessarily a guide to future performance. CIS are traded at ruling prices and can engage in borrowing and scrip lending. A schedule of fees and maximum commissions is available on request from the manager. The manager does not provide any guarantee with respect to the capital or the return of a CIS portfolio. These portfolios are third-party-named incubator portfolios. The manager retains full legal responsibility for these portfolios.
1nvest Fund Managers (Pty) Ltd is an authorised financial services provider (FSP), FSP No. 49955, under the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act (FAIS), Act No. 37 of 2002. The manager of the Schemes is STANLIB Collective Investments (RF) Pty Ltd and registered in terms of CISCA. For the basis and information on awards and rankings, please contact [email protected].
