Welcome to our new-look newsletter: Inside Track. This is where our 1nvest professionals bring you into the fold with the latest trends, changes and insights relating to index investing.

A new year is a good reason for a party. However, not all new years are fun affairs. The start of South Africa’s tax year, for example, is rarely welcomed with music and dancing. That’s unlikely to change.

“Blink, and you’ll miss it!” The phrase usually applies to the tiny towns and dorpies dotted along South Africa’s many traditional holiday road trip routes. Unless the family stops for petrol and a snack, it’s gone in a flash.

Time flies when you’re building industry-leading tracking funds. We have had the privilege of learning that first-hand. It has been six years of hard work, surprises – just think of Covid! – victories and challenges to overcome.

Platinum is performing for investors. This is no stroke of luck. Platinum has strong fundamentals and a critical role in the modern economy

Investors have been waiting for local to be lekker. And waiting… For some time, valuations of South African shares have appeared attractive. Companies with strong earnings, robust balance sheets, and winning models were priced lower than comparable shares on a like-for-like basis. Long-term investors are now enjoying the benefits of patience and sticking to their convictions.

If you’ve been watching the investment world lately, you’ll know index funds aren’t just keeping pace, they’re breaking records. Globally, ETFs and other index trackers topped $17 trillion in assets under management, and in South Africa, the exchange-traded product market has swelled to over R233 billion – up from R165 billion at the end of 2023.

Think Forum 2025 sparked dynamic conversations on index investing and the themes shaping the global and local investment landscape. If you were unable to join us or want to revisit the highlights, we’ve pulled together the most thought-provoking moments, expert viewpoints and practical takeaways from the day.

“Gold is up approximately $145 over the last month and more than $740 above this time last year,” we wrote in November 2024. Approximately a year ago, we were exploring the elevated gold price when it reached $2 650 per ounce. Fast forward to the final quarter of 2025, and gold has surpassed $4 000.

The phrase has been kept alive on everything from tote bags to memes. “Keep calm and carry on” has its origins in wartime Britain. It first appeared in 1939 as a morale-boosting poster created by the British Ministry of Information to inspire the public in the face of the armed conflict brewing in Europe.

“In the short run, the market is a voting machine,” said Columbia University finance professors Benjamin Graham and David Dodd, “but in the long run, it is a weighing machine.” Indeed, many of the ups and downs of equity markets in particular result from investors ‘“voting” on which shares will go up and which will go down in the near future. But enduring returns are subject to more stable gravitational forces. Over time, share prices tend to reflect the weighty economic and political reality around us.

South Africans know the wealth-eroding effects of inflation all too well. Fortunately, inflation recently returned to the Reserve Bank’s target range. However, consumer price inflation (CPI) has been troublingly high since COVID. We all feel it at the supermarket till. The effects could be even more painful if our investments aren’t arranged to withstand high inflation.

It can’t be said too often that knowing your client is essential to being a good advisor. The challenge is that you may think you know your client today, only to find a “different person” tomorrow. A life change or even new information can shift their needs. But sometimes a change is more mirage than meaningful.

Women make up 42% of the workforce in South Africa’s financial services sector, according to Stats SA. Not quite representative of the population, but that doesn’t diminish the growing impact women are making on this integral industry. To mark Women’s Month, we spoke with one of these trailblazers, our very own Lungile Macuacua, a portfolio analyst, about how women in finance are driving meaningful change across the industry.

Who are you today? Were you the same person last week? Will you be any different next year? Are you a different person in different environments?

Media fatigue is real. We live in a time of sensory overload. Humanity is producing around 400 exabytes of data – the equivalent of 100 billion HD movies – every day. More than 500 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube alone every minute. And the average office worker must consume several hundred newspapers’ worth of data every day in the form of email, video, Slack and Teams messages, and other digital media.

If you’re concerned about stock markets, know you’re not alone. In fact, you’re in good company. The US VIX Index that measures the implied volatility of the S&P 500 and therefore is a popular gauge of stock investor short-term anxiety, recently jumped to its highest level since April 2020.

DeepSeek’s arrival on the global scene in January made waves, especially in Silicon Valley. The new kid on the AI block surprised the market leaders up until that point. A Chinese large language model (LLM), DeepSeek appears to have been produced far more cheaply than market leaders out of the US.

Index investing is one of the megatrends reshaping the investing landscape. Index investment products have grown from 32% of the global equity market to 58% over the last decade. Over the past year, index funds grew their assets under management by nearly 85%.

Tax cuts, trade wars and tariffs. These are just three of the myriad major economic factors likely to define Donald Trump’s second term as US president. Speculation on the minutiae is the flavour of the month.

“Inflation is as violent as a mugger, as frightening as an armed robber, and as deadly as a hitman.” So said former US president Ronald Reagan, referring to rampant inflation in the early 1980s.

Property is an old, established asset class for investors. That doesn’t mean it isn’t undergoing fascinating progress.

What’s in your daily coffee? If you’re a connoisseur, you’ll know all the details, from caffeine to quinic acid. You likely have a favourite origin for your beans and can tell when they were roasted slightly hotter than you prefer. Of course, you may just appreciate your morning hot beverage for a jolt of energy.

Risk and reward. That’s life. It is certainly the underpinning principle of investment strategies. Lofty potential returns make riskier assets enticing. On the other hand, we all like the comfort of safe-haven assets with their lower volatility and greater predictability.

Few of us will ever hold $1 million in one hand. The iconic, shining bricks labeled “Ag” on the periodic table are worth $1.06 million at the latest price of over $2 650 per troy ounce, the unit in which precious metals are measured.

Many investors are both globally orientated and socially conscious. That presents challenges. How do you invest in businesses in multiple countries with confidence that they meet your financial criteria and fit your ethical standards? It’s a job for an all-rounder.

You can’t live life without taking some risks. From starting a business to driving a car, nothing worthwhile is guaranteed to go exactly as planned. And therein lies the solution – planning. If we do this right, we can maximise the expected benefits and reduce the associated risks. As with life, this is at the heart of good investing.

Watch an insightful webcast as Simon Brown from JustOneLap.com sat down with Johann Erasmus, the executive director at 1nvest, to explore the exciting world of commodity investing.

Watch this enlightening video featuring Ryan Basdeo, Head of Index Portfolio Management at 1nvest, and Simon Brown from JustOneLap, as they delved into the world of ETF investing.

An exclusive webcast featuring Wehmeyer Ferreira, Executive Director at 1nvest, and Simon Brown from Just One Lap. This insightful event digs into the power of income investing through 1nvest’s REIT and Bond Income ETFs, listed on the JSE and tracking both local and international markets.

Property owners know the stresses and strains of buying a home. Hunting for a house, securing funding and navigating the legalities of transfer take time and energy. However, investing in an exchange traded fund (ETF) avoids these challenges, with many more benefits to boot.

Welcome to our new-look newsletter: Inside Track. This is where our 1nvest professionals bring you into the fold with the latest trends, changes and insights relating to index investing.

We hope that all of our clients and partners had a restful holiday period and share our sense of renewed energy for 2024. By all accounts, we are in for a busy year ahead, full of challenges and opportunities.

We hope that all of our clients and partners had a restful holiday period and share our sense of renewed energy for 2024. By all accounts, we are in for a busy year ahead, full of challenges and opportunities.

You’ve probably seen the headlines in the financial press about Japan’s equities boom. The Nikkei index keeps hitting record highs after gaining more than 28% last year. At the same time, the country’s economic growth is stagnant. It was only after GDP figures were revised upwards for Q4 of 2023 that Japan officially avoided a technical recession. It’s worth unpacking this apparent contradiction.

In the 1990s there was only one name in computer chips. Its logo was almost certainly on the hulking big PC you used at home, in the office or in the school computer room. But one day in 1993, while Intel enjoyed a near monopoly over computer chips, three enterprising tech entrepreneurs formed a company over coffee and breakfast at a roadside diner in East San Jose, California.

We often describe our exchange-traded funds (ETFs) as “highly liquid”. And they are. Compared to many investments, ETF investors have great freedom to buy and sell at a market rate, and to have the exchange completed rapidly. In this edition of Inside Track, we take a moment to explain the mechanics that make this possible.

Ownership is usually perfectly obvious. That is, when it comes to physical items we can see and touch. We know exactly what it means to own a home, a car or the device you are reading this on. Things can be less clear with intangible items, like investment products.

“The rand is going to …”. The second part of that sentence varies a great deal, but if you’re a South African, you probably hear the first part a lot. From the news to the braai conversation to meetings between client and financial advisor, it seems ever-present. For good reason. Dealing with rand uncertainty is something every financial plan needs to do well.

The latest FTSE/JSE Africa Index Series rebalance became effective on 18 March 2024, where index trackers rebalanced their portfolios during the closing auction of 15 March 2024. Index harmoziation phase 1 changes were also effective from market open on 18 March 2024.

You might recall it as “Pt”, with atomic number 78, from your high school science classes. If you speak Spanish, you may know that its name derives from “platina”, the diminutive of “plata”, which is “silver” in English. Of course, if you’re an investor, you’re interested in platinum’s prospects as a winning part of your portfolio.

Imagine you received an unexpected lump sum of money. Maybe a bonus at work or a special dividend. It’s a problem we’d all like to have. But not an easy one. If we decide to invest it rather than splurge, we’ve already won half the battle. Nonetheless, we’ll face all sorts of temptations that can draw us into investing it suboptimally. That can be costly.

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The benefits of balance are all around us. In nature, a whole ecosystem suffers when one species gains dominance. In sports, it’s rarely the player with a single killer shot that wins consistently in the long run. Champions tend to have multiple skills. Adding patience to balance makes for a powerful combination in many spheres of life.

“Stick to your knitting”, goes the old saying. Like many nuggets of wisdom that have stood the test of time, this captures a simple but powerful truth. There are benefits to focusing on the things you’re good at.

You know your strategy is doing something right when economists give you a celebratory nickname. For example, if you’re among the “Asian Tigers”, you have been a part of one of the most impressive industrialisations in history. Similarly, earning the nickname “the world’s factory” rightly suggests dominance as a manufacturer and exporter. Sometimes your own industrial giants even get names of their own, such is their global acclaim. Places like this are attractive investment destinations.

Throughout history, gold has been a fascinating asset. Bring it up at a braai, and you’re sure to spark a heated debate. The “gold bugs” will hail it as a safe haven, and there is sure to be at least one critic who reminds you that it pays no dividends. You’re also likely to hear that gold has historically been difficult and expensive to hold – even dangerous!

Throughout history, gold has been a fascinating asset. Bring it up at a braai, and you’re sure to spark a heated debate. The “gold bugs” will hail it as a safe haven, and there is sure to be at least one critic who reminds you that it pays no dividends. You’re also likely to hear that gold has historically been difficult and expensive to hold – even dangerous!

When the mechanical loom emerged in the early 1800s, panic spread through the textile industry. What would happen to employment if one machine could do the job of hundreds of skilled weavers? Fears of technological unemployment led to mass protests by workers and the destruction of these newfangled machines.

Following the news can feel like a full-contact sport these days. As we speak, there are multiple international conflicts taking place, and several tense geopolitical scenarios hold the risk of turning violent. Economically, inflation and interest rates are stubbornly high, while company earnings generally fail to impress. Add to this the upcoming election in the US, where multiple potential outcomes have vastly different meanings. And if you’re South African, the array of political and economic uncertainties prevails. This paints a picture of great complexity for investors.

“Balance” has a prominent role in finance and investing. Anyone who has taken a course on accounting knows the importance of balancing a balance sheet. Investors often seek to build a balanced portfolio of assets that targets a set of goals. One type of balance we talk about frequently in our products is the quarterly rebalancing of a fund. That may sound complex, however, the principle is basic and handy for all investors to understand.

We often talk about exchange traded funds (ETFs) as being hugely versatile investment tools – very good for diversifying your investing in all sorts of different asset classes. They are. But they are also extremely well suited to gaining investment exposure to particular assets that are traditionally difficult to get access to. Platinum is one of those assets.

Occasionally we hear people discussing index tracking as if it is a vanilla approach to investing. There seems to be an assumption in some circles that because we often describe exchange traded funds as “simple”, that means they are easy or boring.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed from the “next big thing” to “today’s big thing”. Rarely do we get through a day without being bombarded with AI’s latest application or opinions on where it will go next. And for good reason. It is a powerful technology that has the potential to impact every aspect of our lives. Investing is no exception.

The 2008 global financial crisis brought about an inflection point in the way people view investment management. Many investors looked at the widespread collapse of markets and felt a heightened need for more straightforward products that explained exactly what they would do, and then did it. That meant more money began seeking the benefits of exchange traded funds, or ETFs.

Integrating ESG principles as a core pillar of a company’s value proposition has become essential rather than a nice-to-have. However, such efforts have barely scratched the surface.

Ryan Basdeo, 1nvest Head of Index Portfolio Management recently participated in an Asset TV Indexation Masterclass alongside industry colleagues Kingsley Williams, Chief Investment Officer at Satrix, and Anelisa Balfour, Index Portfolio Manager at Old Mutual Investment Group.

The gold mining industry represents a large part of the development of the South African economy. The JSE itself was established in 1887 during the first South African gold rush. As the largest producer of platinum and second largest producer of palladium in the world, platinum group metals (PGMs) are deserving of attention.

This event was created to facilitate thought-leadership around matters affecting the investment industry and equip financial advisors with information on the current and future evolution of the index tracking market.

This event was created to facilitate thought-leadership around matters affecting the investment industry and equip financial advisors with information on the current and future evolution of the index tracking market.

In part 2 we cover: Intergenerational Wealth Management: Advisors future-proofing their relevance to new generations.

In part 1 we cover: Our Fragile State: A review of the South African socio-economic landscape.

October is our birthday month and we’re excited to have turned three! 1nvest launched in October 2019, and we have continued to grow especially over the last year which has been particularly significant as we reached a number of milestones.

1nvest has been on an incredible journey for the past few weeks as we launched and listed on the JSE our offering of three new compelling and relevant index-tracking global ETFs.

We recently hosted a special webinar chatting about everything related to the newly launched 1nvest MSCI World Socially Responsible Investment Index Feeder ETF (ETFSRI). If you missed this session featuring 1nvest’s Head of Index Portfolio Management, Ryan Basdeo; Simon Brown, the Founder of JustOneLap and Gareth Allison, the Executive Director at MSCI Inc, then watch it here.

This event was created to facilitate thought-leadership around matters affecting the investment industry and equip financial advisors with information on the current and future evolution of the index tracking market.

If you’re interested in buying shares to invest on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange,  here’s a quick guide to help you understand how the JSE works and how to get started.

Ready to invest your money in investment funds in South Africa but not sure what options are best suited for you? This foundational guide provides a great place to start.

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Passive versus active investing is an ongoing debate. Let’s explore which investment strategy will be best-suited to your objectives.

1nvest and the JSE SheInvests 2021 initiative, empowering women to invest with confidence.

Interest in passive or index tracking funds among investors has exploded globally. These funds have gained ground in South Africa too, albeit off a low base, as investors seek greater diversification at a lower cost.

Passive investing has seen a dramatic rise over the past decade, particularly in the US where passive products have exploded and are now receiving large inflows.

1nvest’s commodity ETFs win four awards at the SA Listed Tracker Awards 2021 for outstanding performance.

1nvest’s Rhodium and Palladium ETFs were recognised as the JSE’s top-performing index-tracking funds, driven by strong precious metal markets.

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) allow investors to gain exposure to a market or asset class through a single, exchange-listed investment.

It's been a year since 1nvest was founded and we are looking back at the milestones from our first year.

Unit trusts allow investors to grow their portfolios through diversification, professional management and access to a wide range of asset classes.