Necessity has always been the mother of invention, but sometimes new ideas enjoy a little extra wind from behind. Three years of a flatlined JSE has been just the trigger for a growing number of South African share market investors who have now discovered opportunities available elsewhere. The momentum is accelerating.
Our partners at Standard Bank Online’s Webtrader were the first mainline operation to offer a hassle-free way into global stocks. At Webtrader’s instigation, since December 2014 we’ve run a model portfolio for its clients – and given its excellent growth, most of those who have participated are sold on the idea.
Latest to offer retail share investors a path offshore is Purple Capital’s highly disruptive subsidiary Easy Equities. It is kicking off with a one month competition on US stock picking. I pre-registered yesterday to test the process and found it pretty simple. It looks like a great way to get a taste of American-listed shares without having to use any hard cash.
There is no exchange control approval for offshore investments of up to R1m a year per taxpayer. Given that the JSE only offers a sliver of the investible universe, if you’ve never bought a foreign share, you’re long overdue.
PS I’m hosting June’s webinar on our Global Share portfolio at lunchtime today – as good a reason as any to sign up for Biznews Premium if you haven’t already done so.
