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Offshore investing

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EkisDoep
Frequent Contributor
With such a large portion of the top 40 on the JSE deriving their income from offshore, does it still make sense to invest offshore? I am talking about a small amount - R200k and a five year term.
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10 REPLIES 10
leoridge
Contributor
Would say it depends on how diverse you want to be offshore ?
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partridge
Super Contributor
What is your starting point - do you have an objective in terms of overall "offshore" ( ie international ) exposure? How does the objective compare with where you actually are on this journey? R200 000.00 is not a large amount in GBP or USD. Costs. It can be done but you might be better off with a 6-7 year time horizon( consider what "offshore" actually delivered to RSA investors for the first 10 years of this century)
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stores
Super Contributor
Doep... yes...In our JSE top 40 most have foreign earnings. Base curreny decisions are for me the more important decision to make for the long term. I made a good move to convert from USD to GBP in my offshore stuff last year (when I changed brokers). Hope tomorrow's Scottland referendum does not let me down with the GBP though....Good luck anyway.
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EkisDoep
Frequent Contributor
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Not applicable
OK, my 2c worth here. There can't be more than 2 or 3 inward listed stocks that have negligible contribution by the SA market. So all your JSE investments have some degree of exposure to the local economy. Offshore investing is supposed to diversify you, so it makes sense to have such a strategy. Also, the cost structure is different - WHT doesn't always apply. The challenge though, is logistics and timing. Building an offshore portfolio at global market all time highs and the rand / $ reaching multi-year highs doesn't seem prudent to me. I would suggest patience. And then there is the question of logistics. Global fund managers are not going to pay much interest to your 10k 'ront' - you will need a couple of hundred k. Unless you want to do it yourself, in which case you have a helluva lot of work to do - considering the sheer volume of stocks out there.
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kwagga
Super Contributor
My best advice: Go to this site: http://www.equinox.co.za/unittrusts/funds/default.asp Pick a top performng global fund were you can invest in directly. Look at the fee structure and minimum investment amount. Make up your mind and invest.
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kwagga
Super Contributor
Start by selecting just Global Funds
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geordie47
Occasional Contributor
@kwagga. I had unit trusts with equinox. they were taken over by PSG afew years back. still got them with PSG and performing well.
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kwagga
Super Contributor
Also consider buying the following right here on OST (Quickfind, Shares, OST): http://www.etfsa.co.za/ETF_factsheet.htm Look at the ETF's from Deutsche Bank that tracks Euro Stoxx 50, MSCI Japan Equity, MSCI Japan Equity, MSCI US Equity, MSCI World Equity http://www.etfsa.co.za/Factsheets/dbxeurostoxx_jun2014.pdf
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stores
Super Contributor
Doep...In my comment above, I assumed that your funding was from off shore (i.e. not in Rands)...Quagga gives good advise if you are entering with Rands. As regards Skaap's comment on entering in on new market highs and to be cautious, yes agreed, but lots depends on the time frames for your situation, though. Everyone and his auntie called that the markets would be flat this year....How wrong they were...Also do not disregard history, in that most markets, normally are bullish in the last 4 months of the year. With my GBP investments 60% is in tracker funds (30% on S&P and 30% on FTSE Top 100)....Saves paying serious commissions to Fund Managers, the funds of which, historically only outform tracker funds about 25% of the time....My 2c only...Good luck again.
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