In this episode of Ghost Stories, The Finance Ghost is joined by Siyabulela Nomoyi from Satrix to unpack one of the most important, yet often misunderstood, concepts in investing: benchmarks. From retail portfolios to institutional mandates, we explore why returns only tell half the story and why every investment outcome needs a meaningful point of comparison.

Satrix, the leading provider of index-tracking investment products in South Africa, has announced the further expansion of its offering into another African country outside of South Africa. The company selected the Botswana Stock Exchange (BSE) as the platform for the secondary listing of three of its JSE-listed exchange traded funds (ETFs), with the listings having gone live on 9 July.

Nonhlanhla Mphelo, Senior Portfolio Manager at Satrix, unpacks common misconceptions about emerging markets. The risk-reward setup for these markets looks interesting, particularly as developed markets have become more concentrated in tech.

Volatility feels like risk. The daily noise, the red screens, the uncomfortable drawdowns - these are the stress points for investors. This is what might keep you out of the market altogether. But what if the real risk was avoiding the markets over the long-term, rather than managing the bumps along the way? Kingsley Williams of Satrix explains.

In this episode of Ghost Stories, I was joined by Satrix’s Nico Katzke to unpack a global market that feels eerily calm in the face of rising risk. From Middle East tensions and the growing threat of energy disruption to the curious resilience of equity markets, the conversation explores whether investors are underpricing just how fragile the current environment really is.

Lauren Jacobs, Senior Portfolio Manager at Satrix, highlights some of the challenges faced by women on their wealth creation journey - and what to do about them.

In this episode of Ghost Stories, we get stuck into the world of fixed income - a space that retail investors often overlook in favour of equities. Yusuf Wadee of Satrix concurs with The Finance Ghost's cricket analogy: fixed income returns act as the singles that keep the scoreboard ticking over. But that doesn't mean that investors should default to low-yield cash accounts. Veteran fixed-income portfolio manager James Turp from Ninety One explains how his funds aim to optimise returns in the sweet spot between cash and bonds. And now, with the launch of the Satrix Income Actively Managed ETF (AMETF), investors have an easy way to access this expertise.

Private markets come with challenges related to daily price discovery, liquidity and due diligence. Although ETFs cannot solve these issues, they can act as a liqudity sleeve in situations where committed institutional capital can be invested in a liquid ETF until the private market manager calls the capital. Duma Mxenge joined me on this podcast to explain how this works.