Investing your lifelong savings or monthly saving into an economy that is on a slippery slide with all the big infrastructure letting the country down is the question South Africans ask.  The answer is not simple.

I am personally a supporter of spreading your wings – you can check my eToro profile on https://www.etoro.com/people/moonwater/portfolio.  If you register on eToro you can copy my profile.

My portfolio had the following returns:

2020       42.55%

2021       41.37%

2022 to date -13.35% – The S&P 500 was down 20.6% in the first half of the year, the worst since 1970.

The annualized return of the portfolio to date is 45% which is well above the targeted return of 25%.

You can compare this to the results on local portfolios.

There are however considerations when investing internationally:

• If you are not an experienced trader, you could burn your fingers with any trading and international is no different
• There is a cost in buying and selling dollars to invest and disinvest AND the rate at which the rand trade against the dollar at the time
• It cannot be your only investment.  Investments should spread across shares in multiple industries, property, cash and even countries
• Careful of short-term buy and sell
• Consider longer term investment strategies
• Understand the tax implications when de-investing and the tax disclosure requirements when investing
• Consider copying someone’s trade on a social investment platform (e.g., eToro) if you do not have the skill or confidence
• The cost of investing on a social platform is minimal compared to working through a broker
• Make cash part of the international portfolio
• Long term and international investment is not a vehicle for emergency cash needs to avoid having to disinvestment in a bear market or when the ZAR/$ exchange is most unfavorable

Important:  No returns on shares are guaranteed.  If you copy someone, you do so at your own risk.