Getting out of investments (#222)

We spend a lot of time thinking about building an asset base and which assets we should be buying. 

As you approach financial independence, getting rid of assets starts to present problems. Which assets should you get rid of first? How do you manage your capital gains liability? How many of your assets should you get rid of and when? How can you use a capital loss to offset your capital gains liability?

This week we consider the challenges in living off your investments. If you’ve spent your whole life accumulating assets, getting rid of them is bound to feel like sacrilege.

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Win of the week: Gert

Was listening to your show about the confusing jargon, synonyms and abbreviations/acronyms we use, especially the term “coupon” used in describing the return on a bond. 

I seem to remember reading about the etymology years ago and looked it up on Investopedia, but found a better explanation on Wikipedia:

The origin of the term "coupon" is that bonds were historically issued in the form of bearer certificates. Physical possession of the certificate was proof of ownership. Several coupons, one for each scheduled interest payment, were printed on the certificate. At the date the coupon was due, the owner would detach the coupon and present it for payment (an act called "clipping the coupon").[2]

The certificate often also contained a document called a talon, which (when the original block of coupons had been used up) could be detached and presented in exchange for a block of further coupons.[3]

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Hannes

For equity investments, I've read that it's important that there is a "CSDP account" for each user of the platform. central securities depository participant 

They note:

"First World Trader Nominees holds a Securities Account with an authorised central securities depository participant (CSDP) admitted to Strate, in the name of FWT Nominees into which Clients’ Securities are deposited or stand to be credited."

So it sounds like some rights are seeded to EE here. Should I be concerned?

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Luan

I have an RA with work which is invested in Momentum Focus 7 fund of funds which I believe has a TIC of 2.08%. Work contribute 5% and I match that – I have come to the realisation that while they will continue to contribute into that, I can choose not to and rather put my portion into something that works better for me.

I do have an RA with etfSA which I have been contributing to and wondered what your thoughts were on topping up into this or whether I should rather put it into ASHGEQ type investment?

I am also looking to help my sister start her own additional RA and wondered what your thoughts were on the etfSA RA or Sygnia Skeleton 70 fund? (will be starting fresh so not beneficial to do OUTvest)

My sister and I will likely not retire in SA and I wondered what advice you would offer on how to safeguard our future, specifically with the value of the rand (in 15-20 years) when our RA’s begin paying and we are in another country? Are we being silly contributing into personal RA’s now for the tax benefits and should we rather be buying investment ETFs like ASHGEQ it STXWDM with those monthly contributions (+-R5000)?

We do not have offshore investment accounts (do have a UK bank account) and am assuming for now the best route is through EasyEquities USD account until we have a more substantial amount – would you agree?

I want to make sure that we are putting our money to work in the right places and can then let that compounding go wild.