Investment fundamentals

Forex Trading:

1. The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized market for the trading of currencies. The main participants in this market are the larger international banks.

And the larger international Simon's (I am 6"1 no less).

As someone with a strong grasp of the political economics behind international currency pairs I was confident that my first million would be traded relatively quickly. However having done a lot of reading, I realized that it is not quite as simple as I thought.

The exchange rates of a country are governed by a number of indicators that (most) economists agree on such as inflation and various consumption and labour reports released by the state. My borrowed copy of Economics 1A confirmed this to be a fact.

However, theory and practice are far removed from one another as a quick Google search revealed. Approximately 99% of independant forex traders go insolvent. In the words of famous economist John Maynard Keynes, 'The markets can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent.'
From what I can see, this is largely due to over leveraging of their positions however I have decided to put a hold (excuse the economic pun) on this exercise and rather pursue safer investment options...

A quick study of the investment climate in South Africa reveals a few key features for young(ish), bull(ish) investors:

-The JSE is at an all time high. Investing in equity would be foolish at this time.
- Gold is tracking down from a thirty year high. The opportunity might present itself in the coming future however the downward trend looks to continue for the near future.

Currency still appeals to me. And while I have ruled out the heavily volatile forex market, investing in hard currency might? be the way to go. The Chinese Renminbi interests me no end. The currency is pegged (fixed and currently floating) against the USD and in many economists perspectives is undervalued.

What would happen if the peg was removed? Despite the HUGE implications for world trade, would the yuan appreciate enough to beat the deflationary effect over time?

I think it might.

Studying and Teaching

I haven't posted anything in a long time. I mean a very long time.

So what have I been up to? Very much actually. I am learning to ice-skate. Not that 'go around in circles with a hoard of other people' type of skating but rather the break a rib 'learning to skate backwards and hockey stop' kind of skating. It's fun.

Sailing. I have been exploring Johannesburg's Ocean, both on my dad's small yacht (Dream One) as well as racing on a friends bigger, faster, more streamlined yacht (Easy Beat). We have experienced gale force winds on two occasions, once during a regatta on Easy Beat. The strong winds worked to our advantage - great fun! On another occasion, 9km from home, on the much smaller Dream One, just my girlfriend as crew - not so much fun!

 My honours degree is nearing completion (Political Science) and next year I am going to Taiwan or China (haven't decided which one just yet) to teach English. Watch this space. In the meantime I am learning mandarin.

Ni hen xihuan hoor kafe, xien bo xien?

In the meantime, I fill my days with tutoring at the University as well as the large amount of studying that comes with doing an honours degree. In between all of this, I have completed my TESOL certification at the WITS Language School (and got a job there!) as well as learnt to slackline!

The TESOL course was much more challenging than learning to slackline (these two activities are, of course, comparable). It involved very little motor coordination (something I am good at) and a lot more speaking (something which I find more challenging). However the TESOL course was more rewarding because I am yet to have taught a Somali refugee how to slackline.

The Wits Language School offers free lessons to refugees from across Africa as a part of their community outreach. As a new teacher, teaching these lessons proved invaluable to both my growing as a teacher and my sense of involvement in helping out in the community. It was extremely enriching to see these students (many of whom could barely speak English to begin with) grow in their ability and confidence so that by the end of the course it was possible to have a conversation with them in English!

Seems a bit bland without pictures. The new GoPro is out in October, so until then... Use your imaginations!