Know Your Money with Bronwyn Waner and Craig Finch

Send us Fan MailThe most frustrating money argument is the one where both people are “right”. We dig into a core idea from Morgan Housel’s The Psychology of Money: no one is crazy, we all make decisions based on the tiny slice of the world we have personally lived through. That slice might be small, but it shapes our spending, saving, investing, and risk choices more than any spreadsheet ever will.We get practical with real-world financial planning examples. Bronwyn shares a scary medical aid moment that instantly changes how you think about premiums, private healthcare costs, and what “risk” feels like when it is no longer theoretical. Then we move into retirement planning and how one defined benefit story can set a family’s beliefs for decades, whether that story ends in security or disappointment. We also unpack why people judge lotto tickets, and why that judgement often misses the emotional truth behind the purchase.Along the way we connect the dots to South African saving and investing tools like retirement annuities and tax-free savings accounts, and why these relatively modern vehicles still need time and behaviour change to work. If you want a clearer lens on money psychology, compounding, and building a plan that can handle both luck and bad luck, press play. Subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more South Africans can learn to know their money.Support the showPlease subscribe to our podcast or have a look at our website www.growthfp.co.za

Send us Fan MailMarkets shout; money grows quietly. We sat down with Tamryn, Head of Retail at Allan Gray, to unpack why investor behaviour often drifts with the news cycle and how to build a plan that outlasts the noise. Using platform data, we explore how starting point bias shapes equity exposure for years: investors who began during strong local markets still hold more equities than those who started after a weak stretch. Even when age and other factors are normalised, the human bias of focusing on what has just happened can continue to keep portfolios off plan. Then we revisit March 2020. Some investors switched from balanced funds to cash as fear spiked, felt vindicated for a few weeks, and then watched the rebound sprint away before the world felt safe. Getting back in late turned a “defensive” move into the worst outcome versus staying invested. The takeaway is confronting but freeing: action often feels right, yet inaction can be the smarter move when your strategy is sound. You cannot time the turn, but you can own your process.  We also talk age and worldviews. Many younger South Africans have only known a weak rand, local equity underperformance, and steady low inflation, which can harden into belief. Older investors have seen cycles turn, high inflation cool, and markets recover after crises from Black Monday to pandemic panic. The constant through all of it is compounding. A long-run illustration shows how a small, persistent edge plus time dwarfs the index, turning steady decisions into extraordinary outcomes. Start where you are, automate contributions, resist switching, and let time work.  Great performers have coaches; investors should too. A skilled adviser keeps you anchored to goals, rebalances behaviour, and helps you stay in the game when headlines try to push you off court. If this conversation helped reframe your strategy, share it with a friend, subscribe for more grounded money talk, and leave a review telling us the habit that helps you stay the course.Support the showPlease subscribe to our podcast or have a look at our website www.growthfp.co.za