About

About MarketReason

MarketReason is an independent South African platform created for one simple reason: most local investment information is either too sales-driven or too technical. We wanted something different — clear, honest explanations that anyone can understand, without the pressure to buy anything.

Here you won’t find “get rich quick” promises, hot stock tips, or sponsored product placements. Instead, we focus on the concepts that have mattered to South African investors for decades: how compounding really works, why the rand behaves the way it does, what long-term JSE data actually shows, and how ordinary people can use straightforward tools like ETFs to build diversified portfolios.

Everything published on MarketReason is researched from publicly available data, academic studies, and decades of local market history. We’re not financial advisers and we don’t sell anything — we just believe that better understanding leads to better long-term decisions.

Whether you’re in Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban or anywhere else in the country, if you’ve ever wondered how investing actually works in a South African context, this site was built for you.

South African investor reading market data

Voices from South African Finance

Thoughts from analysts, economists and long-term investors

“The rand is a cyclical, volatile emerging-market currency. Over decades it has trended weaker, which has been a tailwind for offshore assets held by South Africans.”

Dave Mohr
Chief Investment Strategist, Old Mutual Wealth

“The biggest risk most investors face is not market volatility—it’s running out of money in retirement because they stayed too conservative for too long.”

Jeanette Marais
Former CEO, Momentum Investments

“ETFs have democratised access to proper diversification. Today any South African can own the entire market for less than 0.2% a year.”

Nerina Visser
ETF Strategist & Director, etfSA

“South African equities are among the cheapest in the world on most valuation metrics right now. That doesn’t guarantee short-term gains, but history shows that buying when sentiment is this poor has usually paid off over the long run.”

Izak Odendaal
Investment Strategist, Old Mutual Wealth

“Compounding is the single most powerful force in long-term wealth creation. An investor who starts at age 25 and adds consistently will almost always end up ahead of someone who starts at 40—even if the later starter invests much larger amounts.”

Magnus Heystek
Investment Analyst & Founder, Brenthurst Wealth