50 YEARS OF TRADING ON THE JSE

A doyen of the markets shares five golden insights from his illustrious career

- DAVID SHAPIRO

WHEN I was a recently qualified chartered accountant stepping onto the JSE floor on 1 February 1972 as a runner, I didn't dare to dream of the amazing career I've had, the incredible people I've worked with, and of the dramatic ebbs and flows of the markets as they've responded to history in the making each day.

I still choose to learn new things every day, but in the last five decades of working in what's got to be one of the most exciting jobs around, I've learned a few key things that have stayed true through the years, no matter what was going on in politics anywhere in the world!

Build wealth, don't preserve it

Preserving wealth for your retirement is simply not enough. Most of us now live longer than we planned for, and I've seen so many people who didn't focus on building wealth have to dramatically downsize their lifestyles in their later years, simply because they lived longer than they (or their financial adviser) planned them to.

Management is everything