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It is amazing it has taken so long, but using your phone for money transactions is quickly becoming the norm. It looks like credit and debit cards in their physical form are on their way out (like buggy whips and CDs before them), though hard cash will be with us for some time to come...

Africa is where this "movement" began and where it is having its strongest impact. Millions of people, who have until now avoided using banks for a number of practical reasons, are utilising easy-touse, low-cost mobile money apps to make everyday payments, send money to relatives, and save.

The cellphone networks are big players in this space. Read Anna Rich's in-depth report on page 8.

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) have been in the news recently, but are they here to stay or just a passing fad? On page 14, read what I could find out about this new digital form of creation – or rather new form of ownership of one's creations – and how investors are parting with obscene amounts of money to buy some of them.

The global property market has been a relatively lucrative one for investors in the past, but Covid-19 has been a major disruptor, accelerating trends that were already present to some degree. Shopping centres and office blocks have been hit hard with the rise of online shopping and working from home. Schroders' Sophie van Oosterom looks at global real estate from an institutional investor's point of view (page 18), but her observations hold true for individual investors interested in this market.

Elsewhere in this edition you can wise up on the role of the banking ombud (page 22) and surviving retrenchment (page 42), among other things. Enjoy.

VOLUME 89

4th QUARTER 2021

An Independent Media (Pty) Ltd publication

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Personal Finance magazine (ISSN 1562-3750) is published by the proprietors, Independent Media (Pty) Ltd, Star Building, 47 Sauer Street, Johannesburg, 2001

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Now is not the time to sit by idly.

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Big business.

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By investing R2,25bn of our own capital.

To jumpstart the economy.

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Now is the time to plan.

We know the importance of keeping as many businesses going as possible. That’s why we’re actively supporting businesses that have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 by creating the Sanlam Investors’ Legacy Range –three impact funds with the core objective of helping to preserve current jobs and creating new ones. To find out more about the Sanlam Investors’ Legacy Range, visit www.sanlamintelligence.co.za/institutional/.