In a climate of market volatility and economic uncertainty, managing your finances can feel like a daunting task. Kenny Meiring is a Certified Financial Planner and the voice behind the weekly Financial Wellness Coach Q&A in Daily Maverick. With years of experience, Kenny is passionate about demystifying the world of money and providing actionable, level-headed advice.
Do you have a question for @Kenny_Meiring about navigating investment and money? Ask him anything in the thread below 
Hi Kenny,
Let’s say you are in the 30%+ tax bracket and have a large sum to invest. (RA and TFSA will be maxed out). Given the current political turmoil and uncertainty experienced globally, would it be prudent to rather put that money into an endowement as opposed to continue investing in shares, indexed funds or ETFs? (An emergency fund and short-term liquidity is not an issue).
Hi Kenny
We are thinking about taking a big family holiday. We have an emergency fund, and outside of that, we put as much as we can away into long-term investments that we never touch. We wouldn’t tap into existing savings to pay for the holiday, but we would pull back on how much we put into long-term investments in order to cover the costs. Given the market uncertainty this year, does it actually make it a good year to be cutting back on the investment and spending the money?
The key issue is really your investment timeframe.
If the money is being invested for the long term, I would still be comfortable with a good balanced fund. Times of political turmoil and market uncertainty can feel unsettling, but they also often create opportunities to buy quality shares at lower prices. For long-term investors, that can work out very well over time.
If, on the other hand, the investment horizon is shorter, then the conversation changes. In that case, it may be worth looking at more defensive assets or hedging strategies to reduce volatility and protect capital.
The endowment wrapper becomes particularly useful where the investment term is longer than five years and your marginal tax rate is above 30%. In that scenario, the tax benefits can be meaningful and an endowment can be a very effective way to structure the investment.
So rather than letting short-term uncertainty drive the decision, I would start with two questions: how long is the money being invested for, and what tax rate are you paying? If the horizon is long term, a decent balanced fund is often still the right answer. If it is shorter term, more caution is warranted. And if the timeframe is more than five years and the tax rate is above 30%, an endowment deserves serious consideration.
Hi Kathryn
The key question is not whether markets feel uncertain this year, but whether the money would otherwise have been earmarked for long-term investing. Markets have been more volatile in March 2026, with investors moving more money into cash and analysts warning that geopolitical tension could keep things bumpy for a while.
That said, if your long-term investments are genuinely long term, this is often exactly when you want to keep contributing if you can. Periods of uncertainty can mean you are buying good assets at lower prices, which can work in your favour over time. So I would be cautious about calling it a “good” year to cut back purely because markets are unsettled.
I would frame it this way: if the family holiday is important and you can comfortably fund it by temporarily reducing contributions without derailing your long-term plan, that is perfectly reasonable. Life is for living too. But I would make that decision because the holiday is a priority, not because market uncertainty makes investing less attractive.
In other words, if this is a once-off pause and your long-term plan remains intact, that is fine. If it becomes a habit of pulling back whenever markets feel uncomfortable, that usually does more harm than good.
Thank you, Kenny. I appreciate this guidance. We will take the holiday and still keep up with our long-term contributions (they will just be slightly lower than years when we don’t take big holidays).