Fynbos Money, a new South African investment platform, is revolutionising how young people approach saving and investing by eliminating the need to seek out, and pay for, financial advice before getting started. By offering the best-in-class Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA) and emergency savings account directly to customers, Fynbos is the obvious first step for any young investor.
Co-founder Adrian Hope-Bailie explains that the platform demystifies investing by providing a proven investment strategy that works for anyone and makes this available at a transparent flat fee with no commissions or advice fees. By making the product easy to use Fynbos removes the barriers that often prevent young South Africans from starting their financial journey earlier.
Reducing complexity
“The investment industry thrives on the complexity it creates. Fear, uncertainty, and doubt are used to sell products that are overpriced, overly complicated, or ill-suited for young investors,” explains Adrian Hope-Bailie. “Young people these days are savvy enough to know that if they don’t have a lot to invest, anyone offering them financial advice is making their money through commissions on selling them products they probably don’t need. As a result, they are often doing something far worse, not investing at all,” says Hope-Bailie.
“We built Fynbos to be so obviously the best place to start, that our customers feel confident they can do it themselves. But most importantly, if they do seek advice, even if it’s just from friends and family, anyone that understands the impact of fees and taxes or the value of a diversified portfolio and offshore exposure, will recognise that Fynbos is by far the best product they’ll find in the market for this purpose.”
Radically transparent pricing model
Fynbos is designed to make long term investing intuitive and effortless. Every investor – young or experienced – should start with two fundamental accounts: an emergency savings fund and a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA). These accounts form the bedrock of any long-term investment strategy, and Fynbos provides easy-to-use versions of both, using a novel and radically transparent pricing model.
“Every single South African should have an emergency savings fund and should be trying to maximise their contributions into a TFSA. If they do nothing else for their long-term wealth, they should at least do those two things. For young people the value of starting now is exponentially higher because the power of compounding growth is in their favour,” says Hope-Bailie.
Fynbos customers get a basic version of the emergency savings fund and TFSA for free, only paying the trading fees each month when Fynbos uses their contributions to buy into the underlying funds. For access to additional features and fund choices customers can then upgrade to a flat-fee monthly subscription. There are no advice fees, or percentage-based fees or commissions, so the fee the customer pays stays consistent and transparent as their portfolio grows.
Low-cost, high-growth investment options
Customers set personalised financial goals and then their monthly contributions are automatically allocated to their different accounts according to these goals, ensuring consistency without added complexity. The platform uses low-cost, high-growth investment options, such as passive index-tracking feeder funds with high foreign equity exposure, to maximise returns while keeping fees minimal.
“With Fynbos, there’s no need to navigate the intimidating world of investing alone – we’ve done the hard work, so our users don’t have to,” says Hope-Bailie. “Our mission is to show South Africans how easy it can be to start, cut through the noise and the jargon, and get them into the habit of investing a little bit every month with confidence.”