The Great TFSA Race Investor Profile – Palesa Lengolo

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Driven by her desire to make her money work for her, Palesa Lengolo is passionate about investing.

So passionate in fact, that this full-time investment officer has decided to turn her passion into a business which educates people about the importance of investing, as she feels more needs to be done to teach South Africans about the subject.

Having worked in the financial sector for some time, Palesa is no rookie when it comes to investing. She believes patience and her relentless thirst for knowledge are just some of the key factors behind her success.

Palesa shares some insights with us on what she’s learned in her financial journey.

Tell us a bit about yourself Palesa, who are you and what drives you?

I’m a full-time investment officer who’s passionate about investments. I’ve even turned my passion into a business which I run on the side. My company Palengo Holdings teaches people about investments.

Who or what say influenced your decision to start investing?

The desire to have my money work for me.

What would you say has been your biggest learning curve since you started investing?

I’ve learnt that investing is all about patience. Even when the market is down, as an investor you shouldn’t panic because you know it will come up again, eventually.

You have chosen to invest in exchange traded funds (ETFs), your main reason being that you desire a certain level of financial security. Does the risk associated with investing on the stock exchange not bother you, especially given that return on investment is not guaranteed?

It doesn’t bother me at all because, as I said earlier, as much as the market has no guarantees, it does not stay down forever. What is great about ETFs is that they’re different shares in one basket, so should one in the basket perform badly and the other does well, it creates a balance, which makes them safer than individual shares.

Investing can be quite complex at times, especially for someone who is new at it. What do you think has been your biggest challenge so far and how have you overcome it?

My biggest challenge would be holding on to a ‘bad’ investment and not knowing whether to give it up or let the investment go. I read and research a lot about investments, I also listen to experts on different media platforms, my eyes and ears are always waiting to see and hear more about investing. So I’ve overcome challenges through educating myself, as knowledge makes one a better investor.

What advice would you give someone who is thinking about investing in equities?

I would say that you don’t need to have lots of money to start investing, you can start with as little as R300pm into an ETF tax-free account, for example. So no need to be thinking really.

It’s been a year since tax-free savings accounts were introduced. Based on your personal experience, do you feel that information on TFSAs is easily accessible or do you think more still needs to be done to educate the public?

More definitely needs to be done. There are many people who still don’t know about tax-free savings accounts. Being in the education space, I know this personally. There are people who only hear of tax-free savings accounts for the first time when I mention them. There needs to be some kind of drive by companies to promote and educate the public about them, so every South African can have one because they’re great! We need to promote a savings culture in our country.