How Magnus Heystek became SA’s Dr Doom
Investment adviser Magnus Heystek has been telling anyone who’ll listen to ditch SA stocks and push money offshore. It’s a message that sits badly with many in SA’s investment industry
For years Magnus Heystek topped investment companies’ invite list for golf days, lunches and weekend getaways. He was a drawcard — charismatic, smart and a prolific personal finance writer, who later opened high-flying investment advice company Brenthurst Wealth Management.But recently, the invitations have dried up. After 40 years in the industry, his relationship with asset managers could euphemistically be described as "strained".As returns on the JSE plunged in recent years, Heystek’s blunt message — that investors need to ditch SA equities and shift money offshore — has put him at odds with investment firms whose business relies on punting local assets.His relentlessly negative attitude towards SA markets isn’t easy for people living in the country to hear. It has made him a divisive figure.In recent weeks on social media, for example, Heystek has said SA is "trying to destroy its economy to achieve radical political objectives"; that pensions are "the only pot of money left t...
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