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Thanks I also added Santova as it seems like it has had solid results year after year. Pallinghurst was bought at around R 3 so not too bad in the last year I think now that Platinum is heading up it will do even better with Sedibelo Platinum and their Gemfields and Iron operations now getting good prices.

Just as a matter of interest I sold out of Pallinghurst at R 3.14 - but this was in 2011 thus why I say they have done very little over the years

Fawkes85 - your welcome

Second time now I see people talking about CSG, what exactly do they do?

Their nature of business is stated as "a contract services group offering a wide range of services including staffing solutions, facilities management (nice way of saying running your canteen operations) industrial, mining and related services in Southern Africa to an array of mostly blue - chip clients
If you are on a broker platform punch in the company code and then look at statutory data. From my JSE records there highest price in the last 12 months has be R 1.76 and a low of R .96
Bulelani Ngcuka used to be the Public Protector some years back and he is chairman of this company

Hope that helps
 

I believe SONA is Thursday

Correct - wonder if it will be delivered as the EFF and another obscure party oh I know the ANC will both be protesting outside on the day

Fawkes - I don't wish to burst your bubble but my opinion is that you need to separate the writing from the financial - it just seems to me that the driver is the income you need to derive. I don't think there is an author that has not struggled initially before their books started paying the bills. I am not saying you should ignore the financials, but the real reason you are going down this path is the enjoyment of writing, there are things like writers block and if this occurs it could have a significant impact on your financials and what's you back up plan or contingency in this situation, because the costs will keep coming at you month after month and if you don't meet these commitments it will impact on your writings. You will end up writing to meet the bills and enjoyment will float away.
Consider stabilizing your financial position and have enough contingent funds to meet expenses for say 6 months and then do your writing knowing full well you have enough funds to see you through this window period.
I agree whole heartedly that you must have milestones, but you need something more than that what you need are tasks that assist you in achieving these milestones as these are checked quarterly/half yearly or even annually and for your set up this is too infrequent to review. With tasks you can be definitive like, "writing four hours each and every morning except Saturdays and Sunday"; "writing 2000 words a day", and other such tasks which keep you on the straight and narrow daily. The human is a unique creature they can find all manner of reason for not be disciplined and for deferring a commitment.
I would also suggest that you do an internal uniquely to you mind map where you set out the plot of your article, this will bring structure, thread, timing and conclusions.
I would also speak to subreddit and try and get a sense what articles are popular and once you establish that try and find out who your target market really is do you want to do travel doccies, drama, theatre, humour, serious stuff, text books, or read and throw away type articles
Could go on but may exceed forum word count

But most of all I wish you success with your chosen endeavours       

1st discovery - my Discovery medical aid premium went up by a whopping 19%
2nd discovery - using my Clicks card at NuMetro to pay for a ticket actually costs R5 more on a Wednesday 

Well I wouldn't complain I have GAP insurance over and above my medical aid premiums. The GAP Insurance is run by PSG and they have just ramped up the premium from R 155 to R 210 per month so that's about 35% increase

Maybe Google Wendy Knowler and then write to her to see what she could suggest as whether there is a comprehensive listing across all supermarkets.
She used to run the consumer column in the Sunday Slimes but has stopped this column - most annoying

I may be wrong but I think these could be mortgage participation bonds and as you state your funds are locked in for 5 years.
I don't think there is anything wrong with this investment class but you really need to sit down and look at your whole investment horizon and decide how much you want to invest in different classes of investments. Also there is no way that you can exit these instruments ahead of time unless you can prove "necessitous circumstances" which could be medical or death, but there will be penalties raised for early release

I would suggest that you look at structuring an investment portfolio, consider what you may need in each class of investment and if a component is investing in the stock exchange then read up and attend seminars on how to invest - banks at one stage used to run such courses as did the JSE from time to time

Finally ask question of this forums community - never be afraid to ask question even those that may seem silly to you - nothing worse than getting your fingers burnt because you failed to ask a question

Good luck