Simon Brown

Creator

Simon Brown

Simon Brown is a Financial Mail personal finance columnist. He describes himself as a talker, investor, trader, photographer, writer, chocolate eater and wine drinker.

SIMON BROWN: Ignore the noise and the fury

Elections are looming in the US and South Africa, but investors should stick to their long-term strategy

SIMON BROWN: What rats can tell us that directors can’t

When rats flee a sinking ship, the signs are clear. When directors sell, not so much

An employee holds one-kilogram gold bar at Gold Investments Ltd.

SIMON BROWN: The perfect plan is to hold gold

Why being bitten by the bug is not a bad thing

No, capitalism is not broken

Despite predictions of shrinking profit margins in US-listed stocks, they’ve expanded to record levels. Here’s why.

Moonshot’s Kimi K3: The latest shot fired by the Chinese industry

SIMON BROWN: Your AI spend just got slashed

China has won this leg of the AI race by making the trillion-dollar AI companies of OpenAI and Anthropic worth a whole lot less.

Fear and missed opportunities. Rawpixel/Currency

Don’t let fear of failure stop you in your tracks

Good investing means getting comfortable with uncertainty. Back your research, buy some, and let confidence grow with experience

Buy or Sell? That is the question

SIMON BROWN: Hold on just a little bit longer ...

In the online trading world we can buy and sell in seconds, but this should not change our thinking around how and why we invest. It’s still about quality at great prices and…

A large amount of gold

SIMON BROWN: When it comes to gold, look past the obvious

Everybody is asking me about gold. Specifically, why isn’t gold running higher?

SIMON BROWN: A Rose-AI by any other name

From sneakers to AI computing — Allbirds is just the latest company to jump on the bandwagon. One wonders whether NewBird AI will survive the hype or suffer the same fate as the…

SIMON BROWN: The AI spending spree continues …

The hyperscalers are betting big bucks. And they’ll be winning for as long as the spending supports real infrastructure and user demand stays strong.

SpaceX prepares to list via an IPO. Consider what it aims to achieve

SIMON BROWN: To infinity and beyond

SpaceX, OpenAI and Anthropic are heading for IPOs. Here’s how you can play it.

A striking visualization of human and artificial intelligence collaboration, highlighting financial growth and data analysis in a modern business setting with futuristic elements.

SIMON BROWN: Mind your language when it goes large

AI can be a huge help in your investing workflow, but it's worth remembering that it will never be 100% accurate

BROKERS’ NOTES: Buy South African bonds, sell US bonds

Whereas yields on South African 10-year bonds may yet improve, the situation for US long-dated bonds is looking less bright

SIMON BROWN: Better late than never

Perhaps it was a boring and predictable budget for some. But for the first time in years there were significant changes for investors and small businesses

An illustration of a man with coffee, floating with charts

SIMON BROWN: Is vibe coding killing the SaaS star?

The idea is that companies that spend billions every year on SaaS will just vibe-code their own software and cancel their SaaS contracts. But how likely is that to happen?

SIMON BROWN: Betting on the wisdom of the crowd

When betting on prediction markets, sometimes you’ll win and sometimes you’ll lose, but it always pays to read the fine print

An illustration of a man with coins

SIMON BROWN: So that happened. Now what?

You can find IFTTT situations aplenty in investing; just follow the logic from one action and its impact to the next

Picture: REUTERS

SIMON BROWN: Why going on a power trip may not be the best idea

AI needs data centres. Data centres need power. So investing in energy stocks seems smart — but beware the overload

SIMON BROWN: Time for reflection: When less is more

It's worth taking the time to review your portfolio, learn from your mistakes, and then let time and compounding do the heavy lifting.

SECURITY RISK: Working remotely may open up vulnerability to cyber crime if not properly assessed

SIMON BROWN: Number crunching with AI

Benford's law can spot fraudulent insurance claims. With the assistance of AI, can issues at listed companies also be picked up?