Editor’s Thoughts.

One thing is for sure in 2026: The world is noisy and uncertain, and it’s tempting to hibernate for the winter (especially if you’re in the Cape), but doing nothing with your savings or your members’ investments is still a decision.

From Maarten Ackerman (Citadel) and Sebastian Mullins (Schroders), we’re reminded how quickly geopolitics can flip the script. The reality is that while markets may have decided to look through the Iran conflict with equities reaching new highs, the Strait of Hormuz remains closed. And the longer it takes to re-open, the more challenging it will be for the market narrative to continue.

Oil shocks, sticky inflation and delayed rate cuts all feed through to growth, markets and ultimately to members’ and investors’ retirement projections. Stagflation-lite may not be a crisis, but it can quietly erode real returns if portfolios aren’t diversified and reviewed.

It’s in this context that our conversations take place. And Batseta’s upcoming Winter Conference is appropriately timed to consider the Power of One Degree. The world is different, so investments should be different too.

But it turns out, many of our challenges are not (surprisingly) only being felt locally. In today’s episode of Industry Insights, EBnet.Stream chats to Uche Enemchukwu (Nelu Diversified Solutions)  about her experience as a global pensions consultant. And, in this noisy world context, how do we answer members’ simple objective of: “Where am I now, what does this mean and what should I do next?”

The world won’t get simpler but your plan can get clearer.

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