To buy or to sell?

Those who do not like uncertainty should quite simply stay away from equity markets right now, while those of us who like to buy at a good price shouldn't hesitate to get in, after doing their research.

Importantly, you need to know what you want to buy first and then time the decision for when the price is attractive.

So, if you have high conviction about it, take some of your cash and get in and buy a few undervalued businesses (or a fund) now at a price which is certainly not as high as it was and with fundementals looking pretty attractive - in many industries especially outside of South Africa - and then keep monitoring for further opportunities

One traditional way of reducing Estate Duty under threat

Most well-informed families simply arrange amongst themselves to distribute the more valuable and transportable assets of the matriarch or patriarch informally to family heirs before the executor arrives to tally up the score.  This helps to reduce both the amount which will be payable to the executor (executor's fees are levied at a maximum of 3.5% + VAT, but are negotiable) as well as the amount payable to SARS in the form of estate duty.  They achive this by removing the assets from the family home very smartly if their parents did not distribute them during their lifetimes (a very good idea on many counts).

Beware, as SARS has become wise to this strategy and they are nowadays careful to check the list of assets covered by an insurance policy in order to check whether they have been short-changed or not.  An idea mooted by a friend is to ensure that such assets are not specified...?  This may not be a good idea for obvious, insurance claim-related reasons.