I think that one of the things that worry all of us the most, about getting older, is how one controls one’s affairs, mentally, emotionally and financially. On a financial side, there are 10 001 smooth operators running around, from one elderly person to another, trying to get them to invest their money in the latest property development that is going to be a huge hit.

Obviously, because most of them by retirement have not saved enough and do try and invest their money more conservatively, anything that gets interest rates will seem attractive and a number of these companies do so quite well. If one actually knew what each company was paying, then probably the best guide as to how risky the investment would be is how much commission they are paying. The more commission they pay their sales people, the more likely it is to be a dud investment. The elderly gets very easily trapped into investing into the latest small little regional shopping centre, where they will benefit from the “property market” and “wonderful dividend deals”. If I only look at a development close to where I live - even the Pick ‘n Pay store closed.

You can claim that you have a tenant like Pick ‘n Pay, with somebody 200 kilometres away investing in your development may not know that it is only a Pick ‘n Pay franchisee for example, which is not exactly the same thing.