How your money is invested
When you invest with Franc, your money is allocated into one or more professionally managed investment funds. These funds are managed by leading asset managers and are designed to suit different levels of risk and investment timeframes.
The investment options
When you set up an Investment Goal, you will be offered an investment strategy that is a mix of these three core fund types:
Allan Gray Money Market Fund. A low-risk fund that invests in short-term cash instruments. It aims to preserve your capital while earning a stable return, ideal for short-term goals (less than 3 years).
Satrix Top 40 ETF (Equity Fund). A higher-risk fund that tracks the performance of the top 40 companies listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE). Suitable for medium- to long-term investing (3+ years).
Sygnia Itrix S&P 500 ETF (Offshore Equity Fund). A fund that gives you exposure to 500 of the largest companies listed in the United States. It offers growth potential linked to a wide range of businesses and is best suited to medium- to long-term investing (3+ years).
The blend of these funds is selected based on your timeline — shorter-term goals lean more heavily on money market, while long-term goals incorporate more equity exposure for growth.
For anything outside your Investment Goals, here are the underlying funds you have available to invest in:
The Franc Tax-Free Savings Account is designed for long-term, tax-efficient investing. It uses a single, globally diversified fund – the Satrix Global Balanced Fund of Funds ETF – which is a high-quality fund that balances growth and stability by investing across global markets.
The Franc Retirement Annuity is built for long-term retirement saving, especially for younger South Africans starting their journey. It invests in the Sygnia Skeleton Balanced 70 Fund, a Regulation 28-compliant fund with high equity exposure designed to deliver long-term growth while meeting retirement fund regulations.
If you invest in Bitcoin through Franc (available to Pro Account holders), your contributions to a Bitcoin Goal are pooled and used to purchase Bitcoin directly, which is securely held through a managed account at VALR, a trusted South African cryptocurrency platform. You don't need to set up a wallet, register with an exchange, or worry about storing your private keys; Franc handles all of that for you.
How returns work
The value of your investment changes based on how the underlying assets perform.
- Money market returns are relatively stable and paid as interest once a month.
- ETFs and balanced funds grow through asset price increases, interest and dividends.
Your money is never locked in. You can switch your fund allocation (change your investment strategy of a goal), transfer within a goal or withdraw when needed.
How dividends are handled
For the local and offshore equity funds, dividends are reinvested where possible. If a dividend amount is too small to purchase additional units, it's allocated to your Excess Cash account until it can be used to buy more units in future.
Why we use these funds
- They're low cost and passively managed, which means lower fees and no fund manager trying to beat the market.
- They're diversified, so your money is spread across many investments.
- They're easy to understand and have yielded good results over the long term.
Behind the scenes, Franc works with providers like Allan Gray and Satrix to offer access to these funds, without you needing to go through them directly.
We keep things simple, transparent and aligned with your investment plan, so you can stay focused on your goals.