The recent announcement that South Africa is in its first technical recession in nine years has dominated conversations from the newsroom to the watercooler. However, according to Herman van Papendorp, head of investment research and asset allocation at Momentum Investments, there’s really nothing technical about a recession and investors should stick to the basics to protect their investment momentum and ability to generate wealth in these pressing times. He points out that recessions are unfortunately a fact of life – and we need to structure and manage our investments accordingly. “To cope with the inevitable volatility – regardless whether recession or boom - that characterises investment markets from time to time, you should always be appropriately diversified across asset classes, investment strategies and mandates to smooth the investment journey as much as possible,” says Van Papendorp. He explains that a technical recession simply means that the South African economy has...