Life Insurance

Savings Month: The first step is critical, the next steps make the difference

One of the hot topics discussed every year in July during National Savings Month is the importance of taking the first step on your investment journey, and simply getting started. While this is most certainly positive, it is also critical to take the next steps to ensure you build momentum.

Consumers encouraged to save during Savings Month

With South Africans having one of the lowest Household Savings ratios in the world, at just 0.6%, National Savings Month in July provides a great opportunity for South Africans to consider their saving habits and how they can save more.

Financial lessons from a father

An unexpected intersection between group risk and cyber cover

An overwhelming eight-in-10 retirement fund members experienced a reduction in annual salary increase, reduction in current pay, took a forced sabbatical or went through a retrenchment process during pandemic, with up to 41% of employers in umbrella funds offering financial respite by suspending employees’ retirement savings contributions. One of the interesting observations from the Sanlam Benchmark 2021 is that participants remained committed to meeting their risk cover premiums throughout the crisis. “The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of employers offering risk benefits to their employees,” noted the report. “The average deduction to cover the cost of life cover was reported as 1.51% for stand-alone funds and 1.2% for umbrella funds, which is aligned with previous years”.