Retirement / General

Sanlam Benchmark 2021: Standalone retirement funds indicate they will invest on average 6.6% in infrastructure investments – but is this enough?

Ageing and inadequate infrastructure remain a major obstacle preventing South Africa from realising its economic growth potential. Proposed regulatory changes will allow retirement funds to increase their investment in infrastructural projects - but are funds planning to do so?

Sanlam Benchmark 2021: The devastating impact of Covid-19 on retirement

Research to be released on 22 June will show how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the employee benefits industry and retirement prospects of South Africans. For 40 years, the Sanlam Benchmark findings have helped the retirement industry navigate the complexities of the sector and guide members through the challenges they experience in planning for retirement.

Yet another RA investor cries foul

Back in 2020, or was it 2019, I had first-hand experience of the poor savings outcomes on offer from sales-driven financial advice when I chose to make one of my retirement annuities (RAs) paid up. I had, for many years, been contributing to a product that my financial adviser has since assured me was the ‘Toyota Corolla’ of RAs during the first decade of the new millennium. Everyone was driving them; and every adviser worth his or her salt was selling them. These Toyota Corolla’s have rewarded present day consumer journalists with thousands of column inches as they assist disgruntled savers in voicing their unhappiness. The latest article, published on Moneyweb.co.za, features a client commenting under the pseudonym Mr G. For full disclosure, this Mr G is not me, though I have been called by that moniker in the past.

How shared value can solve retirement problems