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Behavioural finance and its impact on retirement outcomes

22 May 2015

Behavioural finance is a new area of financial research that explores the psychological factors affecting investment decisions. The fundamental basis of behavioural finance is that investors are not rational, they are prone to cognitive and behavioural biases. These psychological factors affect investment decisions, distorting information and causing investors to reach incorrect conclusions even if the information is correct. Whether we are active members, pension fund trustees or asset consultants, we are all prone to the same biases and decision-making foibles, says Andrew Rumbelow, Segment Head: Institutional Business at Sanlam Investments.

Delays to retirement reform shouldn’t mean delays to your retirement savings

21 May 2015

The 2015 Budget reminded us that retirement reform is an ongoing process, with several of the proposed changes potentially coming into effect on 1 March 2016 at the earliest. Understandably, potential investors would rather have certainty before making investment commitments, but delaying saving while waiting for clarity is a bad idea, according to Richard Carter, head of product development at Allan Gray.

Making steady progress forward in the retirement industry

18 May 2015

When employees join retirement funds, do they opt into success but default into failure? Or do they default into success and opt into failure? This is a question that is seemingly subjective, but it is more cut-and-dry than we think bearing in mind the small percentage of the South African population that is able to retire comfortably.

Dependents, debt, disinterest and withdrawal the key issues defining retirement today

11 May 2015

63% of members and 57% of pensioners used withdrawal benefits to reduce debt, according to research released in the key findings of the 2015 Sanlam BENCHMARK Survey, a comprehensive annual review of South Africa’s retirement industry. “The reality is, today’s retirees are faced with a range of challenges, all impacting their ability to save for retirement and sustain the same standard of living they were able to uphold prior to retirement,” says Viresh Maharaj, chief marketing actuary at Sanlam Employee Benefits.

quick poll

Question

Do you think short-term insurance broking will survive the AI plus humanoid robotics age?

Answer

Human first always Not a chance Possibly maybe Yes, but reimagined

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