Editor's Thoughts.

Not going to lie: two recent articles have brought the whole “I’ll worry about retirement later” mindset into painfully sharp focus for me.

The first was Suzette von Broembsen’s (PSG Wealth) article, published on 27 August, on the real cost of waiting to invest. The second is today’s piece from Martiens Barnard (Momentum Investments). Together, they make one thing abundantly clear: retirement saving is, at its core, maths.

My financial advisor recently told me I need about R11 million by age 65. Suzette’s numbers show how timing changes everything: start saving at 25 and you need to save R500 a month; wait until 35 and it becomes R1 750pm; at 45, R6 750pm; and at 50, one needs to save nearly R14 000 every month. I’m just on the wrong side of 50, so yes, I felt that.

Martiens adds another sobering figure: a R12 million lump sum (close enough to my R11m) will buy me a pension of roughly R50 000 a month in retirement income.

And yes, there’s assumptions baked into both of those sums, but it really does give you, your clients and your fund members, the bottom line, right?

Now, investment returns will do much of the heavy lifting as I build towards my R11m. Simeka, Old Mutual and Sygnia share different perspectives of where the markets are after August. My summary: Falling inflation and a stronger rand supported SA markets, with the FTSE/JSE ALSI gaining 4.6% thanks to a surge in resources. And the Reserve Bank is likely to keep rates unchanged at 7% while assessing geopolitical risks.

But, in reality, we all know that saving for retirement is not just maths. It’s made messy with emotions and behaviour. So how do you meaningfully change the lives of clients and fund members? Watch today’s Industry Insights with Rob MacDonald, as he shares his experience and tips from his book The 7 Pillars of Financial Health.

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