On Wednesday, Sanlam released its 2020 Benchmark Survey, a comprehensive body of retirement industry research conducted by the group since 1981. With the state of retirement savings in South Africa directly impacting the economy and prosperity of citizens, trends and findings from the research have been instrumental in driving seminal and urgently needed change in retirement regulation over the past four decades.

This year’s findings were released at our first-ever virtual version of the annual symposium event and included a close look at the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on retirement funds. U...

For many South Africans who were already finding it difficult to save for retirement, Covid-19 has created additional financial pressures which may take years to overcome.

If you stopped contributions to your retirement annuity, or took a payment holiday on your pension or provident fund, you might be worried about the shortfall created, and how you’re going to catch up.

Stop worrying and take action to avoid retiring with insufficient funds. There are many ways to contribute to your retirement, from employer and employee contributions to pension or provident fund, monthly contributions to a Ret...

Many small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) breathed a brief sigh of relief in April, when President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a R200 billion Government COVID-19 loan guarantee scheme intended to support businesses with an annual turnover of less than R300 million, as part of efforts intended to help keep the economy afloat.

Growing evidence, however, suggests this relief was short-lived, as many businesses in need were turned away or granted loans on onerous unworkable terms. The Supplementary Budget announcement indicated revisions would be made to make the relief more accessible, but the...

A recent presentation by a top financial planner highlights that if you’re concentrating on South Africa’s markets, you’re going to lose out on investment returns and global growth.

Wouter Fourie, a top-flight financial planner, recently delivered a presentation on offshore investment at the first Global Matters virtual engagement online conference, sponsored by Momentum Investments. He demonstrated that most people who invested offshore, using their assets in their investment-linked living annuities (living annuities or illas), had made gains – it didn’t matter about Covid-19 or the Jacob Zuma...

A subject of furious debate during the lockdown is the ban on tobacco products. In a webinar held by PSG today, Jacques Pauw, author of the gripping The President’s Keepers, told viewers the lockdown is only part of the reason the illegal cigarette trade in South Africa is thriving. This is the first webinar in PSG’s Think Big webinar series, and was hosted by Ronald King, PSG’s Head of Public Policy and Regulatory Affairs.

“The story heats up in 1997, when government increased the tax on cigarettes from 20% of the sale price to 50%,” Pauw told viewers. “This suddenly made it very expensive to...

The year 2020 hasn’t been short of unprecedented occurrences and unexpected surprises. On Monday 20 April for the first time ever, the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil, the benchmark price for US oil, fell into negative territory. While oil has rallied since plummeting below zero in April, the spike in Covid 19 cases in several US states has raised fears of a further decline in the demand for oil – with experts saying prices are unlikely to return to three-digit levels ever again.

What precipitated April’s historic sharp fall? It was primarily because of a technicality of the gl...

South Africans need to contribute 17% of their income for 40 years to retire comfortably on 75% of their final pensionable salary – a 75% replacement ratio – according to the 2019 Alexander Forbes Member Watch.

Simply put, they need over 12 times their annual pensionable salary to achieve a replacement ratio of 75% at retirement, but at age 65 the actual average fund credit is only 3.7. This means that, on average, most members have a shortfall at retirement of over 8 times their annual pensionable salary.

With over a million members, the Alexander Forbes Member WatchTM is the biggest membership...

It has never been more important to think about the future with empathy. Change has become mandatory, as have digitisation and transformation. Humanity is having to relearn itself. The new normal doesn’t exist – it is the normal for the world, right now. According to Michael Sassoon, Group CEO at Sasfin, the future of work, the future of banking and the future of financial services rest on a mercurial foundation of volatility and complexity that needs to be stabilised by recognising opportunity and the value of humanity.  

“The virus is having a huge economic impact on South Africa and the worl...