Evolutionary Awards – Discovery Corporate and Employee Benefits

Category: Evolution in employee benefits and advice

Describe your evolution:

Discovery Corporate and Employee Benefits launched a Two-Pot calculator to assist any South African who wants to understand what withdrawal they could possibly make from the new Two-Pot system. However, rather than just highlighting how much they could withdraw, we really wanted to assist users to understand the tax implications of these withdrawals too. In addition, we also wanted to get users to understand the impact of these withdrawals on their long- term retirement outcomes. We built in a calculation that shows in one click, how much extra they would need to contribute a month to make back that amount into their retirement fund and also, how many months extra they would need to work to make back that money to have the equivalent outcome had they not made the withdrawal.

Describe the impact your evolution has had in response to its identified challenges and targeted outcomes.

We have had significant feedback on the impact this has had on their decisions to withdraw this money. In a live webinar, upfront we asked people if they were going to make a withdrawal and over 55% said they would be making a withdrawal. After showcasing the calculator, the percentage suggesting they would be making a withdrawal dropped to 45%. That is a 10% change which is actuarially a significant shift. Ultimately, we hope that members will make wiser decisions if they do need to access those funds.