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THE IMPACT OF DIVORCE ON RETIREMENT FUND BENEFITS
By: MICHELLE HUMAN The clean break principle in respect of divorce was introduced into our law on 13 September 2007, and basically means that on divorce a non-member spouse is now entitled to claim their share in the member spouse’s pension interest as soon as the parties are divorced. Practically, the fund has 60 days
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WHAT YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT YOUR PENSION
By: CRAIG AITCHISON While early reaction in the Eurozone seems to have resulted in the worst of the European sovereign debt crisis being averted, the long-term ramifications will be widely experienced by ordinary citizens across the globe, including millions of South African pension fund members. The long-term economic implications of last year’s sovereign debt crisis
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THE RISK OF INVESTING IN A LIVING ANNUITY
By: SIMON PEARSE When investing for retirement, age 30 to 60, the aim is to accumulate capital. All investment income is re-invested, often tax free. The post-retirement phase, age 60 to 90, differs as the investor draws an annuity from the investment. The real threat to the annuity lasting is capital erosion, best described by
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HOW DO YOU INVEST WITH ONLY 9 YEARS TO RETIREMENT?
By: ROBIN GIBSON What do you do if you have woken up in your mid-50s and realised that you have less than ten years to go until you retire? This question from a reader outlines such a scenario, which we will try to address. Question I am 56 and have not had much luck in
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ARE YOU READY TO RETIRE?
By: FELICITY DUNCAN You, no doubt, have a retirement dream, whether it’s working on your golf game, touring Europe, learning to paint, or just spending time with your ungrateful children and bratty grandkids. Whatever the specifics, you have a dream of a life after work, a life spent doing the things that you love with
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RA vs. DIRECT INVESTMENT
By: INGÉ LAMPRECHT With charges in the retirement industry under scrutiny, and criticism against prescribed asset allocations in some circles, investors may be wondering if they should rather construct their own investment portfolio for retirement. While a retirement annuity (RA) offers tax benefits, some argue that the potential out-performance of a discretionary investment that does
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THE LIVING ISSUES OF RETIREMENT
Today both sides of the generation groups seem to prefer independence’ for the elderly or reliance on some or other communal compound or institution. So one of the most important decisions one has to make before (or early on in) retirement is where to stay. Equally important is whether it is a final move, or
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WILL MY RETIREMENT CAPITAL LAST IF I DRAW 4%?
A more conservative drawdown approach could go a long way to ensure a sustainable level of retirement income in an environment of lower expected returns. South Africans have been spoiled by returns. In the few years leading up to the financial crisis, many fund managers were very comfortable to have a relatively high net equity
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RETIREMENT REFORM IMPLICATIONS OF THE NEW ACT
The Taxation Laws Amendment Act 23 of 2015, which was promulgated on 8 January2016, kicks off the long-awaited retirement reform process. The aim of this first fledgling step towards broad reform is to harmonise the tax deductibility of contributions to all types of retirement funds, as well as provide for the compulsory annuitisation of at
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A FRESH APPROACH TO EMPLOYEE BENEFITS
Can we use employee benefits to save for more than just retirement? Only 4.7 percent of retirement fund members who retired in2015 had enough retirement savings to provide them with an income or pension of 75 percent or more of their final salary, Alexander Forbes, South Africa’s largest retirement fund administrator says. This and other
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