This article is based on a section the best-selling book The Ultimate Guide to retirement in South Africa by Wouter Fourie and Bruce Cameron. While many people are looking forward to the freedom of retirement, making ends meet during retirement can be a challenge. But it isn’t all bad news. While you are most...

Choosing a living annuity is a decision you cannot afford to get wrong. Buying a living annuity marks the transition from saving towards retirement to drawing from your retirement funds. It’s a decision you cannot afford to get wrong and, as such, should be carefully considered – preferably with the help of an independent...

The success of generational wealth planning is dependent on honest and transparent communication across generations, while at the same time ensuring that family relations are protected, respected, and nurtured. Wealth is seldom isolated to a single generation, and most who have amassed wealth have the desire to ensure that their assets are transferred to...

According to Hugo Malherbe (Executive Product Development at PPS Investments), South Africa has one of the lowest household savings rates in the world. To encourage the culture of savings, the government introduced tax-free investment and tax-free savings accounts in 2015 to incentivise good savings habits. Today, tax-free investments appear to be a popular choice...

Saving is a fundamental part of building wealth. Even the most modest salary can build wealth for an individual who has cultivated the right saving habits, and even the highest-paying jobs can’t prevent you from going bankrupt if you don’t have a solid savings plan. Wealth comes from not spending on things or possessions....

When a member of a retirement fund dies before reaching retirement age, the death benefit – the lump sum benefit that becomes payable – must be paid to the member’s dependants and/or nominees, and this process is strictly governed by Section 37C of the Pension Funds Act. Before answering this question, a good place...

If you know you are behind in your retirement savings, the worst thing you can do is nothing. If you’re behind in your retirement savings, the thought of trying to catch up – especially as you near retirement age – may appear overwhelming and seemingly impossible. Most retirement advice reiterates that, in order to...

Gap Cover is a short-term insurance product tailored to extend the benefits of medical aid, by covering shortfalls on hospital and doctors’ bills, as well as sub-limits and co-payments imposed by medical schemes. However, the specifics of what is covered and how it is covered, differs widely between Gap Cover providers, and even between...

What does this mean and how can this affect your retirement savings? Longevity risk refers to the risk of outliving your savings, meaning there is a chance that your life expectancy may exceed the years you have savings available to draw an income from. How can you make the most of your retirement savings?...

Summary: Some of the key drivers of mega gap claims in 2020 were: Musculoskeletal, connective tissue and circulatory conditions. An article by Sirago, sheds light to their analysis: Not only are average gap claims values rising, but large or mega gap claims are also increasing in frequency, with large shortfalls ranging between R41 000...