June 2023
22Jun

Over 80% of South Africans plan to work past retirement due to insufficient savings: Survey

About 89% of those who participated in the FNB Retirement Insight Survey plan to continue working past retirement age due to a lack of sufficient retirement savings. The survey, which focused on pre-retirement and post-retirement periods, also revealed that the majority of low-income earners are not confident that the retirement plans they have will deliver results due to financial constraints and age. It has also been discovered that about 39% of respondents who don’t currently have a retirement plan in place...

June 22, 2023
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12Jun

South Africa: ‘Two-Pot’ Retirement System to Kick in On 1 March 2024 – Here’s How It Will Work

The draft legislation governing the first phase of the proposed two-pot system has been published and is open for comment. The long-awaited draft legislation with more details regarding the roll-out of the "two-pot" retirement system was published on Friday afternoon. The changes are being introduced in response to consumers' dire financial stress during the Covid pandemic, when many were unable to access their retirement savings despite having no other money to turn to. The implementation date remains 1 March 2024, and the...

June 12, 2023
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May 2023
12May

South Africa. Distribution of military veterans’ pensions gains momentum

The Defence and Military Veterans Department says the pension payout for military veterans, who do not have any income, is going full speed ahead. “We have noted the confusion and uncertainty created by the lack of clarity on the part of the Department of Military Veterans officials in their interaction with Parliament’s oversight committee on Defence and Military Veterans,” the department said on Thursday. However, the department clarified that the distribution of the pension is being implemented through the Government Pension...

May 12, 2023
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April 2023
20Apr

South Africa ranked bottom in global pensions rankings

The South African pension system has been ranked at the bottom of a global ranking of 75 countries by financial services company Allianz. The Allianz Pension Index, published in the firm’s Global Pension Report, ranked countries based on three pillars: analysis of basic demographic and fiscal conditions; determination of the sustainability (eg funding and contribution periods) and adequacy (eg degree of diffusion and pension level) of the pension system. “With an overall score of 4.2, the South African pension system is...

April 20, 2023
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13Apr

South Africa: Grandparents Spend Their Pensions to Feed Entire Families as Food Crisis Hits Hard in Eastern Cape

As Eastern Cape communities are hit by spiralling food inflation and unemployment rates of 42.4%, the province's elderly residents are using their state pensions to look after families in crisis and often have to rely on loans in the last weeks of the month. In Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, pensioners are selling scrap metal for food as whole families rely on their grants to survive and the cost of food often leaves their cupboards bare before the end of...

April 13, 2023
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March 2023
10Mar

The Influence of Financial Literacy on Retirement Planning in South Africa

By Nyasha Tapiwa Dhlembeu, Mamekwa Katlego Kekana & Mpinda Freddy Mvita Background: A shift in the retirement planning and pensions landscape has created an enormous responsibility for individuals to plan for their retirement provision actively. Very few South Africans reach the average retirement age of 65 years with sufficient funds to sustain themselves during their retirement. Purpose/objective: Using secondary data from the 2011 South African Social Attitudes Survey (SASAS), this study aims to examine the influence financial literacy has on the...

March 10, 2023
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February 2023
28Feb

RSA Group completes one of largest pension risk transfer deals in U.K.

RSA Group insured £6.5 billion ($7.8 billion) in liabilities for two defined benefit funds through a buy-in with Pension Insurance Corp. in one of the largest risk transfer transactions ever in the U.K. market. RSA Group, which is a subsidiary of Intact Financial Corporation, covered liabilities for 40,000 plan participants of Sal Pension Scheme and the Royal Insurance Group Pension Scheme. Intact contributed £500 million to the deal, which was accelerated by an improvement in pension fund funding levels due to...

February 28, 2023
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January 2023
26Jan

South Africa. Take-home pay falls almost 5% in December, capping off dismal year, index shows

South Africans' average take home pay declined almost 5% in December, ending a dismal year at a low point, with signs that record load shedding and rampant inflation took its toll on households, Africa's largest automated clearing house BankservAfrica said on Wednesday. Average pay, as measured in BankservAfrica's Take-home Pay Index, slipped to R14 663 in December, when more than 200 000 new jobs were added, probably reflecting the fact that many new jobs are likely to have been created...

January 26, 2023
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18Jan

South Africa. PIC refutes government pension fund insolvency claims

The Public Investment Corporation (PIC), which manages over R2 trillion in funds, is refuting claims circulating on social media that the Government Employee Pension Fund (GEPF) is facing insolvency risks, as a result of an alleged £158 billion (R3.3 trillion) legal claim against its portfolio of assets. According to a PIC statement released on Monday, ‘Nedbank Private Wealth’, a Nedbank subsidiary previously affiliated with insurer Old Mutual, is alleged to have engaged in “bad business practices” in the UK and...

January 18, 2023
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16Jan

South Africa. Struggle war vets demand R10.5bn payout

The 2 500-strong group of Liberation Struggle War Veterans are resolute in their demand for a one-off payment of R10.5 billion in reparations, amounting to R4.2 million per individual veteran, as part of their submissions on Monday on the proposed military pension legislation. Aside from this, the former soldiers, who fought during apartheid for the freedom of black people in South Africa, are also demanding the government pay a pension of R36 million per annum, which translates into R15 000...

January 16, 2023
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