14 July 2011 - Financial Mail - Ruan Jooste

Initial cost is misleading

According to a study conducted by the Actuarial Society a few years ago, prices quoted for a guaranteed annuity with the same terms and conditions will be directly comparable between various life offices.

Retirement fund trustees and advisers have become accustomed to choosing retirement with-profit annuities (WPAs) based on the initial cost. However, considering initial pricing alone could be extremely misleading.

"Aggressive pricing upfront could have a profoundly negative impact on future returns," says Johann Swanepoel, senior manager: annuities at Momentum Employee Benefits.

Business Report - 30 May 2011

Superior returns in with-profit annuities

Retirement Fund Trustees are often faced with tough decisions when deciding on a retirement annuity, which will be in the best interest of their pensioners.

This is a result of many considerations such as price, annual and monthly administration fees, future expected returns, historic increases and track record as well as financial strength of the provider; to take into account before making the investment decision.

Retirement Investing - Maya Fisher-French - March 2011

Whose responsibility is it to ensure a secure retirement?

Despite the billions of Rand that is made out of the retirement industry, members, who ultimately pay the fees receive very little advice. As a personal finance journalist, the most frequent question I receive is: I am resigning from my company, what should I do with my pension fund? The question I want to ask is why am I getting these questions? Is it because the member does not trust the advice provided by the fund or is it simply because there is no advice? .

31 March 2011 - Finweek

Death a factor

A shocking fact of life in South Africa that seldom really rings alarm bells is an average life expectancy barely in the mid-50s, whether through HIV/AIDS or other risks peculiar to this country. The last population estimates by Statistics SA reported life expectancy has been in slow decline in SA since 2001, with estimates for 2010 at 53.3 years for males and 55.2 years for females.

26 January 2011 - Business Report

Market moves in favour of low-cost service providers

The health of the employee benefit industry is closely aligned with the health of the economy, with the health of people's retirement planning being even more closely aligned.

This parallel growth tends to leave employee benefit companies jostling for market share, especially when the market is experiencing declining national employment levels - as happened over the past two years.

According to Kenny Meiring, head of broker sales and marketing at Metropolitan, established employee benefit companies have lost market share while newer ones without high- cost legacy systems gained. That claim is disputed.