
FSCA explores value-for-money framework for retirement funds
The regulator is looking to international models as it seeks a more consistent way to assess member outcomes, costs, and investment performance.

The regulator is looking to international models as it seeks a more consistent way to assess member outcomes, costs, and investment performance.

Initial cost comparisons can obscure how fees linked to assets, salaries, or membership grow over time, potentially producing sharply different outcomes.

Discovery’s research points to a complex relationship between mental well-being, financial behaviour, and retirement savings withdrawals.

ASISA’s member statistics show substantial market growth, while the average drawdown rate remained broadly stable at 6.6%.

With household debt absorbing income and retirement outcomes remaining poor, Discovery has introduced a benefit aimed at addressing both pressures.

Retirement funds back efforts to make unclaimed benefits easier to find but say transferring billions in retirement assets into a central fund goes too far.

Exercising regularly is only the starting point for Discovery’s argument that everyday behaviours can have a lasting effect on earnings, debt, and retirement security.

Fewer respondents are using advisers as AI tools gain traction, and many remain unsure where to turn for financial guidance.

Access to education and information has expanded, but the challenge is turning member engagement into better financial decisions and outcomes.

As members leave compulsory preserved savings behind when changing jobs, fragmentation across funds may make it harder to manage fees, investments, and progress towards retirement.

Former FSCA Deputy Commissioner Astrid Ludin argues that the reform has become an unexpected indicator of South Africans’ vulnerability to financial shocks.

Sanlam’s latest Benchmark suggests economic shocks, disrupted careers, and health risks are reshaping how clients across age groups make financial decisions.

The latest Benchmark research argues that small, recurring gambling losses can compound over time just as powerfully as disciplined investing can build wealth.

Sanlam’s Benchmark report argues that improving member outcomes increasingly depends on linking financial advice, healthcare, and risk benefits.

Despite two decades of growing regulation, administration costs have fallen sharply, leaving more retirement contributions invested for members.

While billions have been withdrawn through the two-pot system, Alexforbes says more members are remaining connected to retirement funds long after leaving their employers.

Data from Alexforbes and Sanlam suggests more members are preserving retirement savings, though it is too soon to know whether the shift will last.