By Shelley van der Westhuizen, head of financial well-being strategy & applied research at Alexander Forbes People often need support to make the most of their money to live better and retire better. The right support at the right time means that better choices are possible because they’re based on a good understanding of options. Choices that relate to big financial decisions often are best made with expert help from a qualified financial adviser. But there are things that each of us can do for ourselves to make the most of our money. Making the most of your money involves
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By: Khanyisa Phika – Alexander Forbes Economist More than 26 years later, women are still underrepresented in the South African economy Every Women’s Day commemoration brings us an opportunity to track progress on the declaration made in 1994 by the country’s first democratic government to prioritise gender equality as reflected in the South African Constitution. For centuries women around the world have been marginalised by repressive cultural norms and excluded from fully participating in the economy and in decision-making roles to the detriment of society. Equality, equity, and parity – what’s the difference? Equality is the desired end state of
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The Department of Social Development has released a green paper on comprehensive social security and retirement reform for 2021. We note that it is largely similar to previous proposals dating back to 2012. In brief, the proposal is to create a centralised National Social Security Fund managed by government. This fund intends to provide basic benefits for all qualifying citizens up to a threshold, including all employees from within the private sector. In addition, citizens can choose to top up their retirement benefits using an occupational or individual arrangement. In practice, this means that most existing members will become dependent
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National Treasury released a media statement on 11 August, noting that government and other stakeholders are exploring a ‘two-bucket’ system to address retirement fund members’ conflicting needs for longer-term financial security and short-term financial relief: First bucket for longer-term financial security Members must preserve their contributions and the compounded growth invested. They will not have access to this portion of their funds until they retire. Second bucket for short-term financial relief Members may access the fund value for emergencies even while they are employed and a member of the fund.   Alexander Forbes supports the intent of National Treasury to
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