News and Views

A surefire way to secure a stable income in retirement is through a life annuity. But the biggest detractors from a life annuity are often the perceived lack of flexibility, as well as the belief that leaving a capital legacy for beneficiaries is not possible.

Historically, the inability to adjust income from a life annuity has led to many retirees self-insuring against running out of money and is the reason why many South African retirees opt for a living annuity.

Soon-to-be-retirees have many options to consider to ensure their retirement and discretionary savings work best for them in retirement. If you have diligently saved for retirement, you don’t pay income tax on contributions paid into a retirement fund or retirement annuity, nor on the investment build up within these retirement vehicles. But when you retire and start taking the money out, it will be taxed as income.

Risks in retirement are not new but may have been exacerbated with the COVID-19 pandemic and its effect on lifestyles. Yet there are some practical steps that you can take to best achieve health and wealth in retirement, regardless of market conditions. 

What effect can a zero percent increase have on your retirement savings? As contributions to employer pension or provident schemes are based on a percentage of your salary, the answer is clear. The lower your increases, the lower your contributions to your retirement fund will be, as well as the amount of your employer’s contribution. And the less money you have invested to capitalise on any investment growth. 

Despite the perception that life annuities are complex retirement products, they present a practical solution to protect against investment market volatility and increased longevity. This article looks to answer some of the questions retirees still have about life annuities.

People are still concerned about the risk that they will live longer than they have anticipated and outlast their savings, says a MONEYWEB article featuring insights from Just SA CEO Deane Moore. 

The article covers content shared at the recent 50plus-skills webinar on mental, physical and nutritional health for the 50+ community, proudly sponsored by Just SA. We also shared some results from our 2020 Just Retirement Insights, together with some practical steps to take to secure at least a portion of your retirement income.

MONEY MARKETING focused on the benefits of a with-profit annuity in their February digital magazine (page 28). Since its launch in 2015, Just has focused on enhancing the features, transparency and performance of with-profit annuities in South Africa for the benefit of pensioners and advisers. With-profit life annuities offer retirees an income for life, which will never reduce regardless of what happens to investment markets or how long a retiree lives.

According to the WALL STREET JOURNAL, if you want to maximise how much you can safely spend in retirement, some economists say, sell some of your bonds and buy lifetime income annuities. [Subscription required]

Retirement income specialist Just announced 2021 with-profit annuity increases that comfortably beat inflation, benefitting pensioners with a much-needed boost to their retirement income.