A retirement annuity is a tax efficient investment vehicle designed for individuals. The primary target market are individuals who do not participate in a company pension or provident fund. There are 3 main tax benefits with regard to investing in a retirement annuity.

The retirement reform proposals make pre-retirement preservation compulsory, but only to the extent that anyone withdrawing from a pension or provident fund (and not transferring to another employer retirement fund) MUST transfer to a preservation fund. This fund can be either the trustees’ default option or one of their own choosing. The amount transferred into [...]

There is some confusion (and concern) that taxing the employer contributions as a fringe benefit (as envisaged by retirement reform proposals) will prejudice employees and disincentivise saving. Fortunately, this is not the case, and the new treatment will be tax neutral for the employee.  In terms of present legislation, only the employer may claim deduct [...]

This week’s Financial Mail discusses the merits of active versus passive investing (active funds & passive funds) in which 10X features prominently. The article states the case for passive investing looks compelling…few active managers can outperform the market on a consistent basis: often this is attributed to luck. It highlights that some funds (Allan Gray and Foord) have delivered [...]

If adopted, the latest round of retirement reform proposals will change the retirement landscape fundamentally. It would position the lowly preservation funds as the central social security product that could pay out both unemployment and post-retirement income. In the process, it may well replace other post-retirement products, such as living and conventional annuities. National Treasury must however still address the unintended tax consequences of these proposals.

The latest Today’s Trustee magazine features an article that highlights 10X’s fresh approach to managing retirement funds: Upsetting the applecart. The article focuses on 10X’s view that the retirement fund industry has lost sight of its core purpose, which is to give members (investors) the best possible chance of meeting their retirement goal. Instead, the industry is [...]

All retirement investors have the same objective: to secure a pension that will preserve their standard of living through-out retirement. Yet the retirement fund industry has obscured this essential objective, and contrived to make form and innovation the focal point. Yet what investors (and trustees looking after their fund) really need is an objective framework that enables them to make informed decisions. And the tools to identify the optimal solution from the myriad of options peddled by the industry.

In our previous post, we explained how South African residents could take their retirement savings abroad on emigration. The current foreign exchange allowances make this a relatively simple process. The issue is more complicated for non-residents who left their retirement annuity fund behind. We receive many queries from former residents, who want to know how [...]

Pension fund returns from the large fund managers for 2012 were recently released and show substantial under-performance against benchmarks and 10X’s index funds. The underperformance is before fees, so investors were penalised on two fronts, ie under performing portfolios and high fees.

There is ongoing uncertainty on how retirement investors can access their savings on emigration. Given our country’s history of exchange controls and the restrictions that apply to retirement savings, concern on this matter is understandable. In the past, the South African assets (including retirement savings) of persons emigrating from this country were “blocked” and had [...]