How Retirement Annuities work and what investors need to know

**Note: New annual tax-deductible amount is R430,000 after March 1 2026, not R350,000 as appears here.

Wanting to save for retirement, but unsure whether a retirement annuity is the right choice for you? Our retirement annuity video answers South Africa’s most common questions about this tax-advantaged investment vehicle. A retirement annuity is an investment product that incentivises you to save consistently until retirement age (55+ in South Africa). Every year you get a percentage (based on your income tax rate) of your contributions back from SARS.

00:00 - Intro

00:25 - What is a retirement annuity (RA)?

01:54 - How does a retirement annuity (RA) work?

02:31 - What are the tex benefits of a retirement annuity (RA)?

03:32 - When can you access a retirement annuity (RA)?

04:17 - What happens if you stop contributing to a retirement annuity (RA)?

04:50 - What happens to a retirement annuity (RA) when you pass away?

05:14 - Can you transfer your retirement annuity (RA)?

06:01 - Retirement annuity (RA) vs Pension fund

06:28 - Retirement annuity (RA) vs Living annuity

07:14 - How do retirement annuity (RA) fees work?

08:28 - How do retirement annuity (RA) withdrawals work at retirement?

09:33 - How much should I contribute to my retirement annuity (RA)?

10:11 - Is a retirement annuity (RA) right for me?

10:55 - What can you invest in, inside of a retirement annuity (RA)?

Got more questions about retirement annuities? Check out our retirement annuity FAQ page.

Do your Retirement Annuity sums with our calculator

Saving for retirement has never been this easy. Get a flexible, low cost, high performance 10X Retirement Annuity and give future you the retirement you deserve.

Stop paying high fees, and make Future You more money

Higher fees very likely means lower returns (and here's the maths to prove it)

Paying high fees on your retirement investments (such as a retirement annuity or a living annuity) almost always means less money in your pocket, and less money for your retirement. Read more

Let’s look at an example to compare higher fees (3%) with lower fees (1%) to help illustrate the effect that fees may have on your RA.

• Investment period of 30 years
• Initial lump sum investment of R50,000
• Monthly contributions of R2,000
• Return of 12% per annum
• An inflation rate of 6%

Example 1 (1% Fees): Real investment value is approximately R1.8 million

Example 2 (3% Fees): Real investment value is approximately R1.3 million

Always make sure you understand your Effective Annual Cost (EAC). This will be shown on your statement or you can request it from your service provider. EAC is a standardised metric that was introduced by ASISA. All else being equal, a higher EAC would mean that less of your investment returns can be reinvested and potentially grow and compound over time.

At 10X, we keep our fees low, so that more of your money is invested for you. If you've got investments elsewhere, you can use our EAC calculator to compare service provider fees with 10X.

Or click below to get a free comparison report from our investment consultants, who are always available to give you the facts on your investments, at no cost to you.