Preservation funds with 10X: Fees, fund options and more

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A preservation fund is a great tool to use when changing jobs, as it allows you to protect and potentially grow your hard-earned savings. While many succumb to the temptation to withdraw pension or provident fund savings, keeping your capital invested can lead to much greater retirement outcomes.

10X offers a transparent low-fee preservation fund option designed for anyone transitioning between jobs who wants to keep their retirement savings on track. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at preservation funds and explore the 10X Preservation Fund in more detail, covering fees, investment options, and more.

What is a preservation fund?

A preservation fund is a long-term retirement savings vehicle into which you can transfer savings from either an employer-sponsored pension or provident fund when changing jobs. By doing so, your retirement savings are ‘preserved’ and can continue to potentially grow over the long term, ultimately supporting your retirement years through a life or living annuity. In this way, your fund is a key part of your broader long-term financial plan.

The capital transferred to your preservation fund can be done without triggering a tax event, and the growth within the fund is also tax-free. As a result, you may have more returns available to grow and compound over the long term.

Regarding the administration process, you will need to select the correct preservation fund type based on the source of your savings. You need to ensure that a provident fund is transferred to a provident-preservation fund and that a pension fund is transferred to a pension-preservation fund.

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When (and why) you’d use a preservation fund

As mentioned, you should consider using a preservation fund when changing jobs, whether that’s because you’ve chosen to leave or you’ve been retrenched. Rather than withdrawing your savings, which can greatly reduce your long-term wealth, a preservation fund allows you to keep your retirement plan on track.

By keeping your savings invested, you can benefit from potential compound growth, earning returns on both your capital and the growth that it generates. This can significantly increase the final amount available from the preservation fund. The longer that your money stays invested, the greater the potential for compound growth. In addition, remember that returns earned with the fund are not taxed until you eventually withdraw, which allows for even greater growth potential. A preservation fund allows you to retain control of your investment strategy as part of your greater retirement plan.

10X’s preservation fund is designed with transparency, simplicity and cost-efficiency in mind. Our low-fee, index-tracking investment strategy means that more of your money stays invested, allowing it to potentially compound over time. Feel free to use our preservation fund calculator, a part of our online suite of tools. This can help you see how your retirement savings could potentially grow over time, if they remain invested.

Why choose 10X for your preservation fund?

At 10X, we use an index-tracking investment strategy combined with a more active approach to asset allocation. This enables us to maintain a cost-effective advantage in the fees that we charge. We value transparency, and clients can expect a straightforward and easy-to-understand fee structure, with fees on most retirement products being 1% or less. These fees will vary depending on the chosen product and the invested amount. Fee information is accurate as of 6th November 2025. You can view detailed fees on our product pages.

Beyond just performance and pricing, at 10X, we are focused on the client experience. We provide a seamless onboarding process to a user-friendly platform, making it easy for you to track investments, access statements, and manage your account. Our team members are happy to guide you every step of the way. Get in touch with our investment consultants here to learn more.

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10X preservation fund fees explained

Often, investors fail to realise how much of an impact fees can have on retirement outcomes. Even small differences in fees can lead to significant differences over time. A few of the most common fees you can expect to see include:

Administration fees: There will be fees deducted for administration-related tasks. These will be tasks such as compliance, tax and reporting.

Advisor fees: Advisors will charge a fee for the guidance being offered. You can expect to see an initial and an ongoing fee charged.

Management fees: These are the fees charged for the management of the fund.

As an investor, you should ideally look to minimise your total fee spend. High fees can lead to lower returns and reduce the compounding potential of the savings, while low fees allow a greater portion of your investment to stay invested and potentially grow over time. Since preservation funds do not accept additional contributions, keeping fees low is even more crucial. Let’s have a look at an example to help illustrate the effects of fees on your preservation fund:

We will assume the following factors:

• Investment period of 30 years
• Initial investment of R500K
• Return of 12% per annum
• An inflation rate of 6%

Example 1 (1% Fees): Real investment value is R1.99m

Example 2 (3% Fees): Real investment value is R1.16m

It is clear to see how fees impact your real investment value, especially when compounded over time. Please note that this example is for illustrative purposes only, and real results may vary. You can learn more about fees here.

The Effective Annual Cost (EAC) is an important metric that was established in 2015 by ASISA. This allows you to see the total fees of owning an investment over a one-year time period. You can then use this information to compare and evaluate different service providers. All factors being equal, a higher EAC would mean that less of your investment returns can be reinvested and potentially grow and compound over time, while a lower EAC means that more of your returns may be reinvested and potentially grow over the long term. Of course, the EAC of an investment is just one factor to consider when comparing service providers. Feel free to use our EAC calculator, which allows you to evaluate and compare the EAC charged by 10X with the EAC as charged by other service providers.

Asset allocation and fund selection

Your asset allocation (the way your investment is divided among the different asset classes) is one of the most important factors influencing long-term returns. Asset allocation plays the biggest role in the performance of your preservation fund, accounting for over 90% of returns, as seminal research from Brinson, Singer, and Beebower shows.

As an investor, you would generally look to select a mix of the different asset classes, such as equities, real estate, bonds and cash, as well as offshore investments. At 10X, you have the freedom to customise your underlying portfolio by choosing from a selection of carefully curated funds, each with a different mix of assets and geared towards different investor profiles. Your selection should be based on your investor profile and long-term financial goals.

Your investor profile focuses on your risk tolerance levels and your investment timelines. Your risk tolerance levels refer to your appetite for risk and how comfortable you are with short-term market volatility. Generally speaking, if you are a younger investor, you should be more risk-tolerant, as you would have more time to play with and a longer investment time horizon.

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As an investor, you may want to diversify your portfolio across the asset classes as well as offshore. This allows you to spread your risk whilst also taking advantage of any good returns that may occur in any of the asset classes. Diversifying offshore can also provide a hedge against any local market volatility and depreciation of the Rand that may transpire.

Equities are the most volatile of the asset classes, but they are also likely to generate the best returns over the long term. Bonds are more stable but are likely to generate lower returns. You can expect cash to generate the lowest returns of all the asset classes, while also being the most stable of all.

All retirement products, including preservation funds, need to adhere to Regulation 28 of the Pension Funds Act. This puts a cap on the limit that you may invest in equities and offshore in order to protect you from poorly-diversified portfolios. Current regulations state that you may have a limit of 75% in equities and a limit of 45% offshore.

At 10X, we offer a number of well-diversified funds. As mentioned, these funds are suited to investors with a range of different risk tolerance levels and investment timelines. Below, we explore two of our flagship funds:

10X Your Future Fund

The 10X Your Future Fund is carefully designed to deliver cost-effective exposure to a wide range of local and international asset classes. The fund has a greater allocation to growth assets like equities and property, and is best suited to investors seeking long-term capital appreciation to build wealth. The recommended time horizon is 5 years or longer, as returns may fluctuate in the short term. Fund exposure is 64% local and 36% offshore.

Since its inception, the 10X Your Future Fund has delivered an annualised return of approximately 11.2%. In shorter periods, the fund returned approximately 13.9% over the past year, 16.1% p.a. over three years, and 13.8% p.a. over five years. Information is correct as of September 2025.

10X Income Fund

The 10X Income Fund is a cost-effective fund that offers exposure to a wide range of both local and international interest-bearing assets. The fund is suited to investors who want both capital stability and a high level of income. The recommended time horizon is three years or more as returns may fluctuate in shorter periods. Fund exposure is 84.4% local and 15.6% offshore.

Since its inception, the 10X Income Fund has delivered returns of approximately 10%. Over the past year, the fund returned around 8.9%. Fund information is correct as of September 2025.

You can see our fund selection on offer here.

The Two-Pot retirement system and withdrawals

The Two-Pot Retirement System was introduced by the National Treasury in September 2024. This has affected the way retirement savings - such as preservation funds - are now handled.

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Under the new system, all contributions are split between the ‘savings pot’ and ‘retirement pot’. One-third of contributions go to the savings pot, and two-thirds of contributions go to the retirement pot. There is also a third pot, known as the vested pot, which holds all contributions made before September 2024, and remains governed by the old rules. This means that you can make one withdrawal from your vested pot before retirement.

Your retirement pot savings remain invested until retirement age, which is currently 55 in South Africa. Withdrawals are allowed from the savings pot once per year for a minimum amount of R2000. Your withdrawals will be taxed at your marginal tax rate, and an administration fee will apply. As such, financial experts recommend avoiding withdrawals as far as possible.

Since further contributions are not permitted in a preservation fund, the savings component will actually grow at the same rate as the total fund. If the total fund grows by double the size, both the savings pot and the vested pot will also double in size. Please consult the latest FSCA guidance on the Two-Pot Retirement System.

Preservation fund access rules: When and how you can withdraw

As mentioned, you are allowed one withdrawal from your vested pot before retirement. Withdrawals are taxed according to the following tax tables (taken from the SARS website 2025/2026 tax year), which means a significant portion of the withdrawal will be taxed.

Preferably, you should aim to keep your savings, allowing them to potentially compound and grow over the long term. Once you reach retirement age, a maximum of one-third of your fund can be taken as cash, and two-thirds will be used to purchase an annuity (a life annuity or living annuity). This annuity will then be used to provide you with retirement income.

Final thoughts: Preserve smart, retire strong

The smartest way to secure your financial future is to stay invested, harness the power of compound growth, and keep your fees low. As time passes, these simple principles can make a significant difference to your retirement outcome. Preservation funds can be a cornerstone of your long-term retirement plan, playing an important role in helping you stay on track with your retirement savings as you move through your career and potential job changes.

Choosing 10X as your service provider means choosing a transparent, cost-effective option that aims for superior client returns, with an easy-to-use online platform. If you’re changing jobs or are just looking to protect and grow your retirement capital, now is the time to take the next step.

Get in touch with our experienced investment consultants to find out more about how to open a 10X Preservation Fund and start building towards a financially secure retirement.