BusinessLive reports that according to a study by Alexander Forbes, one of the country’s largest pension fund administrators, there are no signs of SA’s retirement savings crisis abating.  

In fact, the majority of employees face the possibility of running out of money just a short time into their golden years.  Only 5.17% of people who retired from funds administered by Alexander Forbes this year were able to maintain their standard of living.  The pension fund administrator’s startling figures show people who have retired were, on average, able to get less than a third of what they used to earn — just 28.8%.  More than half actually got less than 20%.  Most did not even buy a retirement annuity, but took out their savings in cash to settle debt and other short-term financial pressures.  This dire state of retirement outcomes in SA echoes earlier reports this year from global consultancy Schroders and 10X Investments.  The Schroders survey showed that South Africans significantly underestimate the proportion of income taken up by the cost of living at retirement.  The survey by 10X showed that 41% of 11.9-million economically active South Africans have no retirement plan in place at all.

• Read the full original of this report by Londiwe Buthelezi at BusinessLive

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