Retirement Annuity Fund

[LancelotSA]

Rwen, I prefer to live with a positive mindset. I think that is where our two opinions differ immensely. If I thought this country was going down the drain I would not buy property either.

I cannot plan for the unexpected. Although again we differ in that you appear to think SA going down that road is expected...

Your father would make an interesting study as I am sure you may find some incorrect investment choices along the way which were in fact not the fault of the RA itself.

Further to this, I have seen people contributing R200 per month to an RA and then saying they have expectations of retiring on R20,000 per month (present value!)....

 

[rwenzori]

Rwen, I prefer to live with a positive mindset. I think that is where our two opinions differ immensely. If I thought this country was going down the drain I would not buy property either.

I cannot plan for the unexpected. Although again we differ in that you appear to think SA going down that road is expected...

Your father would make an interesting study as I am sure you may find some incorrect investment choices along the way which were in fact not the fault of the RA itself.

Further to this, I have seen people contributing R200 per month to an RA and then saying they have expectations of retiring on R20,000 per month (present value!)....

Fair enough, Lance old boy.

I would just say in response to your snipe about "incorrect investment choices", that many, many people who retired in the early 1970s had similar problems. Some were lucky because, after time, some pension funds agreed to inflationary increases.

I don't particularly think the country is going down the drain - all I say is it might, to a greater or lesser degree, and that contrary to you I would say you HAVE TO make some contingencies for the unexpected. I tell you what - if I'm still alive, I'll offer you a tin of Husky dog food for your nutritional survival if you ever need it!

 

[bigicy]

Wow...

Information overload...

I think I will need to print this all out and read it again carefully....

Thanks for the advice guys...

 

[LancelotSA]

Ha ha I did just wonder how the OP felt about the direction of this thread!

In getting back to your initial query, you do mention the long term intention to emigrate. As stated above, recent legislative changes, which just need to be promulgated, allow you to withdraw your retirement annuity savings if you formally emigrate.

All I will say is double check the penalties payable on your RA if you were to do this prior to the initial retirement age. Almost all older generation RAs, and still some currently being sold, would penalise you if you withdrew the funds at any time prior to retirement age even after having it running for 20 years! These penalties would usually be on a sliding scale. Some new generation ones will only penalise you if you withdraw your funds within the first five years with no penalties thereafter. This means that after the five years are up, if you were to formally emigrate, you could withdraw your funds without losing anything.