{"id":865839,"date":"2026-07-11T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-11T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=865839"},"modified":"2026-07-10T16:40:51","modified_gmt":"2026-07-10T14:40:51","slug":"the-1-that-can-cost-south-africans-hundreds-of-thousands-of-rands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/865839\/the-1-that-can-cost-south-africans-hundreds-of-thousands-of-rands\/","title":{"rendered":"The 1% that can cost South Africans hundreds of thousands of rands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South African retirees have been warned that fees have a major impact on retirement incomes, with a mere 1% enough to erode a large chunk of their nest egg.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Rossouw, Senior Investment Consultant at 10X Investments, said that South Africans should not rest on their laurels, even if they are among the 6% who have saved enough for retirement. <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rossouw said that while South Africans previously only needed their retirement savings to last around a decade, retirement can now last 20 or even 30 years. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

With this in mind, managing silent wealth killers, including fees and tax inefficiencies, is crucial for those looking to retire. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Regardless of the retirement vehicle, or vehicles, you have, it\u2019s critical to manage costs as
stringently as possible, especially once you start drawing down,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“A good place to start on this front is to look at the total costs of your retirement investments.” This includes fees paid for investments, management, and advice. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If those fees are higher than what other retirees are paying on a like-for-like basis, one should press for lower fees. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Even something as small as a one per cent difference can compound over a 25-year retirement,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“That, in turn, can translate into hundreds of thousands of rands stripped directly from your retirement income stream.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once you are confident that you have the costs covered, it’s important to remember that it’s a long game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even with time on your hands, it can be incredibly tempting to be more active with your investments. This is especially true during periods of volatility. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Rossouw warned that making knee-jerk shifts to your portfolio based on the latest news is a bad idea, no matter when you make the decision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Not least because doing so can lock in paper losses permanently. Patience still matters, even when you feel like you don\u2019t have a lot of time left for it,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is especially the case given the current global political climate and the return of US President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since his return in early 2025, Trump’s administration has implemented widespread tariffs and attacked Iran, causing the global economy to panic. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Understand your products <\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

It is important to understand the types of retirement products on offer, especially living and guaranteed annuities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A living annuity keeps one’s capital invested in the markets while providing a regular income. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A guaranteed annuity, on the other hand, pays you a fixed amount until you pass away. A hybrid annuity is a blend of the two annuities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many see the living annuity as a simple tax-wrapped legal vehicle rather than an investment product in its own right. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It generally allows retirees to meet their statutory income drawdowns of 2.5% to 17.5%, while still growing their wealth. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“The feeling that living annuities are legal vehicles may come from cases where the living annuity underperforms. In those instances, investors often blame the annuity structure itself,” he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“In reality, there are usually other culprits at play, including an inappropriate underlying investment portfolio, an aggressive drawdown rate, or high layers of fees.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, Rossouw said that successful retirement planning isn’t about chasing a high starting yield or finding a \u201cmagic bullet\u201d product. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is instead about being engaged in combining flexible income management, cost control,
and inflation protection. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Michael Rossouw from 10X Investments says that South Africans need to pay attention to the fee structure of their retirement products.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":732919,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2075943458355708364","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[11953],"class_list":["post-865839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-10x-investments"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865839"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":865870,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865839\/revisions\/865870"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/732919"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}