Retirement is about the fact that you have worked your entire life, and now deserve to down tools and enjoy the fruits of your labour right? Wrong! Research shows that 56% of employees are not confident in their ability to retire and while they have worked for most part of their lives already, with 51% of employers contributing to employee retirement, 42% of these same employers have offered no advice around said retirement!
Let that sink in you are told to save for retirement, given a retirement contribution but at no point in time are you told when to contribute more, why this is important or at the very least how best to manage your retirement savings and why this should be untouched until you retire. In fact, for many, a retirement contribution is just something that comes off a payslip as a necessary evil.
In fact, there is a massive education gap in the workplace and while it is an individuals responsibility to skill up and ultimately save for retirement, employers have a very real place in this education and have the power to make a significant difference to South Africas retired workforce and ironically the knock-on effect of a positive retirement today will drastically impact the future generation of workers too. You see tomorrows employees are impacted by todays retirees, where the financial burden continues to manifest if not combated now!
When looking at the potential impacts of the recently announced two-pot retirement legislation, this lack of education by employers has become ever more evident and this, is at a time when financial guidance is crucial to avoid this crippling of peoples retirement ability.
Recent research undertaken by Worth indicates that 42% of employers or HR teams have not provided any support, information or education around this incoming legislation. Of those that have, a third of employees still dont feel confident in making a decision regarding whether or not they can or should withdraw some of their retirement funding after September 1.
