Retirement survey raises red flag

A recent survey has shown that few South Africans start planning for retirement at a young age, and the majority regret this.

Only 22% of respondents in 10X Investment’s first annual Retirement Reality Report (RRR) began planning for retirement at the beginning of their careers, with more than 50% of those surveyed saying they would do it differently if given the chance to start over.

Just 7% said they had a proper retirement plan and were executing it.

The investment company commissioned Brand Atlas to expand its annual survey of the South African population to gather the data for the report.

Brand Atlas samples the universe of 11.9 million economically active South Africans as determined by Statistics SA through online surveys involving more than one million people.

“The fact that 41% of respondents said they don’t have a plan at all underlines the scale of this crisis,” said Christopher Eddy, senior investment analyst at 10X Investments.

“It is more than a little worrying that the situation has not improved much, if at all, over the past 20 years, despite the existence of a large and financially successful retirement savings industry.” – ANA