Retirement is one of the most important issues in the lives of most working people.
Often, retirement planning is left until it is too late to make adequate provision for retirement, or retirement fund members don’t know what they need to know.
Personal Finance and South Africa’s biggest retirement fund administrator, Alexander Forbes, have joined forces to produce an ongoing educational campaign to help you structure a financial plan, both before and in retirement.
The first stage of this educational campaign is Ready Set Retire, an all-day conference that will be held around the country in March. At the conference, experts will address the many factors that affect how you plan for retirement.
The conference will be supported by a retirement club that will meet six times a year to discuss different elements of retirement planning in depth.
The dates and venues for the Ready Set Retire conference are:
* Thursday, March 13: Durban – Elangeni Hotel;
* Monday, March 17: Stellenbosch – Spier Estate;
* Thursday, March 20: Johannesburg – Sandton Convention Centre; and
* Tuesday, March 25: Port Elizabeth – Radisson Hotel.
Financial advisers will be available at all the venues to provide basic advice.
Admission is R200, while couples pay R150 a person. There is a R25 discount if you book before Friday, February 21. The cost includes a copy of Personal Finance magazine and a memory stick containing all the presentations, as well as lunch and refreshments. You can book at a Computicket outlet or by going to http://online.computicket.com and then entering “Ready set retire conference” in the search field.
The programme for the Ready Set Retire conference is:
* The changing landscape of retirement planning. John Anderson, Alexander Forbes’s head of research and product development, will discuss the many factors that affect retirement planning, including longevity, the cost of medical care, government reforms to the retirement-funding system and how much capital you are likely to need in retirement.
* Behavioural economic review. Gareth Johnson, head of retail sales and distribution at Investment Solutions, will walk you through the macro-economic landscape, explaining its relevance to you and your retirement.
* Investments simplified. Johnson will explain how investments work and the importance of using different asset classes to get the optimum risk-adjusted returns both before and in retirement.
* Tax and retirement. Jenny Gordon, head of retail legal support at Alexander Forbes Financial Planning and one of the top tax experts in the field of financial planning, will explain the changing face of tax in retirement planning and how you can structure your retirement plans to derive the best tax advantages.
* Risk in retirement. Anderson will explain all the risks that you may face in retirement so that you can plan better to avoid or reduce their impact.
* Products for retirement. Bruce Cameron, the now-retired founding editor of Personal Finance, will explain your retirement product choices, both before retirement and in retirement.
* The psychology of retirement. Clinical and organisational psychologist Dr Dorianne Weil – better known as “Dr D” – will deal with the all-important psychology of retirement and how to adapt to a new lifestyle.