Communication to members of retirement funds requires a fine balance between providing sufficient information for members to understand their fund and its impact on their financial planning, and information overload, Ian Maron, the managing director of Liberty Corporate Benefits, says.
Maron was speaking at the annual Institute of Retirement Funds communication award ceremony held at the Institute's annual convention held earlier this week.
The awards, which are in their 14th year, are sponsored by Liberty Corporate Benefits and Personal Finance and are aimed at improving effective communication between funds and their trustees.
Maron says that the difficulties of communication were compounded by the different needs of fund members- a frenetically busy executive, a semi-literate worker and a super-analytical technocrat could all belong to the same fund.
Proper communication was required so that members know about their fund, and could personally relate to the benefits they gain by being part of the fund, he says.
Bruce Cameron, the Editor of Personal Finance, said at the awards ceremony that communication was not only about how trustees communicated with fund members.
"It is becoming increasingly obvious that many trustees are not receiving sufficient information from fund advisers," he says.
"Advisers have to ensure that trustees receive and understand information that empowers them to properly inform members."
The judges commended the entrants for good planning skills, having clearly defined objectives, maintaining good attention to detail and the simple but comprehensive manner in which the technical jargon of retirement funds was presented.
The new "special projects" category, given for the first time this year, deals with special issues such as trustee election, conversions from defined benefit to defined contribution and website communication. The award winners are:
Merit certificate:
Cape Joint Pension Fund.
Special Projects Category:
1. Cape Joint Retirement Fund (Market Research)
2. De Beers Pension Fund
3. Cape Joint Retirement Fund (Website)
Initial/General Communications (Large Funds):
1. Municipal Gratuity Fund
2. South African Brewers Staff Provident Fund
3. Wooltru Group Retirement Fund
Initial/General Communications (Medium Funds):
1. Predikante Pensioenfonds
2. AST Retirement Scheme
3. Medscheme Holdings Pension Fund
Advanced Communications (Large Funds):
1. De Beers Pension Fund
2. Debswana
3. Iscor Selector Pension and Provident Fund.