Covid-19 has accelerated some urgently required reforms. But if National Treasury gets too tough on preservation, there could be a kickback, with fewer people saving for retirement, warns Bruce Cameron.
One good thing about Covid-19 is that it has helped push many urgently required reforms and changes both here in South Africa and abroad. This ranges from an accelerated look at climate change down to retirement fund reform in South Africa.
In South Africa, one of the major reasons why only a fraction of the working population retire with sufficient capital to see them through their retirement, is early withdrawal of retirement savings. And one of the major reasons for this has been around longer than Covid-19 and even the ongoing kleptocracy: the costs of daily living are far too high for many people, particularly those on lower incomes.
