For as long as I can remember, economists have been trying to get us South Africans to spend less and save more. A candid conversation with a financial adviser friend revealed another self-serving structural characteristic of the investment industry that hurts the middle class (mostly black) and favours the rich (mostly white). Yes, all managers say they want to give the "man on the street" access to the market, but, in truth, given the way their businesses are structured, the wealthy continue to have access, and it is more difficult for middle-class households to break through, hard as they may try. And it starts with something as simple as fees. Consider the case of an elderly "rich" man. Let's call him John. He has been employed for more than 30 years at a top bank. John easily saved throughout most of his life and has amassed R5-million in his pension fund. His only responsibility has always been himself, his wife and their two children. His children went to good schools he coul...
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