STEPHEN CRANSTON: Sanlam’s charismatic actuary has welcome retirement advice
Wentzel knows as much about annuities as anyone in the country, so ignore her at your peril
As a pension fund trustee, I am frequently asked to help with retirement planning. Like most trustees, I am not accredited to give financial advice. We need to be careful to remember the distinction between opinions, which we can give freely, and advice in the technical sense. So it is quite a boon to get hold of Karen Wentzel’s recent paper on retirement savings. Wentzel heads the annuities business at Sanlam Employee Benefits. As soon as she was appointed, Wentzel was billed by the spin doctors as the "new Anet Ahern" — a reference to the first female CEO of a South African asset manager. Ahern worked for Sanlam but has opted for a more relaxed life at PSG. Wentzel knows as much about annuities as anyone in the country, so don’t ignore her suggestions. I have just turned 55, the minimum age for early retirement — unless you are Brian Molefe — so it seems more scarily relevant to me than it did even last week.Lifespans are increasing, and that is the crucial consideration. There is...
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