Forward planning for retirement
A rainy-day fund shouldn’t eat into your future financial security, writes Johann Barnard
Facing retirement with insufficient savings to maintain a certain lifestyle is a reality for more people than should be the case. In theory, if you contribute to a company pension fund, and possibly put some money into a retirement annuity or unit trust, you should be able to at least get close to that goal. Unfortunately, this applies to too few people. This might be due to insufficient planning, or simply because life intervened and money meant for retirement was diverted elsewhere. Andrew Davison, head of advice at Old Mutual Corporate Consultants, says this is common, which is why rainy-day savings should be considered as important as retirement savings. "We realised you can’t focus on one or the other — you have to make sure people have a comprehensive plan in place that addresses all their needs," he says. "If you only focus on one need, then the other needs aren’t catered for and savings that are meant for a particular need have to be diverted to plug a gap elsewhere. This je...
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