STEPHEN CRANSTON: The burden of care
Gross pension wealth in SA is equivalent to 4.7 times annual earnings, despite our sophisticated pensions industry
It was a mixed bag of speakers at last week’s Absa investment conference, ranging from giants such as former public protector Thuli Madonsela and Agang founder Mamphela Ramphele, to chat-show host Eusebius McKaiser and pensions rock star (if there is such a thing) Rob Rusconi. But the meatiest of the presentations was that of Amlan Roy, a leading expert on demographic trends. Roy has one of the clumsiest job titles imaginable: senior managing director, global chief retirement strategist at State Street Global Advisors. But I would recommend his talks — he gives a lot of them — to anybody. The shape of the world’s population is changing: it has doubled since 1970, and the fastest-growing cohort is the over-80 age group, which has increased by almost 450%. Japan, which was the youngest of the world’s large developed economies is now the oldest, with no less than 8% of the population over 80. And Roy points out that the healthcare costs of the over-80s are more than double the costs of...
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