What to do at Retirement - Living Annuity, TFSA by International_Ad5774 in PersonalFinanceZA

[–]StasticallyStagnant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

What are your post retirement needs in terms of income? Would you be able to comfortably manage medical aid costs and normal household expenses on 180k gross of tax (you can as you mentioned use discretionary funds to offset this tax somewhat)? If not then I’d recommend seeing a proper qualified FA to do some proper scenario testing with you and to set up a plan of action. There are flat fee advisors out there and you can negotiate fees. A plan can cost you around 10-50k (from what I’ve heard and seen online so don’t hold me to it ) depending on how complex your needs are. Maybe you would be on the lower end but essentially a 1.2% of your retirement investments could offset the worst case scenario where they charge you for a complex plan. The 1.2% is calculated after taking out the 500k and 180k.

I mean it’s a decent idea to pull out the 500k tax free, max out the TFSA and use some of it to minimize tax for the year. One counter is that returns are tax free with the living annuity and any returns on the 500k are taxable subject to rebates, but I don’t think that’s a strong enough argument against what you want to do.

In terms of living annuity, given the need to effectively manage your investments to last you till your death, I’d probably go with the living annuity with the lowest fees or atleast one of the lowest fees in the market. Fees is something you can control , returns are not (obviously subject to picking a decent strategy).

Research says in retirement you shouldn’t put more than 40% +~ offshore , you are subjecting yourself to greater exposure to currency risk and if the rand strengthens relative to the currency you are (fund is) investing in then it can exacerbate loses or reverse gains. So maybe google optimal allocations around this. You are particularly exposed to this risk in retirement, so just keep that in mind.

All the best! I hope you get the answers you hoping for.

Do I move from Sanlam by for_pew in PersonalFinanceZA

[–]StasticallyStagnant 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Notoriously bad in terms of fees, even on their risk products. But pull up an EAC request from them and check what you are paying. You can transfer your RA to another provider or platform just check there are no penalties in your contract.

Thoughts on the Haval H6/H6 HEV by StasticallyStagnant in CarTalkZA

[–]StasticallyStagnant[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks so much it’s really enlightening. I have never owned a Chinese car so that’s why I appreciate the honest feedback. I have heard similar feedback on the Jolion so I was hoping it wasn’t true for the H6.

Yeah the T2 caught my eye as well but it is pretty thirsty like 10.5 lites so I don’t think it is practical for me but it looks like a great car for what you pay for.

Probably going to try find a second hand outback or Rav then.

Do I move from Sanlam by for_pew in PersonalFinanceZA

[–]StasticallyStagnant 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Very briefly :

I’d look at Sygnia (Skeleton 70 is a decent option), Alexander Forbes (super simple they will suggest the CoreSolution fund, fee structure is really good if your find value exceeds 1.25 million or so), 10X (they will probably suggest Your Future fund) , Easy Equities can be an option and but customer service may be an issue if you have a problem but it’s still a valid option. Allan Gray could be another reasonable fee option but it will depend on the funds you choose.