Workplace pensions vs RAs (#210)

You may not be very happy with your workplace pension fund. In this week's episode, we think through some of the things you can do to remedy that situation. Pension funds, like all other retirement products, have to be Regulation 28-compliant. That means you don't have much control over what's inside. However, you can control your contributions and the fee you're willing to pay. You can also insert yourself into how your workplace pension is managed by becoming a pension fund trustee.  You can find Gerrie's article on maintenance we mention at the top of the show here. Subscribe to our RSS feed here. Subscribe or rate us in iTunes. Kyle  I've been curious about forced pension fund contributions in the workplace. Is there any way we can direct portions and where this gets invested?  When stocks are discounted, would I not be able to take a more aggressive approach and direct this more towards equities? Alexander Forbes deals with my pension fund. Win of the week: Steve  Been meaning to request the move my RA from Liberty somewhere else for a while now, so I requested a quote. They quoted me on moving to their new Agile platform after I specifically asked for a section 14 transfer quote. Anyways, these are the fees quoted for their new platform.   Best part: it's 2.8% all the way to maturity. Pretty sure it doesn't matter what the penalty will be, I will move it. Jason  You said it is "illegal to record someone without telling them". This is sort of true but in the context described it's not. This is actually covered in the RICA act. It is illegal to record someone without prior consent. However, the Act sets out the following exceptions to the rule: you are a party to the conversation you have the prior written consent of at least one of the parties to the conversation; or the conversation relates to, or occurs in the course of, the carrying on of your business Since you are an active participant in the phone call that means you are "party to the conversation" and not eavesdropping and thus can record regardless. It is still considered polite to tell people they are being recorded, but even if they say decline it's not illegal. If you think the person is going to lie then maybe you shouldn't ask. I'm not a lawyer but this advice was given to me by one of my company's lawyers after I recorded a conversation we had with a client who was blatantly lying to us over the phone and I needed proof. Dhiraj  One can hold cash in an interest bearing bank account or invest in a money market with a fund manager at a small fee. Is it safer to hold cash with a fund manager even if one has to pay the small fee? Specifically is one more likely to retrieve the money from an asset manager than a bank if both were declared insolvent? Eugene wants to know why one would choose a preservation fund instead of an RA. Meryl  How can you find the interest rates of the bond ETF? Obviously this depends on the price but where do you access the return? On my Standard Bank investment account I have quite a few Sygnia ETFs. In my statements it shows a deduction for ETF fee whenever there is a dividend or interest payment. Have you any idea what this is? Eric For a relatively new retail investor like myself the information on your site is priceless, thanks again.   I just listened to your podcast on Covid bonds and the 11.5% interest sounds very appealing, my concern is SA Inc. In your opinion what is the chances of a default…thinking Greece and Argentina where a haircut was imposed on sovereign bonds. Nolomo Besides buying shares, what other assets can one accumulate with a budget of less than R2000p/m.  My dream is owning a house where I can live and raise my family. Is it possible to afford a bond with a salary of R10000p/m with monthly expenses of R4500 over a 20year period? I have a R30,000 lump sump Is a bond the only way to own a physical house with a salary of R10000p/m and R4500p/m expenses? Nadine I was just listening to an episode when I heard you say you paid $16 for a kindle book! Kindle automatically makes the US store your default store but you can change that to the U.K. store (www.amazon.co.uk). I did this myself and I usually only pay £3-5 for a book on kindle now. The U.K. store is just SO MUCH CHEAPER!  Google how to do it - I can't remember the exact steps, it's somewhere in settings on the kindle. You need to open a U.K. account and connect your card etc. but it's worth it.  Ndida wants to know if there are any benefits to using offshore investment platforms over local platforms offering offshore exposure. John I hear SASOL may be forced in doing a Rights Issue in the future.. I have SASOL shares that I picked up at the lows in march and now am thinking of offloading them before the Right Issue occurs.