Wealth Management
Jenny Williams Senior Servicing Consultant __________________________________________________________________________________________________ Discretionary investments How and when these can be used in the pursuit of a well-structured financial plan Financial planning is generally comprised of either an accumulation or disinvestment phase. You are either saving up for – or spending your savings on – something. Savings can take the form of formal – usually contractual – retirement savings such as pension funds, retirement annuities, compulsory annuities, and preservation funds. Industry speak for these tax approved investments is ‘compulsory’. Financial planning should also consist of investments you make through your own choice, without being governed or constrained by tax deductible contribution, and withdrawal limits. These voluntary financial planning products and tools are colloquially termed ‘discretionary’ investments. Financial planners inevitably combine compulsory and discretionary investments for holistic plans which cater not only for... Read More
Altertude: RunwayEdge
Having presented some of the capabilities and components of GTC’s Altertude platform in the previous Trendline, in this edition we are drilling down into some of the individual components of the technology stack, giving some insight into its capabilities. We start with RunwayEdge – GTC’s technology driven counselling and member engagement platform. GTC has a strong team of people across our various national offices equipped with the required range of diverse skills and talents necessary to engage with the members of the retirement funds we administer and consult to. Often not directly in the public domain, we’d like to introduce some of the people who make up the Member Advice Portal Support Team, or as we fondly refer to them – the MAPS squad. RunwayEdge MAPS team
Member Advice Portal Support (MAPS)
Operated by people for people It’s easy to attribute the success of a digitally based system solely to anonymous backroom techies, software engineers, algorithms, and code. GTC’s member engagement is however not only a digital platform. There’s still lots of human input. GTC has a strong team of people across our various national offices equipped with the required range of diverse skills and talents necessary to engage with the members of the retirement funds we administer and consult to. Often not directly in the public domain, we’d like to introduce some of the people who make up the Member Advice Portal Support Team, or as we fondly refer to them – the MAPS squad. MAPS’s job is to provide counselling and advice to fund members about the most important aspects of their working careers – the financial consequences... Read More
Asset Management
An in-depth market commentary which details market performance over the quarter, discusses factors which contributed to performance – or not – and a caution regarding chasing headlines and bowing to peer pressure in the composition of an investment portfolio. Market Overview Q2 2022 Local is lekka
Altertude: RunwayEdge
Andre Lindeque Senior Servicing Consultant Having presented some of the capabilities and components of GTC’s Altertude platform in the previous Trendline, in this edition we are drilling down into some of the individual components of the technology stack, giving some insight into its capabilities. We start with RunwayEdge. What is RunwayEdge? RunwayEdge is a computer aided counselling process. Responding to Government’s amendments to the Pension Funds Act several years ago requiring that all retirement fund members be ‘verifiably counselled’ GTC progressively created a platform which undertakes this complex member engagement process in such as way as to be comprehensive, non-invasive, distinct from any form of financial advice, succinct, and – meeting Government’s requirements – verifiable. Why perform counselling? Regulatory changes were made to Sections 36-39 of the Pension Funds Act in 2019. These govern the law... Read More
Employee Benefits
Sabir Bacus Senior Benefit Consultant _______________________________________________________________________________________________________ Beneficiary Nomination Form – The ‘guiding documentation’ upon the death of an employed member Employees are often confused about which forms to fill in, often believing that the form which they have already completed will be sufficient to cover all benefits. Let’s unpack the types of membership which employees may hold, discuss the correct Beneficiary Nomination Forms (Form/s) applicable to them, and the legal intricacies associated with each. Members often assume the Form is a part of the retirement fund. Retirement funds often include associated risk cover like life insurance benefits. These associated life insurance benefits, which, when they become payable, are paid through the retirement fund – are colloquially referred to as approved benefits. A retirement fund Form is applicable to the accumulated assets within the fund, as well... Read More
Market Overview
The first half of the year has been marked by historic sell-off’s in global investment markets. 2022 has so far been the worst 6 months on record for developed markets (MSCI World) since 1970. While local equities have held up comparatively well over this period, June’s performance has been the largest detraction since the March 2020 sell-off. This illustrates the sheer scale of the market volatility and uncertainty which afflicts investors currently. Global developed equity markets retracted some -16.2% over the quarter and -20.5% for the year in USD terms, while emerging markets experienced an -11.5% and -17.6% sell-off over the same periods in USD terms. The negative returns derived from equity markets can be in part attributed to the increasingly hawkish stance of central banks and their concerns of deepening inflation along with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, elevated... Read More
