The MUT staff are now breathing a sigh of relief when they think about their finances, now and in the future. The University staff benefited a lot from a presentation from Asogan Naicker, a financial advisor with many years of experience. Naicker is renowned for his expertise in Estate Planning, Retirement Planning and Taxation. He has been in the financial services industry for the last 36 years. He is the Business Principal at Platinum Consulting in the last 20 years. The kind of responses that staff showed indicated that they needed the presentation, and that they learnt a lot from it. Staff needed clarification on a lot of finance-related issues. The financial empowerment staff received will give them solid footing post their working days.
Naicker made a very informative presentation to staff on 12 March 2024 online. His presentation was on ‘retirement planning and wills’. Among others, Naicker talked about the latest developments in the investment of funds for working people. He talked about the two-pot system where the contributions of the staff would be spilt into two – and investment where they can invest some cash and withdraw at their will. “The two-pot retirement system aims to empower more South Africans to preserve their retirement savings when they leave a job or change employment, while enabling controlled access to these savings in times of financial hardship,” said Naicker. One third of the all-new contributions will fall into first pot. Naicker advised investors to preserve retirement savings, and only access it at times of financial hardship.
The second pot is the retirement pot which has two thirds of the savings. This cannot be touched until retirement. “All future growth and earnings remain in the retirement component until you retire. These funds must then be used to buy a retirement income,” Naicker said.
Naicker also advised staff to seriously consider several issues that have to do with their lives before they consider early retirement. One of these is that if they retire early, they will incur a higher tax; this will negatively impact upon their investments, and they will not enjoy their investment, he said.
Naicker also talked about the importance of a will. “You can draw up a will for free,” he said. The will directs the owner of the estate’s wishes when they cannot speak for themselves. According to Naicker, the wishes of the estate’s owner may not be met if the Master of the Court determines the executor of the will.
Dr Kevin Ramsarghey, the Head of the Department of Accounting and Law, said Naicker’s presentations discussed “burning topics, and was “articulate and was on relevant current material that is impacting all employees. Staff are now better informed about their pension fund options, retirement options, post-retirement medical aid and Wills”. Dr Ramsarghey said that it was important for staff to know that the two-pot retirement vehicle was going to be implemented on the 1 September 2024, and “how this changes their retirement options”.
Dr Nomusa Majiya, the Head of the Department of Office Management and Technology, defined the presentation as “valuable information that will help us make informed decisions”.