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Transcript

In Conversation with Discovery Invest · Drive with John Perlman

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  Speaker 1: Drive home with John Perlman on 702. Let's walk the talk.
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  Speaker 2: Coming up now for six minutes to four, 702 Drive
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  Speaker 2: with me, John Perlman, is in conversation with Discovery Invest,
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  Speaker 2: Retire Strong. Retirement income isn't just about how much you
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  Speaker 2: draw today. It's about ensuring your savings can support you
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  Speaker 2: through the many years ahead as your needs change. Discovery
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  Speaker 2: Invest's Retire Strong campaign highlights the importance of drawing sustainably,
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  Speaker 2: keeping retirement savings invested for growth and making financial decisions
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  Speaker 2: that protect future income. Michaela Giltrow is an actuary at
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  Speaker 2: Investment Technical Marketing at Discovery Invest, and she joins us
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  Speaker 2: now to explain how people already in retirement can make
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  Speaker 2: their income last while adapting to changing needs. Ms. Giltrow, welcome,
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  Speaker 2: and thanks very much for your time today. I mean,
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  Speaker 2: people who are already in retirement– It would suggest from
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  Speaker 2: the intro we've just shared that actually it's never too
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  Speaker 2: late to correct your course. I mean, what are the
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  Speaker 2: common mistakes that people kind of make perhaps at the
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  Speaker 2: beginning of their retirement journey?
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  Speaker 3: So, John, thank you for having me. Firstly, hi. It's
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  Speaker 3: a very good question. And the biggest, biggest thing is
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  Speaker 3: drawing down responsibly. And when I say drawing down, I
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  Speaker 3: mean choosing how much to take from your retirement savings
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  Speaker 3: every year. And this is a highly controllable behavior. And
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  Speaker 3: what we see is that often clients, when they start retiring,
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  Speaker 3: there's a really fine balance between managing how much you
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  Speaker 3: need today to support your lifestyle, support your expenses, while
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  Speaker 3: also keeping in mind that your retirement savings need to
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  Speaker 3: last for a really long time. So drawing down a
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  Speaker 3: sustainable income is very important. And if you don't do
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  Speaker 3: it early on, although the effects aren't seen right away,
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  Speaker 3: when you get to older ages in retirement, you sort
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  Speaker 3: of experience financial pressure because of this.
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  Speaker 2: None of us know how long we're going to live,
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  Speaker 2: even if we are sort of nearing the end of
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  Speaker 2: our days. There's always average life expectancy, but presumably that's
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  Speaker 2: all it is. It's just an average and possibly says
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  Speaker 2: little or maybe even nothing about how long you're going
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  Speaker 2: to live. I mean, that makes calculating all of this
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  Speaker 2: quite difficult, especially if you're making plans for two people.
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  Speaker 3: Correct. So life expectancy is an average, as you say.
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  Speaker 3: It's meant for a group. It takes a whole bunch
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  Speaker 3: of people and sort of determines the average to work
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  Speaker 3: out the life expectancy. But typically, people can spend 25
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  Speaker 3: to 30 years in retirement. So it is really, really
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  Speaker 3: important to discuss with a financial advisor who can help
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  Speaker 3: you plan to ensure that your savings sort of outlast you.
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  Speaker 3: Because that's the ideal situation, right? Is that your savings
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  Speaker 3: should last longer than what you're expected to live in retirement.
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  Speaker 3: And so this is why we require the expertise of
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  Speaker 3: a financial advisor to assist with this. But there's more
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  Speaker 3: to a financial or sort of a retirement plan than
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  Speaker 3: just life expectancy. There's things like understanding whether you have
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  Speaker 3: other income streams as opposed to just your retirement savings,
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  Speaker 3: what your family circumstances are, if you're still paying off debt.
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  Speaker 3: There's a range of things. You really do require a
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  Speaker 3: holistic plan as opposed to just understanding life expectancy. There's
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  Speaker 3: multiple factors that come into retirement planning.
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  Speaker 2: There must be a mindset that I'm sure you guys
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  Speaker 2: at Discovery Invest engage with all the time, particularly through
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  Speaker 2: your advisors, where people say, okay, I've done the hard
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  Speaker 2: part now. The money I've raised is or I've put
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  Speaker 2: away is the money I have. And yet you're saying,
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  Speaker 2: you know, no, actually, the investment journey continues and in
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  Speaker 2: many ways, arguably never ever stops.
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  Speaker 1: You're very right.
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  Speaker 3: So while we think sort of retirement savings, yes, I've
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  Speaker 3: got to retirement, I've saved up my pot of money,
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  Speaker 3: it doesn't stop there. You need to review your retirement
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  Speaker 3: savings every year. You should be meeting with your financial
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  Speaker 3: advisor annually to determine, is the amount I'm drawing down
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  Speaker 3: still sustainable? Is it meeting my needs? Is my retirement
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  Speaker 3: savings growing sufficiently such that my income will last until 85, 95?
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  Speaker 3: It's important that these are reviewed annually.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, it's supposed to be the time where
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  Speaker 2: you just chill, but I guess you can chill and,
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  Speaker 2: you know, actually clock in and make some sensible decisions
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  Speaker 2: in the process. What happens if someone listening now is
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  Speaker 2: thinking … Michaela, you know, I've already made some of
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  Speaker 2: those mistakes.
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  Speaker 1: I went too fast too early.
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  Speaker 2: And it's not as if they're now generating income by
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  Speaker 2: way of a salary. I'm sure you've come across that
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  Speaker 2: problem before and I wonder what advice you give.
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  Speaker 1: Do you, you know, better late than never?
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  Speaker 2: Okay, I wonder if we might have just lost our
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  Speaker 2: line to our guest.
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  Speaker 1: Michaela, one more time. Okay, the lions, the lions, the lions.
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  Speaker 2: I want to draw a line against these lions that
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  Speaker 2: are not behaving as... lines should, but I think we
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  Speaker 2: covered most of what was important there.
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  Speaker 1: So, uh, let's just, uh, okay. Have we got our
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  Speaker 1: guests back? Uh, Michaela. Yeah. One last question.
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  Speaker 2: So I was just asking you, uh, people who might
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  Speaker 2: feel that they might already have made some kind of, uh,
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  Speaker 2: gone too quickly too soon. It is, is it a
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  Speaker 2: case of better late than never that, that you can
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  Speaker 2: still course correct. Even if, for example, you're no longer
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  Speaker 2: earning a salary. Correct.
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  Speaker 4: That's exactly right. So it's important that they then start
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  Speaker 4: sitting with their financial advisor right now. It is something
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  Speaker 4: that can be corrected with the right behavior. And when
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  Speaker 4: I say the right behavior, I mean considering what is
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  Speaker 4: the amount that you'd need to withdraw, such as your
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  Speaker 4: savings lost. And other things they could also talk to
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  Speaker 4: their advisor about is whether their retirement funds are invested properly.
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  Speaker 4: Do they have sufficient growth assets that their money is
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  Speaker 4: continually growing? Because on one hand, you're withdrawing money, but
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  Speaker 4: you also need to make sure that the money that
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  Speaker 4: remains is growing over time so that it continues to
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  Speaker 4: sort of grow with inflation so that you can meet
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  Speaker 4: expenses in 10, 20 years' time. So it's never too late.
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  Speaker 4: If yesterday wasn't the best time, today is the best
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  Speaker 4: time to start. And they should always discuss with their
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  Speaker 4: financial advisor. I mean, anyone who's worried about this should
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  Speaker 4: be setting up a meeting with their financial advisor, ideally
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  Speaker 4: today or tomorrow, to discuss this.
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  Speaker 1: Thanks so much, Michaela.
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  Speaker 2: Giltro is an actuary at Invest Technical Marketing at Discovery Invest. Now,
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  Speaker 2: reaching retirement is one milestone, but drawing an income wisely
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  Speaker 2: is another. The income you choose today can shape what
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  Speaker 2: remains for later. Discovery Invest rewards the behaviors that drive
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  Speaker 2: stronger retirement outcomes, including drawing sustainably. Ask your financial advisor
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  Speaker 2: whether the way you draw today supports the income you
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  Speaker 2: may need later. Discovery Invest. Retire strong. Vote at South
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  Speaker 2: Africa's best investment experience. 2026 Ask Africa Orange Index. Discovery
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  Speaker 2: Invest is an authorized financial services provider. Product rules, eligibility criteria,
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  Speaker 2: terms and conditions apply. 702 Drive, it's just gone four o'clock.