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In conversation with Discovery Invest · Drive with John Perlman

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  Speaker 1: John Perlman on 702. 3 to 6 p.m. 10 to 5.
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  Speaker 1: People are living longer. Have you planned for retirement or
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  Speaker 1: for a long retirement? Personal Finance on 702 Drive with me,
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  Speaker 1: John Perlman, is brought to you by Discovery Invest. Retire strong.
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  Speaker 1: Retirement income planning often requires balancing flexibility and certainty. A
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  Speaker 1: living annuity offers investment and income control, but entails market
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  Speaker 1: and longevity risks, whereas a guaranteed annuity provides income certainty,
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  Speaker 1: but offers less flexibility and limited access to capital. So
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  Speaker 1: choices to be made. Jennifer Aronson is head of marketing
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  Speaker 1: at Discovery Invest and joins us now to explain how
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  Speaker 1: retirees can balance flexibility today with greater income certainty later
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  Speaker 1: in life. Jennifer, welcome. And thanks for giving us your time.
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  Speaker 1: I was about to ask you, why is this choice difficult?
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  Speaker 1: And I suppose the reason it's difficult is because it's
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  Speaker 1: a difficult choice. But I'm sure you can be a
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  Speaker 1: little bit more detailed and articulate than that. Where do
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  Speaker 1: we start? Living annuity, maybe?
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  Speaker 2: And thanks for having me back, John. I mustn't have
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  Speaker 2: done so badly last time when you saw me then. Look,
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  Speaker 2: I think the choice is difficult because as humans, we
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  Speaker 2: want the best of.
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  Speaker 1: Both worlds, right? Yes, yes.
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  Speaker 2: We want to have peace of mind, but we also
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  Speaker 2: want to have flexibility at the same time.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely.
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  Speaker 2: And now you have these two solutions in the market,
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  Speaker 2: but now I have to choose. And you go, I
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  Speaker 2: can't have both.
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  Speaker 1: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: So it's about identifying which needs are more important for
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  Speaker 2: yourself at that particular point in time. And what am
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  Speaker 2: I ready and mature enough for?
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and of course we can't have both and nobody's
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  Speaker 1: ever told us why. I mean, even when you fly,
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  Speaker 1: it's chicken or beef. But living annuities, explain them for
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  Speaker 1: people who may not understand the difference. We'll look at
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  Speaker 1: the alternative and then we'll maybe explore the choice a
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  Speaker 1: bit better. But let's understand the options better.
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  Speaker 2: So a living annuity, and in colloquial terms, I've referred
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  Speaker 2: to it as the adult version of retirement income products
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  Speaker 2: because it comes with responsibility.
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  Speaker 1: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: Because what it gives you, and we know as you,
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  Speaker 2: we all want to be 18 one day, and then
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  Speaker 2: we're 18 and we can make our own decisions and
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  Speaker 2: we figure out there are consequences to our decisions. So
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  Speaker 2: take that frame into a living annuity. You get flexibility,
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  Speaker 2: your capital, your savings, your retirement savings. You take that,
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  Speaker 2: you invest that with the help of financial advisor in
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  Speaker 2: the market. But that comes with decisions and choice. So yes,
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  Speaker 2: if you invest it correctly, it will grow over time.
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  Speaker 2: So your savings can keep growing, but also comes with
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  Speaker 2: the choice of choosing how much you take out. Now,
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  Speaker 2: how do you know how much is enough to take
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  Speaker 2: out and how not? So you carry the consequences also
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  Speaker 2: for the decisions you make because you have the flexibility.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, so there's a guaranteed annuity and I'm assuming that,
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  Speaker 1: you know, someone will make choices for you and no
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  Speaker 1: matter what happens, you're going to get X at the
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  Speaker 1: end of every month. If I've got that right, if
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  Speaker 1: you suddenly realize you have a bit of buyer's regret,
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  Speaker 1: can you shift or if you've made the decision, is
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  Speaker 1: that it?
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  Speaker 2: That's unfortunately it. But that's also the one that you
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  Speaker 2: sleep while at night. You know you're going to have
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  Speaker 2: it for as long as you live. But you can't
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  Speaker 2: change it.
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  Speaker 1: It is what it is.
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  Speaker 2: You can't change your income. You buy the terms right
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  Speaker 2: up front, 30 years up front. And then you live
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  Speaker 2: with that for as long as you live. And life changes.
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  Speaker 1: Life definitely does. Your mind changes as well. And, you know,
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  Speaker 1: guaranteed is guaranteed of the things that can be guaranteed. But,
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  Speaker 1: of course, there's certain things. you know, like the oil
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  Speaker 1: price that we don't have direct control over. Discovery of
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  Speaker 1: an approach to, because you said right at the beginning, Jennifer, that,
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  Speaker 1: you know, talk to a financial advisor and obviously your
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  Speaker 1: advisors are working with a philosophy and so on. Do
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  Speaker 1: you have a particular way of engaging with people as
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  Speaker 1: they battle with what is a very difficult choice? What's
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  Speaker 1: the philosophical and fiscal thinking underneath the advice you give?
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  Speaker 2: I'm so glad you asked because we do have a
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  Speaker 2: solution where we do actually give clients via their financial
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  Speaker 2: advisors the best of both worlds because it's very difficult
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  Speaker 2: to choose. And we acknowledge the product design acknowledges that upfront,
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  Speaker 2: first 10 years, first couple of years of your retirement,
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  Speaker 2: you need that flexibility because you might still be supporting
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  Speaker 2: adult children, university fees. You might still have travel plans,
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  Speaker 2: et cetera, and you feel more active. So you actually
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  Speaker 2: want a little bit more control over your savings and
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  Speaker 2: your income and you want to fluctuate on an annual basis,
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  Speaker 2: depending on how your needs change. However, later in your life,
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  Speaker 2: you do want more peace of mind because now you
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  Speaker 2: start thinking about, oh, I'm getting 90. I might get 100.
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  Speaker 2: What's going to happen? Who's going to fund my life?
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  Speaker 2: So in our, we have a solution called the Lifespan
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  Speaker 2: Linked Income Plan that allows you that flexibility up early
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  Speaker 2: in your life, in your first couple of decades of retirement.
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  Speaker 2: And towards the end of retirement, it switches over into
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  Speaker 2: a guaranteed income. That allows you to have the best
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  Speaker 2: of both worlds. Terms and conditions apply. Yes.
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  Speaker 1: No, no, I'm sure as they do, and those are important.
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  Speaker 1: And anyone engaging with you, I'm sure, would engage that.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, the thing that struck me when you spoke
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  Speaker 1: of the adult child, I thought, what if I'm the
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  Speaker 1: adult child? I haven't quite properly grown up despite all
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  Speaker 1: the many opportunities. I mean … And we've talked about
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  Speaker 1: this before, but not in the frame of this specific
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  Speaker 1: set of questions. What should people be asking? Because I
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  Speaker 1: know that the advisor will have some questions, but in
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  Speaker 1: a way to get the best out of the conversation.
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  Speaker 1: Because I would think some of the conversation is based
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  Speaker 1: on numbers and quite a lot of it is based
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  Speaker 1: on your personality or type. your appetite for uncertainty. But
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  Speaker 1: if you've got a list of questions that you shouldn't
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  Speaker 1: leave unasked, what would be the top three?
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  Speaker 2: The first question I would ask is the one to myself.
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  Speaker 2: I think the financial advisor will need to know what
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  Speaker 2: do you need in retirement? What are your monthly expenses still?
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  Speaker 2: Do you still have a bond? Do you still want
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  Speaker 2: to buy a car, et cetera? So I think it's
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  Speaker 2: about being very honest with ourselves about what do we
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  Speaker 2: really need to be able to survive on a monthly
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  Speaker 2: basis and and being very conservative about that because you
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  Speaker 2: know you're planning for a 40-year period. So, if you're
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  Speaker 2: going to a financial advisor with a very clear view
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  Speaker 2: about what your needs are, what your personal states are,
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  Speaker 2: the financial advisor can then work out for you, is it,
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  Speaker 2: should I be in a living annuity?
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  Speaker 1: Yes.
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  Speaker 2: Can I afford to take additional risk with my income?
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  Speaker 2: How are we going to manage your strategy? Um, So
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  Speaker 2: in that way, it becomes a co-planned conversation with your
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  Speaker 2: advisor about what's the best for your needs at that
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  Speaker 2: particular point in time and how do we make sure
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  Speaker 2: you have money for the rest of your life. If
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  Speaker 2: you do this with the– do it well with financial advisor,
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  Speaker 2: you take the risk away from yourself and you place
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  Speaker 2: the decision-making on your advisor.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah. Boy, okay. Well, complex questions, but lots of
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  Speaker 1: solutions out there. Thank you very much. Really enjoyed exploring
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  Speaker 1: this with my guest. Jennifer Ahrenser is Head of Marketing
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  Speaker 1: at Discovery Invest. Now, you can spend decades learning how
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  Speaker 1: to save, but retirement asks a different question. How will
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  Speaker 1: those savings become an income? Saving and drawing on income
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  Speaker 1: are separate decisions, and a financial advisor can help you
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  Speaker 1: work through them. Discovery Invest rewards responsible retirement behavior with
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  Speaker 1: before and during retirement. So ask your financial advisor whether
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  Speaker 1: your plan covers the move to income and not only
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  Speaker 1: the date. Discovery Invest retires strong. Vote at South Africa's
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  Speaker 1: best investment experience, 2026 Ask Africa Orange Index. Discovery Invest
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  Speaker 1: is an authorized financial services provider. Product rules, eligibility criteria,
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  Speaker 1: terms and conditions apply.