Addressing the needs of retired and soon-to-be-retired people
This July and August, the South African Independent Financial Advisors Association (SAIFAA) will be hosting a series of Certified Post Retirement Practitioner (CPRP®) webinars, to address the often-neglected issue of Post-Retirement Planning. Marketing and brand experience experts, CWDi, have been appointed to manage the webinars.
The webinar series is the first of its kind in South Africa and is not only available to Independent Financial Advisors (IFAs) and all Advisors but also the general public. When advising their clients, one of the most challenging areas for Advisors is the post-retirement decumulation phase.
Derek Smorenburg, SAIFAA CEO/Founder and CPRP® Facilitator says, “We hope that this webinar series will make an impact on the quality of advice and financial planning IFAs are able to give their clients.”Derek continues, “There is a huge gap in the financial advisory community, in that the journey towards and beyond retirement is simply not being adequately catered for. In the ‘old days’, people worked for an organisation for 40-50 years and retired on a pension with a defined benefit structure. This generation lived in a world where there wasn’t much inflation and they would, in many cases, pass away not long after retirement.
“In the modern age, pension funds have been converted from a defined benefit structure to a defined contribution structure, essentially transferring the risks of accumulation and decumulation to the individual member or fund, and people are living longer on average. The world has changed dramatically. There are fewer guarantees on return on investment in the accumulation phase of your life. And of course, the scary decumulation begins after you retire.
“Working out how to provide a sustainable income from your retirement savings is ‘the nastiest, hardest problem in finance’, according to William Sharpe, the man who created a theory on how to match investment gains with risk, and won the Nobel Prize for economics.
“In the information age, being well-informed is more important than ever. And in the case of post-retirement investment products, you often have to dig a bit deeper, because they don’t receive a lot of exposure in the media. In the investment industry, the media generally focuses on wealth accumulation. But once you retire, you are ‘disinvesting’. So what’s the next step?
“There is a ‘softer’ side to advising people who are headed to retirement. Advisors should also be addressing the psychology of the journey towards and beyond retirement. This is not a journey that should begin a few months before retirement either. It should start far earlier in life. And financial advisors should be raising this with their clients.”With all these factors in mind, the webinar series will be covering four essential pillars:
The Psychology of Retirement (29 July, 09:00-10:00) – hosted by Dr Hannetjie van Zyl-Edeling, author of ‘Over the Moon: A Guide to Positive Ageing’. This will unpack some of the stark realities of the psychology of retirement.
Preparing Clients and Spouses for Retirement (31 July, 09:00-10:00) – hosted by Senior Management Consultant Dr. Anne Blacklaws from the Bridge to Fulfilling Retirement. This will cover managing relationships and personal outcomes following retirement.
Preparing for Incapacity (5 August, 09:00-10:00) – hosted by Johann Jacobs, Executive Consultant in Trusts and Estates. This addresses the Power of Attorney and curatorship in the event of dementia; for example, the issue of Power of Attorney becomes null and void when dementia is diagnosed.
Trends in the Retirement Accommodation Industry (7 August, 09:00-10:00) – Arthur Case, CEO of RezCare, talks about the pros and cons of the various purchase retirement accommodation models and his pioneering of an “alternative” to retirement village living; based on the “age-in-place” concept that is well established internationally. As this model is rolled out in South Africa, retired seniors will have more choice in choosing a retirement accommodation solution.
Attendance is free to SAIFAA members and R 1500 for all four webinars to non-members. Up to four CPD points can be earned for attending all four webinars.“The primary purpose of our webinars is to upskill the financial advisory community – or anyone who would like to attend – on the under-addressed issues surrounding life beyond retirement in the investment space”, continues Derek.
“It’s important to note that any individual – not just people in the financial services industry – can register to become a CPRP®. And this is an area in the market that is sorely in need of practitioners. We invite advisors and interested members of the public to attend in the interest of building a more client-centric landscape for people facing retirement.
Book your place for the Post-Retirement Planning Webinars online at www.virtualevent.co.za/saifaa.
