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Retirement funds
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
At Fairheads we are concerned that many large retirement funds have not yet appointed a beneficiary fund and choose to retain and administer minors’ benefits in the retirement fund itself. In certain circumstances, where the assets of children need to be retained for a short period of time, it would be acceptable to retain these assets in the retirement fund, but this should be the exception rather than the rule.
This article explains why retirement funds are simply not designed to cater for the specialised, high-intensity administration of children’s benefits which require very specific asset allocation, communication and other processes.
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Fairheads News | Retirement funds
This issue of Fairheads Times reflects a busy couple of months in which Fairheads has been active across all areas of the business. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Fairheads Benefit Services is delighted and honoured to welcome Ethan Dube as non-executive Chairman of our company. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Giselle Gould, Business Development Director at Fairheads, led a panel discussion at the IRFA Conference in Cape Town in July, as an independent convenor. David Hurford, Head of Sponsored Products, also took part. Following below is a summary of the discussion that was published on the EBNet website post-conference. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Fairheads Benefit Services is reaching out to members and guardians in a new and exciting way – we now have two field agents on the road, in a Fairheads-branded vehicle which doubles up as a mobile office.
In this way we are bringing service face-to-face service directly into people’s homes or at a place close to them, such as the car park of the local police station. Out come the table and chairs, the laptop and Themba Manzana and Lerato Mokgobu are ready to help!
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Fairheads News | Retirement funds
David has had a successful career, predominantly in banking and senior management, for over 20 years in South Africa, the United Kingdom and Australia. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
There remains a clear dichotomy within the global economy. The US continues on its path to recovery, as shown by stronger economic growth dynamics and falling unemployment. The focus is very much on the quantum, rather than the timing of interest rate hiking cycle that the US Federal Reserve embarks on. We expect rates to be hiked gradually, and anticipate the first one in September this year. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
The Business Place Philippi (TBPP) in Cape Town has been an enterprise development partner to Fairheads since 2010 and we are excited to be part of this thriving organisation that promotes entrepreneurship and helps create sustainable businesses. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
In terms of section 37C of the Pension Funds Act, the trustees of retirement funds have four options when deciding how to allocate benefits due to minor dependants/nominees who have lost a breadwinner. They can pay a lump sum benefit to the guardian; retain and administer the monies in the retirement fund; pay the funds to a trust (if a trust nominated by the member or guardian); or pay them to a beneficiary fund, which is the pension fund vehicle government introduced in 2009 to safely house the assets of “widows and orphans.” More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
On behalf of Fairheads, I am pleased to announce that Fairheads has concluded a BEE transaction that has resulted in Vunani Capital Proprietary Limited (”Vunani”) acquiring a majority shareholding in Fairheads International Holdings (SA) (Pty) Ltd, which owns Fairheads Benefit Services (Pty) Ltd.
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Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Following years of verbal engagement, a formal written submission has recently been made to the Financial Services Board to amend pension fund legislation such that death benefit lump sums administered by beneficiary funds, umbrella trusts or retirement funds on behalf of minor dependants not be automatically paid out to such minors when they turn 18. The submission was made on behalf of the industry via the Institute for Retirement Funds Africa (IRFA). More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
GLOBAL MARKETS
In the US, economic data led the Federal Reserve, at its 18 March FOMC meeting, to significantly downgrade its own interest rate outlook: its new “dot plot”, reflecting FOMC members’ own expectations, showed the new median Federal Funds rate at the end of 2015 at 0.625%, down from 1.125% in its December statement, and at 1.875% at the end of 2016 versus 2.5% previously. Consequently, market participants have pushed out their first rate hike expectations to September from June this year, while also moderating their views on the pace and extent of Fed tightening. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Yvonne Mahlatji joined Fairheads in 2008 as a consultant in the Sandton office. She is currently the Key Accounts Manager, managing four consultants in Johannesburg, Sandton and Durban. She services her own clients and oversees others.
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Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Davis joined Fairheads Benefit Services in the Johannesburg office in 2006 as a client liaison officer where he helped to pioneer the walk-in service offered in Commissioner Street. The service has proven highly successful and the team has grown to a total of four and Davis was promoted to key account consultant in 2013. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Fairheads contact centre got the nod from the industry in November last year when we were selected as finalists in the BPeSA Industry Awards in the Captive Contact Centre category. BPeSA (Business Processing enabling South Africa) hosts the awards annually to recognise and celebrate outstanding performance and excellence within the contact centre industry.
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Fairheads News | Retirement funds
“Poverty touches every aspect of a child’s life. The child born into poverty almost always remains trapped there unless significant interventions occur. Left unaided, impoverished children face a lifetime of physical and psychological trauma - illiteracy, malnutrition, disease, low self-esteem and lack of opportunity. These are among the root causes of poverty that Christel House overcomes." An extract from Christel House South Africa’s mission. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Diarise the annual update on Fairheads Umbrella Beneficiary Fund and Fairheads Umbrella Trust later this year. We would love to see you there!
CAPE TOWN: Tuesday, 1 September 2015
DURBAN: Wednesday, 2 September 2015
JOHANNESBURG: Thursday, 3 September 2015
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Fairheads News | Retirement funds
The Financial Services Law General Amendment Act (FSLGAA) has brought about many changes to the various financial services acts and very specifically for our purposes, the Pension Funds Act 24 of 1956 (PFA). More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
In the recent National Budget, Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan announced favourable adjustments to the taxation of pre-retirement lump-sum benefits, including death benefits. This positive Budget tax news makes beneficiary funds even more attractive. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
February saw equity markets largely recover the losses experienced in January, when markets suffered their worst reversal since the volatile May to June period of last year as a result of the US Federal Reserve’s indications of tapering quantitative easing. More...
Retirement funds
One of the consequences of the high HIV rate in South Africa is that there are many minors without parents who live with aunts, uncles, grandparents and foster parents. This is such a common occurrence that one often forgets the serious legal issue that this gives rise to: a child with no guardian. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Since the change of age of majority in 2007 in the Children’s Act, it has become a problem in beneficiary funds to pay lump sums to 18 year olds. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
The world since 2008: The world economy faced recession and possibly depression in the aftermath of the 2008 financial market crisis. Governments had continued to grow into strong tax revenues collected in the “good” years preceding 2008 and when the recession came, by and large all of them were faced with falling revenues and elevated expenditure levels and recently instituted social programmes. This led to an increase in fiscal deficits and reduced scope for governments to intervene in their economies in an attempt to re-stimulate them. More...
Retirement funds
Should minor members’ funds be used to save the family home? Trustees of beneficiary funds are sometimes required to assist in saving the family home from being sold in execution by a bank by using a portion of the funds held in a minor member’s account. - by Robyn Cowie, Legal Director More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
As South Africa battles through the numerous challenges it faces in educating children,organisations such as Fairheads have to not only ensure we understand the cultural diversity of our clients but also take into consideration their education levels. by Monica d'Oliviera-Vilabril, Chief Operating Officer More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Fairheads Benefit Services is running a five-part series on beneficiary funds in The Sowetan. This is an educational series aimed at educating the public and our members about beneficiary funds and answering some frequently asked questions. If you would like to read the series,please visit the Fairheads website or Facebook page. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
RisCura act as asset consultants to Fairheads Benefit Services and helped us to devise our unique asset allocation process for beneficiary funds. This is an edited version of their market commentary at 30 June. Markets were overextended after the prolonged rally in the past few months, so the correction in June was overdue. It is poignant to note that markets began to recover quickly towards the end of June as fear of rising interest rates started to abate. However, it is equally important to note how sensitive markets are to interest rate rises. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Beneficiary funds have been in existence for four years now, yet awareness of them remains frustratingly low. by Richard Krepelka – Chief Executive Officer More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Giselle Gould took part in a panel discussion workshop at the Institute of Retirement Funds (IRF) conference in Cape Town on 2 September. The theme of the conference was Journey to Sustainability and Giselle’s presentation focused on three areas in which beneficiary funds provide sustainability. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Giselle Gould, Fairheads Business Development Director, has been appointed to the Board of the IRF. One of her intentions is to raise the profile of beneficiary funds in the retirement fund industry. Giselle is no stranger to the IRF, having served as its CEO for five years prior to joining Fairheads in 2003. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Most companies collect, process and store clients’ personal information. This information is essential to most if not all of Fairheads business processes. With the Protection of Personal Information Bill (POPI) on the cards, companies such as ours need to consider the manner in which this Bill will affect their operations. More...
Fairheads News | Events | Retirement funds
It is important to regularly test one’s assumptions and strategies to ensure that the chosen investment strategy continues to fulfil its objective. We believe that the appropriate tailored investment strategy, together with the best managers, plays a vital role in matching the risk and return expectations of our members. In these difficult times it is easy to be misled and chase returns at unacceptable risk levels. Our bespoke Investment Policy Statement gets us through these rough seas in a stable and consistent way. The question is, is it working and if not, what do we need to do about it? More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
Beneficiary funds are no longer new. They have been around for over three years now, and yet awareness of beneficiary funds is still low among many trustees. Some large funds have not even appointed beneficiary fund service providers, thus reducing the options available for death benefit payments. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
The Chlldren’s Act of 2007 brought the age of majority down from 21 to 18. While it may make economic sense to expand the group of financially active people (and political sense to increase the voting pool), how many young people of 18 are able to handle large payouts on termination of their beneficiary fund or umbrella trust? It is not uncommon for service providers like Fairheads to pay out R100 000 or more on termination of accounts. More...
Fairheads News | Events | Retirement funds
The IRF conference this year was titled “The Changing Retirement Fund Landscape”. Fairheads CEO Richard Krepelka comments on some of the themes discussed. More...
Fairheads News | Retirement funds
How many retirement funds have informed their members properly about beneficiary funds? More...
Retirement funds
We welcome the trustee education initiative by the Institute of Retirement Funds. To show our support, we sponsored a trustee workshop More...
Fairheads News | Events | Retirement funds
Fears of SPAM, passing on your email address to others or not being able to opt-out are always a concern when considering subscribing to an email newsletter. Find out what we do to ensure subscribing with us is safe More...
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