Everyone needs a plan to retire
Wednesday 13 October 2021: 10am – 12pm
Content Focus Area: EAP-CLIENT: Employee issues in the post-COVID workplace
Presentation Abstract:
2020 was the year we never expected. When Covid hit we were not prepared for the severe impact it would have on virtually all aspects of our lives. We were forced to adapt to a new way of living and doing in a very short space of time, and unfortunately, we were ill prepared for the challenges posed by the pandemic and especially the financial challenges that came with the Covid pandemic. Covid placed HR managers and wellness practitioners under tremendous pressure to try and assist their employees during this crisis. Not only did employees need assistance as far as their mental and health wellness were concerned but also for their financial wellness. Many employees were forced to acquire debt to pay for day to day living expenses and many of them approached you to loan from the company. If they were not able to get assistance from the company, they turned elsewhere. Employees even went so far as to resign from their jobs to access their retirement savings so they can survive during the pandemic. Unfortunately, the financial crisis brought along with Covid will have a long-lasting impact on an employees’ financial wellness and when people are under financial stress, their performance in all aspects of their lives are affected, including work performance.
However, what Covid did bring to the forefront is the importance of financial planning and the importance of saving and making financial provision for both the short term and the long term. Debt for example effects every aspect of a person’s financial planning and especially your long- term financial planning such as planning for retirement. If you must acquire debt to pay for daily expenses, then there is no way that you will be able to save for a long-term goal such as retirement. To create intergenerational wealth, we must break the cycle of the retirement crisis South Africa faces and to be able to do that we need to understand the following:
- Retirement landscape in South Africa – To understand what our employees are going through and how confident they feel about their retirement planning, we will look at some insightful findings from the 2020 Brand Atlas Survey. This will give us an indication of what the retirement landscape looks like in South Africa.
- Stumbling blocks along the retirement journey – Planning for retirement is a long-term endeavour and there are many twists and turns on the road to achieving a financially free retirement. What are the stumbling blocks that employees normally come across and that you can be on the lookout for?
- All is not lost – Although the situation may look bleak and it looks like all is lost, there are several solutions that can be offered to employees to help them get back- and stay on track with their retirement planning. There are several ways that employees can be assisted in getting them on the road to financial wellness. At Sanlam Savings our purpose is to improve people’s lives by enabling a culture of savings through financial advice and reliable solutions.
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Learning Objectives:
- Recognising stumbling blocks in retirement planning of employees.
- Understanding the retirement landscape in South Africa.
- Identifying solutions for retirement planning of employees.

Our seminars are limited to 500 people.
If you do not manage to get into the seminar,
please watch the seminar live on our Facebook page.

Ms Elbeth Venter
Recurring Savings Product Specialist @Sanlam
Ms Venter started out as a teacher in 1990 but soon realised that she would have prefer to work with adults and thus she became qualified in training adults instead. Her whole work life has been spent in the financial industry and the financial upskilling of intermediaries and clients. She has presented on different forums such as Sanlam Roadhows and conferences as well as clients from different spheres of life. Ms Venter works closely with the Sanlam key account specialists in both the public and private sectors.
Speaking Experience:
- Sanlam Solutions Roadshows
- Client seminars
- Sanlam Conferences