Key trends emerge in first year of two-pot system

Since the two-pot retirement system was introduced a year ago, on 1 September 2024, many trends have emerged from the data, such as who tends to withdraw from the savings pot of their retirement savings and what they spend it on.

- Ina Opperman

Vickie Lange, head of corporate best practice at Alexforbes, says the two-pot retirement system had reshaped South Africa's retirement savings by offering a balance between long-term goals and short-term financial needs.

Alexforbes administers 1.1 million actively contributing members. It processed more than 650,000 savings pot claims worth R9.5 billion in the first year. De Lange says claims were finalised on average in seven working days.

In the current tax year (from 1 March 2025), over 270,000 claims worth R2.5 billion have already been paid.

Lange says despite the high claim volumes, Alexforbes maintained a strong administrative performance, processing 95% of its 150,000 annual exit claims (resignation, retrenchment and retirement) within agreed servicing standards.

Alexforbes noted these key member insights from the two-pot retirement system data: