The Early Bird fund performance indicators for October 2024 have been released. To get an early feel for what to expect of the month in terms of returns on your pension investment, the market lost 1.34% (Allshare Index ex div), ranging between 2.81% (Basic Material) and -6.03% (Industrials). The Rand weakened by 2.12% to the US$. Typical prudential-managed pension portfolios returned between 0.458% (Lebela Balanced Fund) and -1.949% (Ninety-One Opportunity Fund) after fees.

In September 2024, the average prudential balanced portfolio returned 1.8% (August 2024: 1.3%). The top performer is NAM Coronation Balanced Plus Fund, with 2.7%, while Stanlib Managed Fund, with 1.0%, takes the bottom spot. M&G Managed Fund took the top spot for the three months, outperforming the ‘average’ by roughly 0.8%. Stanlib Managed Fund underperformed the ‘average’ by 1.3% on the other end of the scale. Note that these returns are before (gross of) asset management fees.

The Monthly Review of Portfolio Performance to 30 September 2024 reviews portfolio performances and provides insightful analyses. 

Avoid any permanent loss, but be prepared to give up value.

If you own something you do not use, chances are you will lose – “use it or lose it” is a rugby rule. It applies to all spheres of life. No one can take what you use from you if we equate ‘using’ to ‘consuming.

This wisdom also applies to your investments. Since you do not use your investments, chances are you will lose. This is not to say that you will permanently lose, but there will be times when you will lose. The best thing you can do is to be prepared for losing at times.

One also needs to distinguish between different types of losses, namely, temporary and permanent losses. You cannot recover a permanent loss as opposed to a temporary loss. To the analogy of a house: if you bought the house for N$ 1 million and the valuator now values the house at N$ 850,000, you made a temporary (or unrealised) loss. The market may pick up again in a year when the home may be worth more than N$ 1 million. However, if you sold the house for N$ 850,000, you made a permanent (or realised) loss. If you own shares in a company listed on the stock exchange and its price declines, it is only a temporary loss. However, it is a permanent loss if the company goes into liquidation (like Steinhoff).

Since we are dealing with pension funds and personal investments, in terms of market conditions, we find ourselves in a situation where we feel we have been on a losing streak for quite some time. But how do you define loss in these circumstances? Is it a loss relative to inflation, or is it a loss relative to the returns one has seen in investment markets until the advent of the financial crisis (GFC) at the end of 2008? I suspect many investors are still clamouring for past returns of 20% and more. Importantly, it should only be your above-inflation return; inflation should be your bottom line!

Where would you have invested had you anticipated developments in financial markets since the financial crisis? It was not too difficult to predict the impact of quantitative easing, the low interest rate environment, and the COVID-19 stimulus. Still, no one would have expected such a strong recovery for the four years since the GFC, followed by a flattening of financial markets afterwards.

What alternative investments could you possibly have made in anticipation of what was expected - property, life stock, vintage cars or other exotic objects? Well, test them one by one. Property in Namibia would not have been a good idea until the COVID-19 shock. Life stock in Namibia would have been a dull investment. Gold or any other exotic object?.

Read paragraph 6 of the Monthly Review of Portfolio Performance to 30 September 2024 for our views on investment markets and global political developments. It also reviews portfolio performances and provides insightful analyses.

A number of members of employer groups have unclaimed benefits in the Benchmark Retirement Fund. They were employees of African Business Investments, Brandberg Construction, Cymot, DHPS, Gondwana Group, Lady Pohamba Private Hospital, Medfam,Ongava Game Reserve, Plastic Packaging and Wilderness Group. Members should please contact RFS Fund Administrators’ offices on tel. 061 - 446 000 and present a valid Identification Document or valid Drivers License. If you know a person on this list, please inform her or him.

A number of members of employer groups have unclaimed benefits in the Benchmark Retirement Fund. They were employees of Ark Trading, African Business Investments, Agra, Brandberg Construction, Diesel Electric Holdings, Gondwana Group, Lady Pohamba Private Hospital, Namibia Lead and Zinc Mining, Namibia Engineering Corporation, Nedbank, Plastic Packaging and Wilderness Group. Members should please contact RFS Fund Administrators’ offices on tel. 061 - 446 000 and present a valid Identification Document or valid Drivers License. If you know a person on this list, please inform her or him.

The Benchmark financial highlights for 2023 have been released and can be downloaded here.

If you couldn't attend but still want the updates and insights, or want to refresh your knowledge, watch the videos of the 2023 Annual Member Meeting here...

The Board of Trustees announced the appointment of Mr. Hermann Hentschel as independent trustee to the Benchmark Retirement Fund effective 1 November 2023.

Mr. Hentschel brings a wealth of experience to the Benchmark Board, having served as Chairperson of the FirstRand Namibia Board, Vice Chairperson of the FirstRand Namibia Pension Fund, and Trustee on the O&L Pension Fund.

Mr. Hentschel holds a Master of Science in Leadership and Change Management and a B-Com (Hons) in Management Accounting. He is an associate member of the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA).

The Board welcomes Mr. Hentschel to the Board and looks forward to the value he will add to the Benchmark Retirement Fund.

The Board of Trustees resolved to appoint Mrs. Sophia Amoo-Chimunda as Principal Officer of the Benchmark Retirement from 1 July 2022.

Mrs. Amoo-Chimunda will take over from Mr. Günter Pfeifer, who has been serving as Principal Officer in the interim while the Fund was recruiting an independent Principal Officer, as required by the Financial Institutions and Markets Act.

Mrs. Amoo-Chimunda is a legal practitioner with some 16 years’ experience in pension, labour, contract and financial services laws. She has been serving as an Independent Principal Officer of the Protektor Namibia Preservation Funds and is still serving as Independent Principal Officer of the Roads Authority Employee Retirement Fund as well as the Old Mutual Namibia Retirement Fund. She serves as an Independent Trustee of the Napotel Pension Fund.

From 2007 to 2010, Mrs. Amoo-Chimunda was employed at NAMFISA, initially as legal advisor and eventually as Manager Pensions and Friendly Societies.

On behalf of the Board, I want to welcome Mrs. Amoo-Chimunda – we look forward to the wealth of experience and industry-related knowledge she brings along, which will equip the Fund to continue serving its members and stakeholders, as well as transitioning to the new legislative environment.

H-H Müseler
Chairman: Board of Trustees

The Board of Trustees of the Benchmark Retirement Fund appointed Ms. Sabrina Jacobs as a Trustee of the Fund effective 1 May 2021. More...

Benchmark Retirement Fund is changing its trustees. In terms of the Financial Institutions and Markets Bill, service providers to a fund can no longer serve as trustees to the Fund once the new Act is effective. Over time, trustees of the Benchmark Retirement Fund who are closely associated with the founder Retirement Fund Solutions (RFS), either as shareholders or employees will not serve on the board. More...

Trustees mostly understand that it is a risk to engage a single manager to manage their fund’s assets within a single investment mandate. But do they understand what risk or risks they face and which one will be reduced through the appointment of more than one manager and what is the correct number of managers to use?

Read more...

We wish to draw the attention of employers who participate in the Benchmark Retirement Fund, to the fact that it is a requirement that all new employees joining the employer after the date the employer joined the fund, must be enrolled as members of the fund. This is not optional and employers affording new employees the choice whether or not to become a member are transgressing the rules, the agreement with the fund and the requirements of the Income Tax Act.

Employers who engage in such practice firstly may find that the Receiver of Revenue cancels the tax approval of the employer’s pension fund. In terms of the Income Tax Act, membership of a fund must be obligatory in order for employee contributions being allowed as a deduction against the employee’s taxable income. Cancellation of tax approval will mean that the contributions that employees have made to the fund will be disallowed. In other words the employees that participate will be punished for the transgression by those the employer afforded the choice to join and who chose not to join.

From the fund’s and the insurer’s perspective it is also important that membership is a condition of employment. This serves to ensure that the employees cannot apply anti-selection. In other words healthy employees are more likely not to join while those who know to have a health impediment are more likely to join. As the result the fund may end up with the poor risks undermining the principles of group underwriting. To protect the fund against such practices, the trustees have the powers to terminate membership of an employer.

Seven habits of financially healthy retirees

Sanlam has provided a guide to the seven good habits of financially healthy retirees. How do you measure up? Click here for the bigger picture...

Why preserve your retirement capital?

How you manage your pension fund when you resign will decide your wealth. You may withdraw it, but is that the best choice for your future?

Benchmark retirement capital preservation

When you change jobs, stop working or are retrenched and have to withdraw from the retirement fund you have been contributing to, you can preserve your fund credit in the Benchmark Retirement Fund.

By transferring your fund credit to the Benchmark Retirement Fund you will preserve it for retirement and will be able to grow it with investment returns.

Preserving your fund credit is imperative to ensure that you reach your retirement objectives and is a tax efficient way to exit your current retirement fund.

Benchmark living annuities

When reaching retirement age (depending on the rules of your current retirement fund), you can invest your fund credit in an investment linked living annuity in the Benchmark Retirement Fund to receive your monthly pension.

You can join Benchmark Retirement Fund on retirement. You do not already have to be a member of the Fund at that stage.

The monthly pension can be chosen by you, taking the requirements of the Income Tax Act into account. The monthly pension will be a function of the amount of capital available, the investment returns earned and the period for which you require a monthly pension.