Here's the deal: You may read the information on the site for free. As and when I have the time I'll add new articles, taking into account any questions which have been asked. For legal reasons, please do not consider anything on this site to be advice - the only free investment advice is to apply your own mind. If you want to request that an article be written, then email me. I have limited time available, and will prioritise the work accordingly, so please be patient. Email me at invest@freeinvestmentadvice.org.

As a service to those about to retire, I'm starting to do annuity quotes for compulsory money (money that is in a South African retirement fund). I'm mainly using Paramount Life's quotations, as at the time of writing they were the best, and offer the possibility of enhanced annuities (ie if you're suffering from serious ailments, you could potentially get higher annuity rates). If you'd like an annuity quote, please fill in the form below:

It takes a bit of work to do annuity quotes. There is a field below in which you can fill in the commission percentage you're willing to pay, and then I'll quickly let you know if we have a deal.

Risks associate with these products

Some of the risks associated with purchasing annuity products are:

Bankruptcy

When buying an annuity policy you face the risk of the company no longer being able to pay you the annuity payments it owes, if it goes bankrupt.

Administrative competence

Even if the company doesn't go bankrupt you are exposed to its level of administrative competence, in other words its ability to correctly calculate & pay you what it owes you on time.

Erosion of real value of annuity payments

If you buy a level annuity, then the real value of your income will decrease every year at the rate of inflation you're experiencing (if you're experiencing inflation of 5%, then every year you'll be able to buy 5% fewer goods & services, and for example after 10 years will only be able to purchase 61% of the goods you could at the outset).

If you buy an annuity increasing at a fixed rate then you run the risk of the inflation you experience being higher than that fixed rate, and the real amount of good & services you can purchase with your annuity payments decreasing.

Pensioner inflation is generally greater than lagged consumer price inflation, so even if you buy an annuity with inflation protection it will probably increase at a rate lower than the inflation you're experiencing (even with its issues, out of annuity products available in South Africa, those increasing at consumer price inflation provide the closest match to the inflation pensioners are likely to experience).

If you buy an annuity where your increases are linked in some way to the performance of financial markets, then you run the risk of low returns in those financial markets.

Disclosure Requirements

In order to comply with Section 4 of The General Code of Conduct for Authorised Financial Services Providers & Representatives, the following information about our sole product supplier is hereby furnished:

Sanlam Life

Paramount Life

In order to comply with Section 5 of The General Code of Conduct for Authorised Financial Services Providers & Representatives, the following information about ourselves is hereby furnished:

Some things to bear in mind

The annuity products listed here are not realisable and once invested the funds concerned are not accessible.

You cannot terminate, withdraw or transfer from these annuity products.

Annuity payments are taxable in your hands.

Transaction requirements

On request, clients must be supplied with a copy or written or printed record of any transaction requirements within a reasonable time.

Sanlam annuity options

Here are 3 of the annuity products Sanlam provides:

• Complete Picture Pension

• Inflation-linked Pensions

• Guaranteed Escalation Annuities

Paramount Life Annuity Options

• Guaranteed Life Annuity

This is obviously a very limited subset of the annuity options which are out there - for instance it leaves out other companies and living annuities. It is up to you, the reader/client to research and decide whether there may be other better options for you.

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Due to regulations, our emails and this entire website should be considered as having been set up for entertainment purposes alone. Expect errors and omissions. Investment in shares and other financial instruments should be conducted by professional investment experts only. Any use of the information on my websites, emails and newsletters is at your own risk, and by using it you agree that the owners of our websites, authors and associated parties wont be held liable for any losses suffered as a result of using the information. None of the information should be construed as being advice. Our newsletters, articles, discussions and website are not an offering for any investment. It represents only our and others' opinions. Any views expressed are provided for information purposes only and should not be construed in any way as an offer, an endorsement, or inducement to invest. Illustrations, forecasts or hypothetical data are not guaranteed and are provided for illustrative purposes only. There are risks involved in buying or selling a financial product. Past performance is not indicative of future performance. Any investment values given are not guaranteed. Investment returns can be volatile. When investing there is always the risk of losing all or a substantial amount of your investment, as well as the risk of illiquidity. There may be advertisements on some pages on this website, and we may earn income from these advertisements. We may earn commission on products invested in or annuities purchased. We cannot attest to the accuracy of the material presented here, and opinions expressed may be changed without prior notice. In any event our liability will be limited to R1, and any court cases must take place in Cape Town. You may contact us at invest@freeinvestmentadvice.org