Johannesburg, 25 June 2026: The 45th Sanlam Benchmark Survey, released today, has found that South Africans believe retirement planning should begin around age 35, however on average they seek financial advice just 20 months before retiring.
The Sanlam Benchmark is South Africa’s most referenced and comprehensive retirement industry research. The 2026 study reveals a striking disconnect between intention and action. While South Africans believe their mid-30s are the right time to begin planning for retirement, the survey shows that, on average, retirement fund members only start engaging with their retirement fund 3.4 years prior to stopping work. Additionally, only 57% received professional advice about retirement.
By then, many of the decisions that shape retirement outcomes have already been made.
Kanyisa Mkhize, Chief Executive Officer of Sanlam Corporate says retirement confidence is not built in the final years before retirement. It is built over decades of a working lifetime through the decisions people make along the way: preserving their savings when they change jobs, increasing contributions where possible and managing debt. “Retirement planning also does not stop when someone leaves work. The first few years after retirement are critical, because that is when a lifetime of savings is tested against the reality of living costs, healthcare needs and longevity.”
Mkhize says, “The Sanlam Benchmark tells us that people understand when they should start planning, but the reality is that many are making retirement decisions in a very difficult economic environment. As an industry, we must recognise the financial pressure many members are under. We need to work together with employers and advisers to help members plan earlier, access better advice, preserve more of their savings and increase contributions where they can.”
The reality before retirement... and the reality after
The survey reveals two very different pictures of retirement.
Before retirement, many South Africans are still trying to build financial security while navigating job moves, rising living costs and growing debt.
After retirement, decisions made early in a career, and along its lifespan, become impossible to undo.
Pensioners who take a cash lump sum at retirement now deplete it within an average of just 14.6 months - a decline from the 30 months reported between 2011 and 2016. Within four to five years of retiring, half can no longer maintain their pre-retirement standard of living, one in three experience financial strain and 47% carry debt into retirement.
Healthcare has become another defining pressure. While 33% of retirees remain on the same level of private medical cover, 44% have either downgraded their cover or abandoned private cover entirely and now rely on the state.
South Africans are changing - and retirement planning needs to change with them
This year's Benchmark also challenges many of the assumptions that have traditionally shaped retirement advice.
Younger South Africans, often viewed as risk-takers, are becoming increasingly conservative in their financial outlook. Nearly nine in ten say they would rather have guaranteed retirement income than potentially higher investment returns. At the same time, many are navigating career interruptions, debt and short-term financial pressure that make long-term saving difficult.
Generation X (ages 46 – 61), traditionally seen as being in their peak earning years, is carrying some of the country's greatest financial strain. Many are supporting both children and aging parents while approaching retirement themselves, often with significant debt.
Meanwhile, retirement itself is being redefined. Far from slowing down, today's retirees are increasingly digitally connected, financially active and economically engaged. Sixty percent supplement their retirement income through other sources (compared to 47% in 2024), while more than 90% regularly use digital platforms and online banking.
"The old assumptions about age no longer hold," says Mkhize. "Young people are looking for certainty, people in mid-life are under unprecedented financial pressure, and many retirees continue working because they need to. Retirement planning has to reflect the way South Africans actually live today, not the way they lived twenty years ago."
A retirement system transformed - and new opportunities remain
The Benchmark reflects on how dramatically South Africa's retirement landscape has evolved over the past two decades.
The industry has consolidated significantly, with fewer but stronger stand-alone retirement funds, substantially lower administration costs and improved governance. The introduction of the Two-Pot System has also transformed how members engage with their retirement savings. Eighty-four percent of standalone funds and 80% of umbrella funds report increased member engagement since its implementation.
Anna Siwiak, Head: Product Development at Sanlam Umbrella Solutions, says increased member engagement is encouraging because it creates an opportunity for the industry to work together and make a real impact on retirement outcomes. "People are paying more attention to their retirement savings than they have in years. Our challenge now is to help them use those moments of engagement to make better long-term decisions - not only when they need to access money, but throughout their working lives."
One of the clearest opportunities lies in contribution levels.
Average contributions in umbrella funds currently sit at 14.09% of pensionable salary (8.00% from employers and 6.09% from members), compared with 17.44% in standalone funds (10.69% from employers and 6.75% from members) - both well below the maximum tax‑deductible contribution level of 27.5% of taxable income. While few people can immediately increase contributions to that level, Siwiak suggests that gradually increasing retirement savings by one or two percentage points as salaries grow can significantly improve retirement outcomes over time.
“Affording even small increases in contributions can be a challenge, especially in today’s economic climate. That is why a robust retirement strategy, anchored in career-long financial advice, is so critical. Advice is not a one-off event at retirement - it is the ongoing guidance that helps members preserve savings when they change jobs, manage debt before it spirals, and make confident choices about healthcare and longevity. When advice is embedded across the member journey, even modest contribution increases become part of a stronger, more resilient financial plan,” says Siwiak.
The research also highlights preservation as one of the biggest opportunities to improve retirement outcomes. Although 26% of funds and 19% of umbrella sub‑funds have seen preservation improve since the Two‑Pot system was introduced, the majority remain concerned that members still withdraw rather than preserve their savings when changing jobs.
Siwiak adds that when changing jobs, members often receive withdrawal forms instead of meaningful financial guidance at one of the most important financial decision points of their lives.
Confidence through the ages
This year's Benchmark Survey is built around the theme Confidence Through the Ages.
Its central finding is simple: retirement confidence cannot be built during the last few years of a career, nor can it end on the day someone retires. It is created - and protected - through decisions made across an entire lifetime.
"The conversation about retirement should begin around age 35 because that's when time is still your greatest asset," says Mkhize. "But it shouldn't stop at retirement either. The first years of retirement are just as important, because that's when decades of planning are put to the test."
The study surveyed 76 standalone retirement funds, 130 umbrella fund employers, 30 pensioners who retired four to five years ago, 600 consumers made up of 200 employed, 200 approaching retirement and 200 living in retirement. It comprised two studies conducted by research houses BRDC and Alltold.
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