Staff Reporter
The Government Institutions Pension Fund (GIPF) recently spoke out against posts that have been circulating on social media advising unmarried GIPF members to resign, instead of retire, and to cash out their pensions.
In the posts in question, unmarried GIPF members are advised to resign shortly before retirement and to transfer the funds to a preservation fund in order to make other investments that beneficiaries can benefit from after the member’s death.
However, GIPF’s Marketing and Stakeholder Engagement Manager, Edwin Tjiramba, cautioned that this “disadvantages the members and defeats the whole purpose of a pension scheme in general”.
“Resigning shortly before retirement has grave consequences for any member in terms of a commission charged by financial advisors, getting fully taxed for the withdrawal amounts, and carrying the administration costs in case of transfer to a preservation fund,” Tjiramba said.
He further warned that members who resign before retiring risk losing out on the annual pension increases, spousal income for life, medical aid provision and the lifelong pension benefit, which is not part of a preservation fund.
According to the fund, when members retire, they receive a one-third tax-free lump sum upon retirement.
The fund then pays the remaining two-thirds to the member as monthly pension for the rest of their life.
If an unmarried retired GIPF member dies within five years of retirement, the remaining guaranteed balance is distributed to the beneficiaries or the money is paid over to the Master of the High Court for the benefit of the member’s estate, if there were no beneficiaries.
