South Africa's Two-Pot Retirement System is now live!
The two-pot retirement system was implemented in September 2024 to help South Africans stay invested in their retirement funds until they retire. The system gives you access to one-third of your retirement savings for short-term needs to avoid withdrawing from your retirement fund in full when changing jobs.
How does the two-pot retirement system work?
Going forward, your retirement fund contributions will be divided into two pots:
- One-third will go into a savings component, which you can access once every tax year.
- Two-thirds will go into a retirement component, which you can't withdraw until retirement
How much can I withdraw from my savings component?
To kickstart the two-pot system, 10% of your retirement savings accumulated up to 31 August, to a maximum of R30 000, will be seeded into your savings pot, which you can withdraw if necessary.
What happens to my retirement savings accumulated up to 31 August?
Your retirement savings up to 31 August will go into a vested component that you can still access in full when you change employers.
Two-Pot calculator
To help South Africans work out the impact of savings pot withdrawals, Discovery has built a nifty Two-Pot calculator. Simply enter your age, current assets, monthly contribution, and we'll estimate how much you'll have access to on 01 September 2024. Then, enter how much you plan to withdraw, and we'll show you:
- what you'll get after tax and fees,
- the lump sum you'll miss out on at retirement if you do withdraw,
- how much more you'll need to contribute every month to make up for that lump sum, or
- how much longer you'd need to work after age 65 to make up the difference.
Have fun discovering the details of Two-Pot by running your own numbers and see how Discovery has you covered, every step of the way.
The "two pots"
Contributions after 01 September 2024 split in two
The "old pot"
All savings before 01 September 2024 unaffected
Vested component
I can use this if I change employers
Learn more Employer Hub
Find everything you need to navigate the two-pot retirement system, including useful content for your employees.