The first of its kind, The Agile Retirement Range will offer customers certainty in relation to that portion of the retirement annuity which is invested in the Exact Income Fund, regardless of how markets perform.
“Agile gives customers the option to have a partial guaranteed income in retirement combined with the ability to invest in multiple portfolios according to their retirement strategy. No other retirement products give you the flexibility of competitive investment returns and risk-free certainty,” says Mark Lapedus, Head of Product Development at Liberty Investments.
That means you will be able to approach your retirement with a two-pronged approach - investing a portion to guarantee an income in retirement, while allocating additional retirement funding to higher risk investment portfolios to take advantage of stock market growth through a choice of over 100 portfolios from 15 management companies to suit almost any retirement strategy.
Portfolio split
Agile has two components to it. The first part operates more like your traditional retirement annuity does today, selecting from a range of portfolios that will generate returns. Then there’s the Exact Income Fund which provides certainty today on your retirement income, giving customers the unique combination of flexibility and long-term certainty.
“The Exact Income Fund works very simply – every time an investment is made into it, it will secure a guaranteed income from retirement onwards, irrespective of how markets perform or how much annuity rates may change. If you are a younger investor looking for aggressive portfolio growth, you may want to commit less to the Exact Income Fund, whereas older investors – say, with about 20 years to go before retirement, would potentially invest a higher portion in the Exact Income Fund,” explains Mark.
The Agile offering removes much of the anxiety around lack of certainty of your retirement income. “Our research revealed that when it comes to retirement, every person saving for retirement has the same, identical goal: Income. More specifically, an income in retirement to replace the income one earns and lives off while working. Surprisingly, we could not find a single retirement savings product in South Africa that has the ability to deliver certainty when it comes to this goal, and as a customer-centric organisation, we saw a need – Agile meets that need,” says Mark.
A case of longevity
People are living longer. Planning for one’s retirement and hoping for the best is no longer enough – knowing how much income one will earn at retirement has become imperative, especially with a turbulent economy.
“The current investment reality is that no financial institution can guarantee your income when you retire. The best they can do is predict what you could earn, but your fund is still a slave to the global markets. Agile changes this by partially ensuring your retirement returns, providing you with ample choice which allows you to invest in not one, but multiple portfolios simultaneously. We thought: Why would you want to risk your future if you could secure it? And that’s the motivation behind Agile,” says Mark.
For more information on The Agile Retirement Range visit www.libertyagile.co.za
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