Unclaimed assets
Every year in July, in South Africa, the government and the private sector work together towards financial inclusion as this enables effective and efficient financial management for consumers under the theme of Savings Month.
Notably, in South Africa, according to the Association for Savings and Investment South Africa (ASISA), assets valued at R33 billion have been left unclaimed as at December 2021. These assets include instruments such as investments, annuity policies, collective investment schemes and savings accounts.
What does this mean?
Being an investor for the long term can sometimes go beyond your own life to those you leave behind. We can refer to this as generational wealth.
Suppose you think of it using the current stats. In that case, the R33 billion is money left behind by investors like you and me investing for the long term. However, because they didn't inform their loved ones at some point, if not for other reasons, loved ones may be suffering while millions are left behind for them.
As an EasyEquities investor
Getting a family member involved or informed about your investments may be the first step to ensuring that they know what to do if anything happens to you. From there, you'll have to ensure that you have a will in place. You can read here for more.
Retirement Annuity beneficiary
The EasyEquities app has a beneficiaries option that is ONLY for retirement annuities (RAs).To Activate and start investing in an RA account, you must fill in the name/s of your beneficiary/ies before activation. You can read here for more
Getting your child involved
If you are a parent, getting your child involved is a good strategy to start building their knowledge around investments and to learn the basics from a young age. Click here to create a minor account.
For people who want to claim from the unclaimed funds
GREAT NEWS! If you are or know anyone who may be a beneficiary of unclaimed funds, ASISA member companies have agreed to waive their rights in terms of the Prescription Act, which would normally allow them to cancel an individual's right to claim an unpaid amount after three years.
“This commitment is outlined in the ASISA Standard on Unclaimed Assets, which guides member companies on how to treat unclaimed assets and also encourages the use of enhanced tracing procedures so as to keep unclaimed assets at a minimum.” Read more here
Visit unclaimed benefit search here
EasyEquities also enables new and existing investors to transfer shares and portfolios to their beneficiaries. You can read more here.
While having a will may not be mandatory to invest in stocks and other related products, investors may want to keep this in the back of their mind as this can help keep the growth of their portfolios going, especially when you have loved ones.
Any opinions, news, research, reports, analyses, prices, or other information contained within this research is provided by an employee of EasyEquities an authorised FSP (FSP no 22588) as general market commentary and does not constitute investment advice for the purposes of the Financial Advisory and Intermediary Services Act, 2002. First World Trader (Pty) Ltd t/a EasyEquities (“EasyEquities”) does not warrant the correctness, accuracy, timeliness, reliability or completeness of any information (i) contained within this research and (ii) received from third party data providers. You must rely solely upon your own judgment in all aspects of your investment and/or trading decisions and all investments and/or trades are made at your own risk. EasyEquities (including any of their employees) will not accept any liability for any direct or indirect loss or damage, including without limitation, any loss of profit, which may arise directly or indirectly from use of or reliance on the market commentary. The content contained within is subject to change at any time without notice.
