Learning
Benefits Crash Course
A first pass across the desk: what a board is asked to watch, how cost words are used, and which legislation explainers sit next to those questions.
Who it is for
Principal officers, trustees, consultants, and benefits-HR who are new to this desk and want a map before they open a pack.
Modules
- Duty of care, in board language. What the orientation says a board is for. Not a legal opinion.
- Cost words. Shared labels for investment, administration, advice, and transaction costs.
- A default portfolio, and a limits conversation. Regulation 37 questions and Regulation 28 vocabulary, kept apart.
- Where a fee shows up over time. Trajectory by fee base. No invented averages and no fund picks.
Briefings in this outline
- PFA duty of care (orientation)
Orientation on due care, diligence, and good faith for fund boards.
- Fee types — shared vocabulary
Shared labels for investment, admin, advice, and transaction costs.
- Regulation 28 orientation
What boards typically ask when Reg 28 enters the conversation.
- Do members lose benefits when a fund changes administrators?
How small cost gaps compound for members over a career.
- Fee structures that grow: rand, salary, and asset-based charges over time
Trajectory by recovery base — sequel to fee vocabulary and fee-drag, without invented averages.
- Two-pot withdrawal fees: questions for the board, not the press release
Scrutiny of savings-component withdrawal fees — survey observations, not a regulated tariff.
- Annuity strategy at fund level: what Reg 39 asks boards to own
Orientation on fund-level annuity strategy — consent, suitability, living-annuity caps, annual review.
Legislation changes. This is an outline for education, not a full curriculum, a login, a CPD record, or a certificate. It is not FAIS advice and it does not rank products or funds. Read the official instrument and the fund's rules before a meeting.