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Analysis · Industry survey

Sanlam Benchmark 2026: the “20 months before retirement” figure comes from 30 pensioners

The headline advice-gap numbers are real, but the report itself says where they come from. That changes how boards should read them.

Benefits Desk · ~5 min

What the survey found

Sanlam Benchmark Survey 2026, the 45th edition, published in June 2026, found that 84% of standalone funds and 80% of umbrella funds report more member engagement since the two-pot system was implemented (Insights Report, PDF p. 7).

On advice, the report says 43% of fund members never meet a professional financial adviser and, for the 57% who do, engagement happens on average 1 year and 8 months before retirement (PDF p. 15). It also reports that only 31% of standalone-fund members and 26% of umbrella sub-fund members take up trustee-endorsed annuities (PDF p. 15).

On cash at retirement, the report says lump sums taken at retirement are depleted within an average of 14.6 months, against an average of 30 months in 2011-2016 (PDF p. 14).

Where the headline number comes from

Much of the coverage reported the timing figures as a general finding about fund members. Daily Maverick, for example, wrote that “retirement fund members only start engaging with their retirement fund 3.4 years before stopping work”.

The report is more specific. On PDF p. 52 it says “The qualitative pensioner research heightens the concern: retirees only started engaging with their retirement fund, on average, 3 years and 4 months before retirement, and professional advice was sought, on average, only 1 year and 8 months before retirement.” The sample description on PDF p. 64 lists 30 pensioners who have been retired for four to five years.

So the figures describe the recalled experience of a small group of recent retirees. They are a strong signal. They are not a measured average across South Africa's fund membership.

Why it matters for boards

Regulation 39 of the Pension Funds Act regulations requires boards to give members access to retirement benefits counselling not less than three months before normal retirement age (GN 863, GG 41064, 2017). Even on the survey's small sample, retirees were looking for advice well before that legal floor. The gap the survey describes sits earlier in the member journey than the rule does.

The annuity take-up figures sit next to that. If roughly a quarter to a third of members take up the trustee-endorsed option, a board can fairly ask what its own take-up is, and when its members first hear about the strategy.

What we don't know

We don't know how the 30 pensioners were selected, or whether they are typical of members of standalone or umbrella funds. The report does not give a margin of error for the qualitative figures.

We don't know whether the 14.6-month depletion figure uses the same group or method as the 2011-2016 figure it is compared with. The report's own pensioner pages (PDF p. 38) put it as “70% of those who took lump sums have depleted them within 14–15 months”, which is a different measure from an average.

Survey results from other publishers (for example 10X or Alexander Forbes) use different methods and samples, so they should not be read side by side with these numbers as if they were like-for-like.

Questions a board could table

• When does our fund first offer retirement benefits counselling, compared with the three-month legal floor?
• What share of our retiring members took up the trustee-endorsed annuity in the last year?
• Do we measure when members first engage with us before retirement, or do we rely on industry surveys?

Staging pilot (v2 Portion 6, source-mix test). Not published to production. Needs editorial gate + fact-check pass before any live publish.