Edge Financial Group Turns 20

It’s time to retire and you have invested your hard-earned retirement savings into a living annuity with the Edge World-wide Flexible Model making up part of your underlying portfolio. You, as the annuitant, may draw an annual income of between 2.5% and 17.5% of the capital value. It’s important that the drawdown does not exceed the performance of the underlying fund as it will diminish the capital amount year on year. One should always consider the impact of inflation and the underlying investment fund when selecting your drawdown. Had you invested in the Edge World-Wide Flexible Model you would have earned returns around 12.5%, allowing for a greater drawdown on your investment . Unfortunately, reality does not care about your plans for retirement, and you succumb to the effects of Covid, leaving behind your wife and two children. What are your succession planning options for your living annuity? Beneficiaries can be nominated to receive the benefits of the living annuity on your death. The beneficiary may then decide whether to take the benefit in the form of a lump sum (taxable), an annuity, or a combination of the two. Living annuities are not governed by Section 37C of the Pension Funds Act which means you are able to nominate your minor children as a beneficiary on the investment. However, your children’s legal guardian will have discretion when it comes to managing these funds until your children are old enough to manage it themself. If no beneficiary is nominated, the proceeds will be paid into your estate. You can nominate a trust as a beneficiary of the living annuity. This option can be used to protect assets, in this case the living annuity, while still allowing the beneficiaries of the trust to enjoy the benefits of the asset. There are two types of trusts that can be formed. If the founder is still alive, it is an inter vivos trust. If the trust is formed on the death of a person, it is a testamentary trust. The main use of a trust is to pass benefits to heirs without giving them full ownership. The onus is then on the trustees to administer assets in a way that will be the most appropriate. Your financial situation is unique, with varying needs and complexities . That’s why it’s always important to speak to a financial adviser to make sense of the options available to you.

The Edge Financial Group was founded by Edward Colin Gutsche (MD) in 2001. It is an independent financial services company specialising in individual and group portfolio management, short-term insurance, retirement fund, financial and medical aid a dvi ce. Since inception, our clients have always been our priority. One of our strengths is that we do not work purely on an upfront fee-based system. Our fees are spread over the period of the client’s investment. This ensures that we work harder, stay in contact with clients and provide all our clients with more updates and reports than our opposition . We strictly adhere to all FSCA (Financial Sector Conduct Authority) regulations. Included in our compliance procedures are monthly external audits of our clients’ files to ensure that the highest standards of investment advice and ethics are maintained. Our Johannesburg office, Edge Wealth (Pty) Ltd, opened its doors in 2016 and Edge is also proud to have been awarded its Category 2 Asset Management Licence, Edge Asset Management (Pty) Ltd. The acquisition of a short-term insurance business in 2020 led to the establishment of Edge 4 Sure (Pty) Ltd as well as the acquisition of another investment business to further grow our company. When we first opened in September 2001, we offered only the basic financial services but as our business grew so did our product offering and list of financial service providers.

Edge has also grown our client, product and service provider base. We currently have more than 140 small, medium and large companies on our client list and more than R1.75bn in direct assets under management . Trust Edge, we act with the end in mind For our clients’ best interests, we are fully independent www.edgefinance.co.za or find us on Facebook Product range: retirement, pension and provident fund advice; short term insurances (commercial and personal lines); employee benefits; individual life, disability and dread disease coverage; medical aid; local and offshore property funds and investments; direct offshore investments; offshore trusts; fiduciary services. Our respective specialists can provide these services through all the major Investment houses, insurance companies and with access to the most reputable funds.