There's a question I get asked all the time, usually in a slightly nervous tone:
"Am I on track?"
It might be the most important financial question you can ask. And the fact that you're asking it, at 35, with potentially 30 working years still ahead, means you're ahead of most South Africans already.
Here's the honest answer: there's no single number that fits everyone. But there are benchmarks. And once you know where you stand, you can do something about it.
First, the sobering reality
Before we talk about your number, let's talk about the country we live in.
Only 6% of South Africans can retire comfortably. That statistic comes from 10X Investments and is widely cited across the industry. Whether the precise figure is 6% or 10%, the message is the same: the overwhelming majority of South Africans, including many who are earning good salaries and working hard, will reach retirement without enough money to maintain their lifestyle.
Our national savings rate sits at just 0.5% of GDP, one of the lowest in the world, according to Deloitte.
And when the two-pot pension system launched in September 2024, allowing South Africans to access a portion of their retirement savings early, R21.4 billion was withdrawn within just six weeks. That tells you how financially stretched many households are, and what it's costing them in the long run.
I'm not sharing this to scare you. I'm sharing it because understanding the landscape is the first step to doing something differently.
So, what should a 35-year-old actually have invested?
The most credible SA-specific benchmark I work with comes from Ninety One, one of South Africa's leading investment managers.
Their research shows that to retire comfortably, drawing no more than 5% of your capital per year in retirement, you need to have accumulated 20 times your final annual salary by the time you retire.
Working backwards from that target, by age 40 you should have saved roughly 5 times your current annual salary.
At age 35, roughly halfway between starting your career and that milestone, the honest benchmark is approximately 2.5 to 3 times your current annual salary.
Let's put that in rands.
| Monthly salary | Annual salary | Target at age 35 |
|---|---|---|
| R25,000 | R300,000 | R750,000 – R900,000 |
| R35,000 | R420,000 | R1.05M – R1.26M |
| R50,000 | R600,000 | R1.5M – R1.8M |
| R75,000 | R900,000 | R2.25M – R2.7M |
If you're looking at those numbers and feeling a knot in your stomach. That's okay. Most 35-year-olds in South Africa are behind this benchmark. The important thing is knowing where you are so you can close the gap.
"But I haven't started yet." What then?
Starting at 35 doesn't mean you've failed. It means you need a plan, a real one, with real numbers.
Here's what the maths looks like if you're starting from scratch today.
Let's say you're earning R40,000 per month gross, and your goal is to retire at 65 on R30,000 per month in today's money, a 75% income replacement ratio, which is the standard target most financial planners use.
To generate that income in retirement, you'd need approximately R28.4 million at retirement.
To get there, starting today at 35, with contributions increasing by 5.5% per year and investments growing at 10% per annum. You'd need to save approximately R8,200 per month right now. That's roughly 20% of your gross salary.
It sounds like a lot. It is a lot. But here's what most people don't realise: you don't have to find all of that from your take-home pay. SARS will contribute, if you know how to ask.
The three tools that make this achievable
1. The Retirement Annuity (RA)
Every rand you contribute to a Retirement Annuity is deductible from your taxable income, up to 27.5% of your taxable income, capped at R430,000 per year (increased from R350,000 in the 2026 Budget).
If you're on a marginal tax rate of 36% and you contribute R5,000 to your RA this month, SARS effectively refunds you R1,800 at tax assessment time. Your actual cost is R3,200, but R5,000 goes to work in your retirement fund. That's a guaranteed 56% return before your investment does a single thing.
The RA is the single most tax-efficient retirement savings tool available to a South African. If you're not maximising it, you are turning down free money from SARS every year.
2. The Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA)
Once your RA contributions are optimised, the TFSA is your next stop.
R46,000 per year. R500,000 lifetime cap. Every cent of growth, interest, dividends, capital gains, is completely tax-free, forever.
A 35-year-old who contributes R46,000 per year for 11 years (reaching the R500,000 cap), then leaves the investment alone at 10% per annum, could have over R5.2 million by age 65, and SARS gets nothing. Not a cent.
If you haven't opened a TFSA yet, open one this week. It is the simplest and most powerful wealth-building tool most South Africans aren't using.
3. Unit trusts and ETFs
For savings beyond your RA and TFSA, a low-cost equity ETF inside a unit trust gives you flexible, accessible long-term growth. It's not tax-free, but it compounds, it's liquid, and it rounds out your strategy.
The priority order is simple: RA first (for the tax deduction), TFSA second (for the tax-free growth), everything else third.
The mistake that derails more 35-year-olds than anything else
Cashing out your pension fund when you change jobs.
According to 10X Investments, 56% of South Africans do this. They get a new job, they see a lump sum sitting in their old employer's pension fund, and they take it. It feels like a windfall. It isn't.
What it actually is: years of compounded growth, wiped out in one transaction, and taxed heavily on the way out.
A 30-year-old who withdraws R150,000 from a pension fund doesn't lose R150,000. They lose what that R150,000 would have become over 30 years at 10% per annum, which is R2.6 million.
If you've done this in the past, you're not alone. But from here, the rule is non-negotiable: preserve every time. When you move jobs, move your retirement savings into a preservation fund or your new employer's fund. Never touch it.
Where do you stand? A quick self-assessment
Using the 2.5–3x benchmark as your guide:
Below 1x your annual salary saved: You're significantly behind, but it's still fixable. The priority is starting immediately, maximising your RA, and opening a TFSA. Get a proper financial plan in place, ideally with a professional who can run the actual numbers for your situation.
1–2x your annual salary saved: You're behind, but within catching-up distance. Increase your contributions with every salary increase and make sure every rand is in the right vehicle (RA, TFSA, or both).
2–3x your annual salary saved: You're roughly on track. Stay consistent, review annually, and don't be tempted to slow down. The magic of compounding rewards consistency above almost everything else.
Above 3x your annual salary saved: You're ahead of the curve. Don't get complacent, keep going, and think about whether your asset allocation still reflects the time you have available.
What to do next
None of this is a substitute for a proper financial plan. The benchmarks above are a starting point, your specific situation changes everything. Your debt, your dependants, your goals, your timeline, your existing policies.
If you want a structured starting point, my Retirement Planning Checklist walks you through the 10 key decisions every South African needs to make, from choosing the right savings vehicle to understanding your target number. It's available on the products page.
If you'd prefer to talk through your specific situation, book a free 30-minute call. In 30 minutes, we can usually work out exactly where you are, how large the gap is (if any), and what the practical next steps look like.
The first step is always the same: knowing your number.
