Written by: Mark Mfikoe – Chairperson – ECA(SA) National Director & ECI National Pension Fund
Dear Members,
“There are no Jobs on a Dead Planet”.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) made this message reach home in many investment platforms. It is one of the most powerful expressions of commitment to the sustaining of the universe one could encounter. It must be allowed to influence decision-making and future planning. The earth that we live on must be protected or there will be no earth to live on. I align myself to this thinking.
Within the context of Retirement Funds, we are required to ensure that when members retire, they have resources in the form of money to help them live with dignity after they have ended their era of active income generation. This is a responsibility we take seriously. We must make your investment generate the returns to make this possible. We do this in an environment where we are not in charge of how things will turn out. Retirement income generation does not happen in a vacuum. It happens within the realm of geopolitics.
Very often we respond to advice that is based on a normal society, based on a history that is very often different from how the future will look like. Yet how the world was in the previous twenty or 10 years becomes a huge part of how we decide to prepare for the future. What options do we have? We can only be guided by what we know. What we know is how specific investment professionals and investment houses have performed in the past and how they plan to largely repeat such performances going forward. They do warn us that the future may not necessarily look like the past performance, but this past performance is exactly what is on sale. It is a challenging terrain.
We are aware that how successful we are in the execution of our tasks is dependent upon how we navigate this uncertainty and deliver returns that would make retirement sense. When you retire, we don’t want you to be forced to work because we had failed to ensure that you generate enough money to help you navigate the retirement journey.
Amongst the things we are required to worry about is that you do have a world to retire to. There is no retirement in a dead planet. We also hope to grow to a level where we will invest where you live so as our investment in infrastructure development makes it easier for you to access services. Our investments, on your behalf, will therefore have to consider its impact on society and not just from a position of privilege but one that considers where the members of these funds live their lives and retire. We must succeed in this mission so that historical underdevelopment does not continue unabated in its quest to shape our members’ experiences.
We ask our members to continue saving with commitment and to the extend that they can, to allow their retirement nest to grow undisturbed.
Take care, everyone.
