There is good news buried in FNB's latest look at how South Africans retire, and it is worth saying first: more people are planning. In its fourth annual Retirement Insights Survey, released on 16 July, the bank found that 73% of under-60s now have a retirement plan, up from 60% in 2025. The sharpest jump came from lower-income earners, where plan ownership more than doubled from 19% to 48%. People are also setting aside more, with under-60s now saving 10% of their disposable income, up from 7% in 2024, and planning rose sharply among 36- to 54-year-olds, from 67% to 85%.
Planning isn't the same as ready
The catch is what happens after the planning stops. Among South Africans already retired, 74% say the cost of living has been higher than they expected, and 46% say healthcare has cost significantly more than they planned for. Family is part of the squeeze too: 51% of over-60s in FNB's personal banking segment said they were caught out by the financial weight of supporting relatives. “The reality of retirement is often more complicated,” said Sizwe Nxedlana, CEO of FNB Private Banking and Wealth Management, pointing to rising food prices, medical aid and family support as the costs that reshape a careful plan.
The gap between intent and outcome
FNB's Lytania Johnson said the numbers show the retirement conversation “is gaining ground”, especially among lower-income savers, but warned that saving more is not the same as knowing whether it will be enough. The survey points to one factor that separates those who cope from those who don't: people who hold products built for retirement, such as retirement annuities, are six times more likely to have a plan that actually works. Over-60s without those products are two to three times more likely to end up worse off than they expected. Even among those still without a plan, 53% say they simply cannot afford to save, while a growing share — 24%, almost double last year's 13% — say they don't know where to find the right products. As more South Africans start putting money away, the test for the industry is turning that good intent into retirements people can actually afford.
