How Glacier Invest wishes your retirement investment many happy, healthy returns

19 April 2022

The asset management team at Glacier Invest has been busy over the last few years innovating solutions specifically for retired individuals. They have also recently moved living annuity clients invested in the Glacier Invest wraps closer in line with the new Glacier Invest Real Income Solutions range.

The new range of solutions is quite exciting, says Sherwin Govender, Business Development Manager at Glacier by Sanlam. He weighs in on why this is a good consideration for your clients’ retirement investment portfolios.

Hedges, Smoothing and Alternative Assets

The Glacier Invest Living Annuity Income Wrap Fund solutions focus on increasing the predictability and consistency of income and protecting capital during market downturns. This is achieved by using hedge funds, smoothing techniques and alternative investments within a managed portfolio. These additions may seem complicated and difficult to understand, but the following reasons make the range of solutions very compelling:

1. The solutions aim to decrease the size and frequency of negative returns without giving up too much of upside potential. The objective is to be able to capture at least two-thirds of upmarket returns while limiting the downside participation to less than one-third.
2. Adding hedge funds, smoothing techniques and alternative assets is ground-breaking in living annuity portfolios. While the hedge funds focus on reducing the level of risk within the portfolio and, along with alternative investments, enhance returns, smoothing techniques create more stability, ensuring that the ups and downs of the market are not fully reflected in the exact same way as they would be in a conventional portfolio.
3. The Glacier Invest Living Annuity Income Wrap Fund solutions aim to increase the consistency of achieving returns in line with your income withdrawal rate. The range consists of five different solutions, each targeting a specific income withdrawal rate, based on an annuitant’s willingness to take on risk.

There is no “holy grail” solution that guarantees a perfect retirement income outcome. However, the science behind these solutions significantly increases the chances of a sustainable income for retirees. Retirees with a living annuity, or clients who are about to retire, are well-advised to discuss these options with a financial adviser.