Ruminations of a Traveler

Greetings from London where my wife Melanie and I have just welcomed our latest addition to the family into the world. Because of the COVID regulations, which changed 2 days before we left, we had to spend a week in Ireland before coming to the UK. We did a 1500km road trip of this beautiful country and were extremely lucky with the weather. What I found extremely strange is that not one of the restaurants or pubs that we visited had Irish Stew on the menu. On to London and we have hardly seen blue sky, the average high temperature has been 16 degrees and every now and then, the rain buckets down. 

Expensive does not begin to describe the cost of living here. Try R30 per liter of petrol, or R70 for a takeout cup of coffee. Can’t wait to have a cup of Seattle Coffee for R37 from my local Caltex filling station next week. 

An interesting, albeit frightening article that references the 10X Retirement Reality Report 2021, crossed my desk. The 10X report is based on the Annual Brand Atlas Survey which tracks the lifestyle of the 15 million economically active South Africans in households earning more than R8 000 per month, which means that this low cut-off excludes two-thirds of South African households. The article gives the following statistics: 

• 71% of the economically active one-third of households indicated that they had no retirement or savings plan in place. 
• Of the balance about 50% responded that they don’t save on a regular basis as they normally do not have any money left at the end of the month. 
• Amongst the balance who do save, 7% “anticipate” a comfortable retirement, with 79% having an active fear that they will not have enough or are unsure. 
• 74% of the respondents feel that they will have to generate an income after “retirement date” and 19% were not sure of their situation. 
• For those households with a R50 000 and greater monthly income, only 6% felt that they will not have to keep earning after they retire. 

On the same day that I read this, I read an article in the UK’s Daily Telegraph newspaper. The article was about the crisis in international shipping that started with non-availability of raw materials and lack of manufacture caused by COVID, which then caused a halt to shipping and eventually led to ports not being able to cope and huge delivery delays. The part that caught my eye was the lack of truck drivers estimated to be about 100 000 in the UK, 400 000 in Europe and 80 000 in America. So, as a matter of interest I enquired as to what a truck driver earns here in the UK. The answer was £30 000 per year, or roughly R600 000 per annum. There has always been this perception that a lot of people do not even try to find work in the UK and live off the dole. After referring to my best friend, Google, I found that this is a bit of a myth. The unemployment rate is at 4,5% and I am told that a high percentage of these people are unemployable due to certain life challenges. 

My thoughts then turned to the question of why some countries get things right economically and others don’t. Most of my thoughts are not printable but my general conclusion as a business minded individual, is, it’s time to change management. 

So now that I have rambled on for the best part of 5 minutes, here’s a piece of advice regarding estate planning or specifically a will and emigration. A few people I know are emigrating to Mauritius and have made enquiries regarding the validity of their South African will. As you may have experienced, people emigrating always tell you in great detail why they have made their choice. Now, Mauritius is an amazing place because not only do you have the sun, sea, 

beautiful views and a tropical climate, it is also a very tax friendly country – no estate duty, capital gains or donations tax. From what I have ascertained, any property that is situated in South Africa will be dealt with in terms of their South African will, but and here’s the rub. Anything that they may acquire in Mauritius is subject to the French civil code of “Forced Heirship”. 

Now I am not going to go into what that entails. I am only trying to point out that if you are emigrating or even if you have any type of investment offshore, please check the status of your will within the foreign jurisdiction. 

So, all that is now left for me to do is to once again, on the behalf of all at Morebo, wish you and yours a wonderful festive season and all the best 2022. 

Stay safe. 

Regards 

Colin Horwitz 

Executive Director