Contributions

How much is paid into the fund on my behalf?

Members are not required to contribute to the UWRF.

The University contributes 23.5% of your Retirement Funding Income (RFI) into the Fund each month, in respect of retirement benefits, insured benefits and expenses, on your behalf.

You can structure your RFI to be any percentage of your gross remuneration package subject to a minimum of 55% and a maximum of 100% of your gross remuneration package. If you choose a lower RFI, it will result in lower savings towards retirement and lower death and disability benefits. You may alter your percentage at the beginning of each calendar year.

What happens to these contributions?

You will have a personal account in the Fund known as a Share of the Fund.

The University’s contributions of 23.5% of your RFI, minus the costs of insurance benefits and Fund expenses, are paid into your Share of the Fund on a monthly basis.

Your Share of the Fund is then allocated to the investment portfolio that you have chosen. The investment returns on your Share of Fund is dependent on your investment portfolio, which is directly related to market performance.

The growth or loss on the investment portfolios that your retirement savings in the UWRF are invested in has a big impact on the Share of Fund that you get one day when you retire or leave the Fund.

Additional voluntary contributions

The University’s contributions are added to your salary as a taxable fringe benefit. You can claim a tax deduction on contributions to all the pension, provident and retirement annuity Funds that you belong to, up to the higher of 27.5% of your remuneration and R350 000 every year.

If you contribute more than R350 000 in a year, the excess is added to your contributions in future years and will be deductible in future years if it is within the limits of that year. At retirement, if there are any contributions that you did not get a deduction on, this will be added to the tax-free amount you are entitled to on retirement or the amount you take as a pension.

The Rules of the Fund allow you to contribute an additional 4% of your RFI to the Fund, so that you can take advantage of the maximum tax deduction.