Growing numbers of South Africans are tapping into retirement savings under the two-pot system.
Financial advisors are growing concerned about the extent to which South Africans are withdrawing money from their pension funds following the “two-pot” retirement system that was introduced in September 2024.
Within months of the new rules being introduced, the South African Revenue Service (SARS) had recorded over two million applications, with over R35 billion being processed.
That momentum continued through 2025, with a further R18 billion withdrawn that year, while an alarming new trend has emerged in 2026, with data showing that only five percent of claimants were first-time users of the two-pot system.
While most withdrawals are small, with amounts typically below R10,000, the data does clearly show that two-pot withdrawals are becoming habitual. While the overall impact on total retirement assets is still relatively contained, at under 2% in some funds, the behavioural shift is becoming a cause for concern.
