Investments

Life stage (default)

The fund applies a life stage model which automatically takes members through different investment portfolios i.e. aggressive to more conservative portfolios as they near retirement age. The life stages are as follows:

Members younger than age 55 - Aggressive Growth portfolio
Members age 55 and older, but younger than age 62 -Capital Growth portfolio
Members age 62 and older - Stable Growth portfolio

The fund has implemented a phasing-in approach for default switches. Read more

The first 25% switch to the new recommended portfolio will commence at the end of a member’s birthday month. As a result, it will take 12 months for a total portfolio switch to be completed. After the 12 month phase-in period, all future member contributions will automatically accrue to the new default life stage portfolio. See an illustration of a default switch from the Aggressive Growth portfolio to the Capital Growth portfolio below.

*The first 25% switch to the new recommended portfolio will commence at thee end of a member's birthday month.

Member investment choice

The fund also allows flexibility in providing our members with the option to elect any of the individual investment portfolio options available.
Investment switch form

Aggressive Growth Portfolio

Investment objective: To maximise capital growth over a long-term investment horizon. Members should acknowledge that this strategy could deliver volatile and negative returns over the short-term. This strategy is suitable for members with more than 10 years to retirement.

Capital Growth Portfolio

Investment objective: :To target capital growth over a medium to long-term investment horizon. Members should acknowledge that this strategy could deliver volatile and negative returns over the short-term. This strategy is suitable for members with 5 to 10 years to retirement.

Stable Growth Portfolio

Investment objective: To target stable returns over a medium-term investment horizon with low volatility and a low probability of negative returns. This strategy is suitable for members with 1 to 5 years to retirement.

Capital Protector Portfolio

Investment objective: To provide capital security with very low volatility and an extremely low probability of negative returns. This strategy is suitable for members with less than 1 year to retirement where capital protection is absolutely necessary

Shari’ah portfolio

This portfolio is suitable for Muslim investors requiring a Sharia-compliant investment portfolio. The portfolio will be invested in a variety of domestic and international asset classes. The underlying investments will comply with Shari'ah requirements as prescribed by the Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions. The portfolio targets capital growth over the long-term while limiting short term market fluctuations.

Latest investment returns

Economic Commentary: September 2026

The global investment environment in September was shaped by a profound global bond market sell-off, persistent geopolitical friction in the Middle East, and an increasingly selective, hardware-driven AI tech boom.

In the US, second-quarter GDP growth was revised sharply upward to an annualized rate of 2.2%, from the previously reported 1.5%. This solid economic expansion was heavily supported by robust consumer spending, which grew at 3.8%, alongside massive business investments in AI infrastructure and resilient domestic services. Headline inflation held steady at 3.4% in August as the costs of energy, transportation services and hospitality services remained elevated. The Fed’s preferred inflation measure, core PCE, held steady at 3% year-on-year, benefiting from significant methodology revisions and cooling goods prices. Despite stable inflation, the Federal Open Market Committee voted unanimously to increase the benchmark federal funds rate by 0.25% in its September meeting. This marked the central bank's first interest rate hike since 2023, driven by concerns over the impact geopolitical energy shocks and heavy corporate spending on AI infrastructure may have on inflation. Updated economic projections showed that most policymakers still expect at least one more rate increase this year. The labour market however showed signs of weakness in September, supporting a pause in rate hikes. The private sector added 90,000 jobs, beating low Wall Street expectations while the official non-farm payrolls added just 29,000 jobs, well below the revised 133,000 jobs added in August but well above June and July’s numbers. While the unemployment rate remains low and business sentiment is improving, the sentiment on the street remains poor with middle-class households feeling the pressure of the high cost of living.

Global equity benchmarks recorded mixed performances, masking a massive internal divergence. While top-heavy tech indices gained, broader market participation was notably weak. The MSCI World Index declined 1.2% for the month as gains of over 4% in information technology and communication services stocks were not sufficient to offset large declines in all other sectors. US markets held up better than the diversified global market index with the S&P500 ending down just 0.4% for the month and the NASDAQ gaining 3.3% thanks to large gains in tech infrastructure stocks following multi-billion dollar data centre orders. Market breadth was very low with 78% of the stocks in the S&P 500 posting losses in September. Mid-cap stocks bore the brunt of the sell-off with the Russell 2000 index declining 5.3% in the month. Brent Crude closed the month up 14% at $103.50 per barrel as continued disruptions in maritime traffic around the Strait of Hormuz and stalled US-Iran diplomatic discussions drove supply-side anxiety. Emerging markets declined 0.6% in September as large losses in Egypt, South Africa, Turkey, Argentina and Mexico offset technology-related gains in Taiwan and South Korea. Global bonds declined 2.4% as the 10-year US Treasury yield surged to 5.30%, breaching its 2007 peak to reach its highest level since May 2002 as strong GDP growth and robust labour data forced Wall Street to price in a more aggressive, restrictive path from the Federal Reserve. Long-dated UK gilts and French 10-year bonds topped 6%, amplified by local political risks and inflation linked to high energy dependency. Global property stocks shed 5.7% as a combination of higher funding costs and increased risk aversion forced investors to reprice assets.

In South Africa, major data releases revealed an economy facing renewed stagnation and rising inflationary threats. Real GDP shrunk by 0.2% quarter-on-quarter, ending six successive quarters of growth, due to broad-based declines in primary and secondary industries. Mining output plunged 3%, manufacturing dropped 1.8%, and trade activity shrank by 1.9%. Inflation rose slightly to 4.4% in August, from 4.3% in July, as transport and shelter costs rose. With inflation remaining well above the SARB’s 3% target, and oil supply interruptions expected to push headline inflation above 5% in late 2026, the central bank was forced to hike interest rates by 0.25% in September. Despite the high interest rates, domestic liquidity metrics remained sticky. Private sector credit growth accelerated to 7.5% in August, outstripping market projections of 6.9%. Silver linings appeared in the SARB's Quarterly Bulletin, which revealed that foreign direct investment jumped to R49.8bn in Q2, up significantly from R20.3bn in Q1, as well as in trade data which showed a R20.5bn trade surplus for August, although the surplus was a result of falling imports, not rising exports as the shipment of mineral products slowed. PMI data also suggested a turnaround in manufacturing sentiment with the ABSA Purchasing Managers’ Index rising to 50.7 in September, from 45.8 recorded in August.

The local equity market underperformed global developed and emerging markets in September as large losses in resources stocks compounded losses in financials and industrials. The All Share Index dropped 5.8% for the month, driven by a 10% fall in resources stocks as miners posted large losses on the back of lower commodity prices. Industrials declined 5.4% as large losses in Naspers, Richemont and MTN (-11%, -7%, and -6% respectively) were compounded by large losses in retailers and consumer staples stocks. Financials declined a relatively modest 3.5% as banks were buoyed by solid financial results from FirstRand. The rand weakened slightly due largely to a strengthening dollar and higher domestic inflation to end the month at R16.42 to the dollar. The yield on the 10yr government bond edged up to end the month at 9%, resulting in a return of 0% for the All Bond Index as investors priced in higher domestic inflation and higher global yields. Listed property stocks gained 0.5% for the month despite the higher funding costs as fundamentals remain robust.