Thandi, 38: the two-pot temptation
Use MaxWealth to improve your own financial future. Thandi is our made-up example, but her numbers are real calculations. See what one withdrawal really costs someone like her — then run your own.
Not a real person, and not advice. Thandi is a made-up example: 38, two children at school, R38 000 a month before tax, a R9 500 bond, R420 000 saved for retirement with R3 800 a month going in, and R25 000 in her two-pot savings component.
Thandi’s situation
Retiring at 65 · today’s Rands, after inflation · SARS 2025/26 tables
The R25 000 is really R72 000.
Cashing in her two-pot savings would cost a person like Thandi about R7 750 in tax today and about R72 084 of retirement money at 65. Leaving it, saving R1 000 more and retiring at 68 takes her from 39% to 54% of the income she needs.
R 17 306 a month short at 65 if nothing changesR38 000 less PAYE R 7 219 and UIF R 177 a month.
So R1 000 more into retirement costs her about R690.
75% of her R38 000 salary, in today’s money.
R420 000 plus R3 800 a month for 27 years, 4% growth after inflation.
What that pot pays at a 4% drawdown — 39% of what she needs.
What the R25 000 would be worth at 65 if she leaves it.
Her choices, and what each one does
| Choice | Pot at 65 | Monthly income | Share of what she needs |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cash in the R25 000 two-pot savings now | R 3.29m | R 10 953 | 38% |
| Leave it, change nothing else | R 3.36m | R 11 194 | 39% |
| Leave it and save R1 000 more a month | R 3.92m | R 13 077 | 46% |
| Leave it, R1 000 more, and retire at 68 | R 4.59m | R 15 309 | 54% |
- The withdrawal pays out about R17 250 after roughly R7 750 tax at her 31% rate — and costs about R72 000 at 65.
- Three extra working years do about as much as R1 000 a month for 27 years.
- Small choices combined beat any single big one — but closing the whole gap by 65 would take about R13 000 a month in total (R9 200 more than now), so the point is to see it early.
- Sometimes a withdrawal is the right call in an emergency. The calculator does not judge; it shows the price first.
Now run your own numbers
Thandi’s story is an illustration. Yours is the one that counts: six numbers including your own two-pot balance, about a minute, no sign-up.
How the numbers are worked out
- Same formulas as the live retirement calculator — growth 4% a year after inflation, so every figure is in today’s Rands.
- Income needed is 75% of gross salary, and the pot is drawn down at 4% a year.
- The two-pot cost taxes the withdrawal at her marginal rate (SARS 2025/26 tables) and grows the R25 000 at 4% for 27 years.
Illustration, not advice. Thandi is not a real person and her figures are not a prediction. Real returns go up and down. MaxWealth is not an authorised financial services provider and never names or recommends a financial product; for advice on what to buy, speak to an authorised financial adviser.