# Getting started with your RA

## What is a Retirement Annuity?

A Retirement Annuity (RA) is a long-term savings vehicle designed to help you build wealth for retirement while receiving tax benefits on your contributions.

- **Tax benefits**: Contributions reduce your taxable income up to 27.5% of your earnings
- **Long-term growth**: Invest in a range of funds to grow your retirement savings
- **Beneficiary protection**: Nominate beneficiaries to receive your savings if something happens to you

Use your RA to supplement any workplace retirement fund or as your primary retirement savings if you're self-employed.

## Before you start

To activate your Retirement Annuity, you'll need:

- A verified Fynbos account (KYC complete)
- Your tax number from SARS
- Your gross monthly salary (before deductions)

Your tax number ensures your contributions are linked to your tax profile for the correct deductions. Your salary helps calculate your maximum tax-deductible contribution.

## Activating your Retirement Annuity

Follow these steps to activate your RA.

1. Tap the **Add** button on your home screen
2. Select **Retirement annuity** from the list of account types
3. Enter your **Tax number** in the field provided
4. Enter your **Gross monthly salary** (your salary before any deductions)
5. Tap **Continue**

Your Retirement Annuity is now active. You'll be taken to your RA account where you can set up your investment strategy and add beneficiaries.

## Setting your investment strategy

Before you can invest, you need to choose how your money will be allocated across different funds.

1. Open your **Retirement Annuity** from the home screen
2. Tap the **menu icon** on the Investment strategy section
3. Select **New strategy**
4. Browse the available funds and tap to select the ones you want
5. Tap **View strategy** to continue
6. Adjust the percentage allocation for each fund using the sliders
7. Tap **Save strategy** to confirm your selections

Your strategy determines how future contributions are invested. You can change your strategy at any time, and it will apply to new contributions going forward.

## Making your first contribution

Contributions to your RA go through your Cash account. You'll need money in Cash before you can transfer to your RA.

1. Ensure you have funds in your **Cash** account
2. Open your **Retirement Annuity**
3. Tap **Transfer in**
4. Enter the amount you want to contribute in the **Transfer amount** field
5. Review the transfer details, including your investment strategy breakdown
6. Check the confirmation box acknowledging that transfers are irreversible and withdrawals are subject to pension fund legislation
7. Tap **Review transfer**
8. Confirm the transfer on the next screen

> **Important**: Transfers into your RA cannot be reversed. Withdrawals are only permitted under specific circumstances as defined by pension fund legislation. Make sure you understand these restrictions before contributing.

Your contribution will be invested according to your strategy. The money moves from Cash to your RA and is then allocated to your chosen funds.

## Adding beneficiaries

Beneficiaries are the people who will receive your retirement savings if something happens to you. Adding beneficiaries is an important step in setting up your RA.

1. Open your **Retirement Annuity**
2. Scroll to the **Beneficiaries** section
3. Tap the menu icon and select **Add beneficiary**
4. Enter the beneficiary's **First name** and **Last name**
5. Select the **Relationship** from the dropdown
6. Check **Financially dependant?** if applicable
7. Enter their **ID number** or **Passport number**
8. Add their **Mobile number** and **Email address**
9. Tap **Continue**

If you have multiple beneficiaries, you can edit their allocation percentages by selecting **Edit allocations** from the beneficiaries menu.

## Understanding your RA balances

Your Retirement Annuity account shows three balance types:

- **Savings pot**: Cash held in your RA before it's invested
- **Retirement**: The value of your invested funds
- **Vested**: Contributions transferred from a previous provider (if applicable)

Your total RA balance is the sum of all three components. The performance chart shows how your balance has grown over time, including contributions and investment gains.