Two-Pot Retirement System Calculator — South Africa
Model the long-term cost of withdrawing from your savings pot under the Two-Pot Retirement System (effective 1 September 2024).
Last updated: May 2026
Your Retirement Position
Your full vested balance — all pre-September 2024 savings
Employee + employer combined monthly amount
30 years to retirement
Complete the 3 steps to see your projection
Enter your retirement fund details, assumptions, and an optional withdrawal amount to model the long-term impact.
Models the SA Two-Pot Retirement System (effective 1 September 2024) — showing how your fund splits between a Savings Pot (1/3, accessible) and a Retirement Pot (2/3, locked until retirement).
Key inputs explained
- Current fund value
- Your total retirement fund balance as at 1 September 2024 — this flows into the Retirement Pot as vested savings.
- Retirement age
- The age at which you plan to stop working and access your Retirement Pot.
- Monthly contribution
- Your ongoing contributions, split 1/3 to Savings Pot and 2/3 to Retirement Pot going forward.
Withdrawals from the Savings Pot are taxed at your marginal rate and incur an admin fee. Try to avoid tapping the Savings Pot — it competes directly with your retirement outcome.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Two-Pot system (effective 1 September 2024) splits all future retirement fund contributions into two pots: a Savings Pot (1/3 of contributions, accessible once per tax year) and a Retirement Pot (2/3 of contributions, locked until retirement). The Vested Pot holds all pre-September 2024 savings under old rules.
Yes — you can make one withdrawal per tax year from your Savings Pot, subject to a minimum of R2,000. Withdrawals are taxed as income at your marginal rate in that year. SARS will include the withdrawal in your annual tax return. This flexibility is intended for genuine financial hardship, not regular supplementary income.
The withdrawal is added to your taxable income for that tax year and taxed at your marginal rate. If you earn R500,000 and withdraw R50,000, your taxable income becomes R550,000 and you pay tax at your marginal rate on the R50,000. At a marginal rate of 36%, a R50,000 withdrawal nets approximately R32,000 after tax.
When the Two-Pot system launched on 1 September 2024, each member received a once-off seeding contribution into their new Savings Pot equal to 10% of their Vested Pot (capped at R30,000). This gave members immediate access to some funds without touching their main vested retirement savings.
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