THERE is no financial magazine anywhere in the world that does not talk about the problems that pensioners face at retirement.

Interest rates are very low, income is diminishing, and though inflation worldwide seems to be down, when it comes to pensioners' expenses this is unfortunately not the case.

The root cause of this problem lies in the fact that people have not saved-invested enough during their working lives.

A secondary problem could be poor returns due to a lack of understanding of how important it is to be invested in growth assets and not conservative money market funds.

Another reason affecting a healthy retirement is that individuals are not saving their pension or provident moneys when changing jobs.

No empirical data exists, but the industry estimates that only 15-20percent of money is being re-invested in retirement products when changing jobs.

There appears to be a lack of education when people leave jobs and they simply choose "Option A - Pay the tax and take the cash" without fully understanding other available options.

It is possible that many HR departments are not providing counselling when employees leave.

Lack of awareness and education options available to employees are being neglected and I believe that more should be done to inform exiting employees.

More pensioners are becoming dependent on their working children for monetary support.

The children, in turn, are jeopardising their financial retirement. By providing support for their parents, they are sacrificing money and investable funds, which they should have been saving for their own retirement.

Thus the problem will be perpetuated - and possibly worsened - as the savings discipline continues to decline.

There have been many changes around the options available to people moving jobs.

The taxation aspect is now very significant because South Africa has changed to a "tiered" tax system on withdrawal of pension funds and it is also a cumulative arrangement.

This means that each time a person uses the "Take the Cash" option, they are gradually moving up the tax brackets towards the top tier of 36 percent - an exorbitant rate to pay. This bracket kicks in at R945000 - and over the working career of a person, is very low.

I have seen a number of initiatives, such as Lead SA, where people are being encouraged to take the initiative and do something to make a difference to the overall well-being of South Africans.

Obviously, having been in the financial field my entire life, I think it is critical to address this problem.

I would like to call on all companies to act through their Human Resources departments, to educate and assist people in making informed choices.

Even the very simple initiatives of printing brochures and pamphlets, outlining the options available, goes a long way towards helping.

I have recently seen one company that has translated the options from English into Sotho, isiZulu and Afrikaans. Interestingly, much of the distrust around monetary affairs and advice is exaggerated when there are language barriers, and I believe companies should obtain these brochures to assist their employees.

Some of the more progressive companies have established training initiatives on financial matters (that is personal budgeting). Other companies have counselling programmes to help those who are over indebted.

I would like to encourage companies to consider training and education programmes to be extended to include investments, pensions and retirement.

The personal financial problems of employees will definitely affect the quality of their work and productivity, so helping the employee will indirectly assist the employer.

• The writer is financial adviser of Bryan Hirsch Colley and Associates. Email bryanh@bhca.co.za