The collective amount that South Africans have saved up for their pensions is big. About 16 million South Africans are members of retirement funds (with about 11 million still working and saving, the remainder having already retired). At the end of 2016, the total value of South African retirement funds was R4-trillion. This is nearly equivalent to the total size of South Africa’s economy (which is R4.4 trillion). In addition, this pot of retirement savings is the biggest in Africa, and one of the biggest in the world.