Planning for retirement has already begun to pay dividends for one lucky lady, who, thanks to Fortress Fund Managers Limited (Fortress), will soon be embarking on an exciting journey on the high seas.
Ms. Yvette Thornhill is the winner of Fortress’ latest Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) promotion, where individuals investing in new or existing RRSP’s were automatically eligible for a chance to win a Caribbean cruise for two onboard the vessel, Carnival Valor.
The promotion ran from January to June, 2012, and forms part of Fortress’ continual commitment to educate Barbadians about the value of planning for retirement and not relying on just one source of income for their post employment years.
Still quite shocked at her luck, Ms. Thornhill said she was looking forward to experiencing a cruise for the first time:
“I didn’t believe it when I got the call so I kept asking if they were sure they had the right person. Now that it has sunk in I’m very excited about the opportunity as this would be a first for me. It is a major bonus considering that I already view being prepared for retirement as the important prize, which is what pushed me to open an RRSP with Fortress, a company which I am comfortable investing my money with, and have been for some time now.”
Marketing Manager with Fortress, Kim Howard, said the promotion is helping to raise awareness among Barbadians as it relates to the importance and relative ease of planning for retirement:
“At Fortress it is our goal to ensure each and every Barbadian actively puts things in place so they can live comfortably after they stop working. Far too many people don’t actively plan for their retirement, but we hope through our various outreach efforts, including this promotion, to get persons to understand exactly what is involved in investing in an RRSP, and how simple this one aspect of retirement planning is.”
The Fortress RRSP is a product with flexible investment options allowing the owner to choose how best his/her contributions are to be invested. Options available include combinations of the Fortress Caribbean Growth Fund (Equities) and Fortress Caribbean High Interest Fund (Bonds) both well managed funds with a history of positive performance, generating annual compound returns of 10.5% and 5.7% since inception in 1996 and 2002 respectively, as of March 31, 2012.
Since Government’s removal of the Mutual Fund tax allowance, which encouraged a number of Barbadians to invest in such products, individuals have looked towards Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSP) – government registered “umbrella” accounts designed to hold mutual fund investments now and provide regular income after retirement – as a means of maintaining these tax benefits, with contributions of up to $10,000 per year earning a tax allowance.
