Victor Matfield: Key points to a winning game

Springbok Rugby Player Victor Matfield said that planning for retirement is the same as planning for a big sports match, and listed a game plan for these.

This at a media briefing at Thebe Reed Exhibitions, Bryanston, on 15 October. The event promoted the upcoming Investment and Retirement Expo at the Coca-Cola Dome, North Riding, between 24 and 26 October. Thebe Reed Exhibitions is organising the expo and Efficient Group, a financial services company, is the main sponsor.

Efficient Group CEO Heiko Weidhase, Efficient Group director Dawie Roodt, and Efficient Advice founder Peter Hewett spoke, outlining the dismal state of South Africans’ forward financial planning. They said that too few South Africans invest in their retirement and those who do, do not invest enough. Apparently 15 per cent of South Africans do not plan on ever retiring, 15 per cent plan but do not save enough and 41 per cent believe that they will have to work after the age of 65.

They added that 65 per cent of sports players worldwide eventually go broke, and the case in South Africa is worse. Then the most capped Springbok, with 117 rugby tests, and the oldest Springbok to ever play (at 37 years and 91 days), spoke. “Planning for retirement is the same as planing for a game,” he said. Matfield, who is the Efficient Group ambassador, used coach Heyneke Meyer’s revival of the Vocadom Blue Bulls team as an analogy of retirement planning, and announced his ‘key points to a winning game’.

• Goals: When Meyer first arrived at the Bulls, the team was not doing well. He chose, though, to set a high goal: making the team one of the best in the world.

• Strategy: Meyer’s strategy was consulting experts in game play.

• Experience: The experts reviewed statistics, and said that the team needed to kick more to win. They did this, and it helped.

• Relationships and clear communication: Matfield did not connect with his players in his first year as captain, and learned from this mistake.

• Discipline: A team can change its strategy a little, but must maintain its structure.

• Constant review: The Bulls kept reassessing its achievements compared to its goals, and adjusted its playing strategy accordingly.

Details: Coca-Cola Dome 011 794 5800, Thebe Reed Exhibitions 011 549 8300, Efficient Group 012 460 9580.