The cost of retiring is increasing. There is a variety of investment options available that makes it difficult for the average person to choose with any form of certainty. A variety of factors affect the actual return. The research will focus primarily on the most popular investment options utilized. For the purposes of this research, the writer will focus on the four most widely used investment types being: 1.Banks (includes savings, fixed deposits, short / long term investments, call accounts, etc.) 2.Retirement Annuities (includes pension funds, life assurance, endowments, all risks, etc.) 3.Stock exchanges (includes all stocks, bonds, commodities, unit trusts, etc.) 4.Property (includes commercial, retail, residential) These sectors have been specifically identified as they represent the investment options pursued most commonly by the average South African. Data pertaining to the rate at which the different investment vehicles have performed will be analysed to draw findings (past, current and future projected). Development of a basic analytical tool that will compare: o the factor under which each has investment type has performed well, under different criteria. o the user friendliness of each investment type; o the ease of access to funding for each; o institutional confidence on each; o the level of skill required by the common man to apply each; o stability of value growth; -Perform a needs analysis and determine from a Maslow’s hierarchy of needs perspective, the basis on which investments are made. This will provide guidance on the criteria that will be used to compare the different investment types. - Harry Markowitz’s Modern Portfolio Theory will be tested to check if it is applied in modern day investing. - The Law of large numbers will be tested against the Retirement Annuity investment type. - Given the fact that comparisons will be made to assess each investment type for each time frame, that is, past, present and future, the writer will try to provide a basic summary of the environment from a Pestle Analysis perspective, to ensure that while commonalities can be compared, the differences can also be highlighted to see their effect. - The writer would like to compare “the relative market share” and “market growth rate”, to see how this has changed and what factors from the Pestle analysis have affected these. The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Matrix will be used to capture these factors into one model for analytical purposes. - The writer would like to try to establish the Return on Investment (ROI) for each investment type, over each of the defined time frames, as well as overall, to establish return as a percentage of actual investment. - The writer would like to investigate what Hedging mechanisms have been applied and see how effective these will be going forward. This will determine whether new Hedging mechanisms may need to be developed to cater for future conditions. - The writer would like to test the Supply and Demand theory for each investment type over the defined time frames. By understanding the various Scarcities and abundances for each time frame, the writer will try to draw a correlation with the relative market shares achieved by each investment type.