that he attended to around 2 000 patients per year . “ Adding his missionary work to this , meant that he probably lived an extremely busy life . During this time , he would have accumulated some wealth . In 1913 , Soga ’ s son , Alexander R . B . Soga , joined him in his medical practice . This probably meant that Soga would have needed additional life insurance to support the running of the practice upon his death .
* In today ’ s monetary terms .
Read more about Rev Dr William Anderson Soga on page 20 .
“ This could be to cover the expenses to appoint another doctor , for example . Soga may have also had debts which could be insured by purchasing additional life cover ,” explains Hofman .
Soga sadly suffered an embolism to the brain and passed away on 15 July 1916 at the age of 58 .
“ If we consider medical doctors of a similar age to Soga at his time of death , it is estimated that his life cover could have amounted to roughly R9 million *, taking into account inflation . The premium paid for this cover would have amounted to roughly R550 000 *,” says Hofman .
He adds that , if PPS existed at the time ( the company was established 25 years after Soga ’ s death ) and if he had qualifying life risk products , his Profit-Share Account would have accumulated to roughly R200 000 * at the time of his death .
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It is estimated that he attended to around 2 000 patients per year . Adding his missionary work to this , meant that he lived an extremely busy life .
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Hofman explains that – when calculating this value – he used PPS ’ s existing book of medical professionals to estimate how Soga ’ s cover may have increased over time .
“ We assumed that he purchased cover after graduating , which is in line with our focus on signing up graduate professionals ,” he adds . Regarding the assumptions underlying the Profit-Share calculation , Hofman assumed 15 % of premiums paid by Soga were allocated to the Profit-Share Account . His Profit-Share Account was invested at CPI + 3 % ( before the member ’ s death ). An assumption for CPI was made as CPI data dating that far back , is not available .
The future
Augustine and Hofman believe that by investing and managing the R9 million PPS will now make available for bursaries prudently , this fund can remain sustainable for many years .
“ Remember , that as we want to have Mr Soga – and this endowment – perpetuate for future generations , the idea is always to retain the capital and ensure it is not eroded . Therefore , we aim to only use the return on the investment on the capital for this benevolent purpose – in this case for bursaries – while the rest of the returns are added to the base capital to ensure continued growth ,” explains Augustine .
“ At this stage , we have not yet finalised the granular investment particulars for how we are going to invest the R9 million . That said , our extremely competent and pedigreed colleagues at PPS Investments will advise accordingly to ensure that there will be a sustainable amount available to support our graduate professionals of the future .”
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