By Elvin Bailey
I vividly recall my first day on my first time job. I was 17 and had just accepted a teaching job at the newly designated Gingerland High School. My boss assigned me the 4A2 class as my first assignment: to teach them Biology. Nothing, and I repeat nothing, that I had done before prepared me to face the cold stares of 20 something 16 & 17 year olds - some of whom I had pitched marbles with in my formative years. At that time, retirement planning was the furthest thing from my mind. All I wanted to do was survive!
I knew about retirement: I knew that I could serve 25 years, leave and get a ‘good’ pension. I envisioned myself getting pension money at age 42. I didn’t want any deductions (it was NPF then) to be made from my $300.00 per month pay either. I was young, headstrong, believed in my invincibility and did not need any help from anybody. And then life happened. Thirty-four years later, I am still at work, and setting targets for my imminent withdrawal from the labour market. I am thankful too, that the deductions were made from my wages throughout the years, and I am already calculating my pension based on the formula I shared with you in the Pension Mathematics article. Now, I have something to look forward to, despite the vicissitudes of life.
An important part of your retirement planning ought to be to secure your pension from Social Security. To do so, you must ensure that your contributions are paid, and are paid in full. While the law places this burden on the employer, it is in the best interest of the employee to assist the Board to make sure that these payments are made by checking with us and with the employer (through the wage slip) periodically. Check, but not confront!
It is useful to have an idea of the standard of living you wish to pursue in retirement. Of course it would be useful to have cleared payment of mortgages, car loans, educational loans and so on by the time the retirement or pension age comes along. I recognize that this will require a level of maturity not easily seen in today’s youth.
Pensions, in a defined benefit system such as ours, depend on the length of time worked and the salary worked for. And as it is currently structured, a person requires 500 contributions to obtain a pension. In 2009, of the 284 persons who attained exit age, 78 persons (27.5%) fell short of that 500 mark, and qualified for Age Grant, while 10 (3.5%) received Elderly Refund (these will be explained in subsequent discourse). In other words, one in three of the elderly persons in that year did not qualify for a pension. Sadly, our historical records suggest that some of them will return to seek an Assistance Pension because they and their money would soon be parted. Furthermore, for some of these individuals, a period of their working life has been hidden – by collusion - from Social Security; it may have been sufficient to have qualified them for a monthly pension. Sadly, only a few persons have availed themselves of the Voluntary contribution opportunity in order to qualify for or enhance their pension.
Another important aspect of planning for retirement is to save. Save so that you have rainy day money; save so that you can purchase an annuity. There are not many options currently available within the country for such a purchase, but representation has been made to Social Security during its reform discussions to offer such a facility (via a fully voluntary system).
It is well researched and documented that education is the key to escaping poverty. The argument is that the more educated a person becomes, the easier it is to escape the poverty trap; and educated people tend to enjoy better wages. The better your wage, then the better is the pension – it is all related. Hence, part of your retirement planning ought to be to invest in your education to the highest level achievable. This cannot be stressed enough!
Next, anchor yourself through investment in real estate, even if it is only to own your own home; and do so early. I have seen too many persons have to remain in the work force way past their prime simply because of mortgage payments. Do not let this happen to you – plan early to have your mortgage end by the time pension age comes around.
PLAN to live long. PLAN for retirement. Learn from history; do not repeat it.
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