Wednesday, 30 July 2014

Strategic steps for Successful Retirement- Odunze Reginald


Strategy according to Anao are schemes, maneuvers, methods, plans which organizations or individuals  hope to deploy in order to function effectively, Retirement is essential one of the basic facts of life, and people save for two basic reasons, to make lots of money and to provide for the retirement. And according to a recent research, people are more likely save to cater for their retirement than to be rich.
The problem of financial crises and the increasing in the working age in United Kingdom and the United states has made people to start planning heavily on the retirement, coupled with a recent development where fraudsters target retirees because of their vulnerability indicates a need in having a good retirement strategies as most whites return back to work having discovered that their pension pot could not carry them through during their retirement. These are the basic strategies for successful retirement:
1 Save for retirement: saving for retirement is a basic requirement in life especially in Africa where there is no social security. Saving for retirement in Africa is fast becoming important as the modernization has gradually eroded African system of social communism where in most communities; people gather together build houses for old people who do not have children to cater for them. As this has eroded, it becomes increasingly important to start saving for old age
It is also important to embark on voluntary contribution as the mandatory provision of 15 percent is not quite enough and I strongly commend the Federal government of Nigeria for increasing to 18 percent.
2 Make s rough estimate of retirement savings needs, the saving need is a strategic issue as most retirees came to the sudden realization that what they are getting as their lump sum is not enough, coupled with their desire to get a house and a car from their lump sum which is barely enough to cater for their immediate needs.
3 Develop a retirement strategy, it is very important to fashion a well defined retirement strategy. Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (TCRS), noted that in developing a retirement strategy, it is important to do the following “create a plan , In creating a plan, consider lifestyle, living expenses, healthcare needs, government benefits, and other factors, as well as a backup plan in case retirement comes early due to an unforeseen circumstance
4 Know a lot about retirement investment, it is the inability for contributors knowing about investment that often drove them to annuity. Contributors should at one time or the other gets investment advice from their pension fund administrators. They can do this by attending forum organized by the various  PFAs to get adequate information on investment strategies
5 Maintain a positive attitude towards life and pension inclusive; according to book of job what people fear most always comes to them. And according to Robert Schuler, in his book , “the power of positive thinking “ he noted that  one of the basic ingredient of success is maintaining a positive outlook to life, believe that you will make and you will make it, believe that you will not , and you will definitely not”
In pension people have the erroneous believe that they will die before their pension are paid you see them dying before that, even when their pension is paid within 2 weeks. I have seen people that say over my dead body and you see them dying before that.
Therefore maintaining a positive attitude  in all aspect of life is pre requisite for all facets of life and Le Boeuf (1987 :21) noted that “your world is a mirror and your mind is a magnet what you perceived in this world is largely  a reflection of your own attitudes and beliefs. And life will give you what you attract with your thoughts. Think, act and talk negatively and your world will likely be negative. Think, act and talk with enthusiasm and you will attract positive results." Finally the more a retiree has a positive mindset , the better for him.

Odunze Reginald C

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