10 Things you need to start doing 5 years to your retirement.- Reginald Odunze C

Image credited to Shuttestack

Pension is an important issue, as a time will come when you will no longer be able to work, at that time, you fall back on your pension.

The origin of pension’s dates back to ancient time, the Holy Bible in the book of Numbers 8 vs. 25, stated “but at the age of fifty, they must retire from the regular service and work no longer” and according to King James version, it states” And from the age of fifty years they shall ceased waiting upon the service thereof and shall serve no more

What is pension? According to Wikipedia “A pension is a fixed sum to be paid regularly to a person, typically following retirement from service. There are many different types of pensions, including defined benefit plans, defined contribution plans, as well as several others. Pensions should not be confused with severance pay; the former is paid in regular installments, while the latter is paid in one lump sum.”

Continuing Wikipedia noted that” The terms retirement plan and superannuation tend to refer to a pension granted upon retirement of the individual. Retirement plans may be set up by employers, insurance companies, the government or other institutions such as employer associations or trade unions. Called retirement plans in the United States, they are commonly known as pension schemes in the United Kingdom and Ireland and superannuation plans in Australia and New Zealand. Retirement pensions are typically in the form of a guaranteed life annuity, thus insuring against the risk of longevity.

A pension created by an employer for the benefit of an employee is commonly referred to as an occupational or employer pension. Labor unions, the government, or other organizations may also fund pensions. Occupational pensions are a form of deferred compensation, usually advantageous to employee and employer for tax reasons. Many pensions also contain an additional insurance aspect, since they often will pay benefits to survivors or disabled beneficiaries. Other vehicles (certain lottery payouts, for example, or an annuity) may provide a similar stream of payments.

The common use of the term pension is to describe the payments a person receives upon retirement, usually under pre-determined legal or contractual terms. A recipient of a retirement pension is known as a pensioner or retiree.

But the period of retirement, its delicate and money consuming so an intending retiree need to do the following 5 years before he or she retires and they are as follows:

 

 

 

1 Good relationship with your family, the period of retirement is always a period of seclusion, therefore an intending retiree should be up and doing in having a good relationship with his or her family

2 Build a house where you are retiring no matter how small it is: in an article on pension destinations, analysts are of the view that it is always good to have a house before retirement. The agony of retirees using their retirement money to build a house cannot be quantified.

3 Make sure you have start offsetting your debt, Debt has been a part of some people life, especially in organized countries where they transact with credit cards, it’s imperative that  the intending retirees offset any debt that will affect his life or her during retirement.

4 Start kick starting a business or a vocation that will keep you busy during retirement; a recent Merrill Lynch survey found that nearly three out of four people over 50 said their ideal retirement would include working. Which is fine. Staying connected to the work world in some way can not only offer financial benefits, it can also keep retirees more active and socially engaged”

5 Start adjusting your life toward old age and start shedding harmful habits: Harmful habits are injurious to life, they include, a life of smoking, drinking and other related life pattern that affects ones health and life, it should be noted that one of the serious bills affecting senior citizen is increasing medical bills, as old age has with it issues pertaining to health and medical wellness.

6 Update your relevant information: information is key and it needs to be updated at every point in time, this will ease the retiree’s application when accessing his benefit.

7 Get a will; experience has shown that it takes up to six months to get a letter of Administration, added to the high cost of court and the legal charges of the lawyer facilitating it. But if there is will, it becomes increasingly easy to access the fund, where the contributor has joined his ancestors

8 Plan to increase your contribution, the main aim of additional voluntary contribution is to increase the pension pot as in the United States and Europe and Retirement Savings Account balances in Nigeria, reduces the tax burden and make retirement a safe haven for retirees.

9 Start having positive attitude towards life, even if you don’t feel it, Some people have that mindset that they will not live to see their pension and like the Biblical Job what they fear most always comes to them.

In my experience in talking to people about pension, some will always say will I    live to have the pension? I always tell them, to maintain a positive attitude towards life.

Henry Ford said “Think you can, think you can’t, either way you will be right”

10 Develop a special relationship with your God: Nothing is more important than an existing good relationship with your maker, there is inner sense of joy and happiness when you are in tune with God.

 

Odunze Reginald is the Lead Consultant, Chareg Consulting, a management and marketing consultant a social media and social marketing consultant , you can visit our twitter anchor @regydunze, find us on Facebook @ Reginald odunze and reginaldodunze.com, at google+ @ Reginald Odunze and at Linkedin@reginald odunze.

Retirees Get far Enjoyment out of socializing - Odunze Reginald C

Image credited to istock.

According to Donna Rosato in an article captioned “5 secrets to a happy retirement-“noted that “Busy retirees tend to be happier. But just how active do you have to be? Moss has put a number on it. He found that the happiest retirees engage in three to four activities regularly; the least happy, only one or two. “The happy retiree group had extraordinarily busy schedules,” he says. “I call it hobbies on steroids.”
Donna Rosato (op cited) noted that “For the biggest boost to your happiness, pick a hobby that’s social. The top pursuits of the happiest retirees include volunteering, travel, and golf; for the unhappiest, they’re reading, hunting, fishing, and writing. “The happiest people don’t do things in isolation,” says Moss.

The top pursuits of the happiest retirees are very expensive and requires huge money in financing it. Volunteering travel and golf are all expensive pursuits and requires great inputs in terms of time, planning and money.

Continuing Moss opined “that’s no surprise when you consider that people 65 and older get far more enjoyments out of socializing than younger people do.” But the cultural influence, low pension pot has adversely affected retirees in Africa and Nigeria in particular in enjoying socialization.

The whites understood that, and that is why they have old people homes, but with the recent innovation and the setting up an old people’s home in Lekki, I think that will be appreciated by most people in Lagos. I do not intend to mention or talk about it because, I do not want do a soft advert for such people, but it is a good development.

But the issues with it is that of cultural acceptance, as most people will say that abandoning your old people in old people’s home is a mark of hatred and irresponsibility, remember that a former Nigerian President, once stated that any of his children that has such idea of sending him to old people’s home will not live a better life.

Odunze Reginald is the Lead Consultant, Chareg Consulting, a social media consultant and social marketing consultant , you can visit our twitter anchor @regydunze, find us on Facebook @ Reginald odunze and reginaldodunze.com,  and @ Linkedin@reginald odunze.