15 COSTLY PENSION MISTAKES MILLIONS OF NIGERIANS MAKE-Odunze Reginald

15 COSTLY PENSION MISTAKES   MILLIONS OF NIGERIANS MAKE

According to recent research, the latest life expectancy figures reveal that a 6o year old pensioners today are expected to live off their pension for an average of 15 years- this is nearly a quarter of their whole life. That is why is any pension mistake could cost more, and according  to Robert Kiyosaki (1999) in his book ‘Cash flow quadrant, the Rich dad guide to financial freedom’ he noted that people invest for two basic reasons,

·         To save for retirement

·         To make lot of money

The first one underscores the importance of pension schemes, but people make serious mistakes in pension and they are as follow:

1 Not interested

Most Nigerians are not interested to making pension contributions, they are argued that their parents loose out in the old schemes, because they were unable to access their fund , having been marred by corruption, irregularities, government bureaucracies , no adequate data base, they argued that the scheme failed and as such, the present one will also fail. By that they refused to present themselves for pension registration.

2 Misconception about the scheme and influence from the employer.

Most people feel that the pension system is like the banking system where they can have two or more account numbers. They entered the scheme with such mind set and as such they are engaged in double and multiple registrations.  Most employers are also influencing the employees by letting them re –register, the reason being that they are using this Pension Fund Administrator or the other. There is also  the unethical practice of most pension fund administrators who are engaged in double and multiple registrations.

3 Not saving enough.

Almost more than two third Nigerians of working populations do not have a pension account, including the informal sectors, those with various state governments and other categories too many to mention. Also the savings are not enough as people are not keying into voluntary contributions. What they contribute is basically not enough to carry them.

4 Delaying Savings.

Most employees do not readily make themselves available for pension registration even when the employer have indicated interest in embracing the scheme. They have lackadaisical attitude towards enrolling in the scheme. They do not know that there are investments on the pension contributions. Even among the government employees they still find it difficult enroll, even when their money is deduct at source from the Accountant General.

5 Not checking if they are getting real value for their money

 People are not always interested in the pension money until few months to retire, and as such   they do not know what is happening to their contributions if at all they enroll.

 6 Not getting proper enlightenment before Retirement

   Research has shown that what people did not achieve in their youthful age they tend feel they can achieve it during their old age. Therefore pensioners have that mindset that the pension money will be target for one or two things, they could not achieve earlier in life. Most retirees have the mindset that they will collect all the money in the retirement saving account. They always say, the money belongs to me why pay me 25percent , why not pay all, or even 50 percent. Most of them are not aware of the Pension Reform Act 2004.

7   Using Retirement money to marry wife and buying a car.

   Most retirees end up using retirement money in marrying new wives and procuring new cars. By so doing they attract people’s attention to their life, they also end up having issues with their immediate family especially their first wife who now feels alienated, even though they not know that marrying a  new wife set aside the existing will, if there was no update of the previous will.

8  Not checking your pension pot

  Tom Macphail in 10 costly Pension Mistakes noted that “If you have a pension, have you ever reviewed it? Millions of people haven't. Moreover, recent research revealed more than two in five adults (41%) - 8 million people - cannot remember how their pensions are invested. Why is that alarming? Performance can vary quite dramatically across investments and even a seemingly small difference could have a significant impact on the size of your pot”  Continuing he stated that these are just projections. Investments will not always go up in value, they also go down, so you could get back less than you invested; what is certain is that they won't perform as predicted. Also, these values are in today's terms, without considering inflation, which will reduce the spending power of your money over time “

Therefore checking your pension pot is very essential in avoiding mistakes.

9 Relying on Retirement fund.

  Many rely on the retirement fund, they build castle on their mind with the retirement fund, they fantasized on what and what they could do with the retirement money, only to be disappointed that the money is not big enough.

 10 Having a negative attitude.

People have that mindset that they will not live to see their pension and 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.

 11 Failing to update records

12 Revealing pension information tio their family members

13 Inability to have will, this will then lead to getting a letter of Administration and its attendant issues.

14 Registering  with one Pension Fund Administrator  because family members are working there.

15 Not including the exact permanent address and the phone number of the next of kin.

China is reportedly thinking about building a bullet train that reaches America

Next stop, Vancouver. Reuters/China Daily

 

China already has the world’s longest high-speed rail network. And the country aims to more than double the amount of high-speed railway by 2015 from the existing 10,000 km (6,000 miles) to 19,000 km—and eventually 25,000km by 2020. Officials want to build everything from an undersea railway tunnel from the Chinese shore to Taiwan—twice the length of the Channel Tunnel between France and Britain—to 1,776 km of high-speed rail through isolated deserts in the west of the country.
In that context, it almost seems feasible that China would be considering a recently discussed project—13,000 km of high-speed railway that crosses from China to Russia and North America that includes a 200-km tunnel under the Bering strait. A railway expert at the Chinese Academy of Engineering told the Beijing Times that officials are having discussions about the project. 

China’s proposed high-speed rail network for 2020 (including current lines.) Wikipedia Commons

A railway from China to the US might bring the two countries closer, at least geographically, but it would be an absurd project. China is already spending an estimated $32 billion on an underwater tunnel that measures just 123 km long. And officials estimate that 1,776 km of railway being built from Lanzhou in the western province of Gansu to Xinjiang will cost about $24 billion, which is cheap compared to China’s previous high-speed rail projects.
If those costs are any comparison, the so-called “China-Russia-Canada-America” line could cost north of $200 billion—$52 billion to construct an undersea tunnel to cross the Bering strait and $172 billion for the rest of the railway across land. That would account for well over half of China’s already massive high-speed rail budget of $300 billion. China may be one of the best examples of countries that love mega-infrastructure projects, but even this may be too much.

Source

Quartz   Lily Kuo

The Selling Profession-Odunze Reginald C

The Selling Profession

Selling is an important part of marketing, though it is subsumed under marketing, i.e. it is a subset of marketing.

Marketing is very essential in any organization and may be regarded as the life of the organization but more strategic to the concept of marketing is that of selling. Peter Drucker noted that an organization has two major functions, one is innovation, the other is marketing i.e. selling, and this is because most organization is only involved in selling and not marketing.

Allan J Zell, Ambassador of selling “noted that selling is the last part of 4 process of decision making, the others being marketing, buying, and presenting.”  Continuing he said “that one never knows where the information will go after contact with the customer is over. At each passing of information from the first person doing the selling/telling to the last person in the chain is that they all share the same three fears as it relates to the information and to who was offering it.”

Selling is very essential to an organization because it provides the revenue for the organization, i.e. the needed financial base to extend their business, make profit and sustains the economy and that brings to the idea of what I like most about selling and they include the following:

Revenue: in this period of global financial crises, with one or more economies failing, organizations, business and economies failing, selling is very essential to any organization. What therefore sustain the economy of the firm in a micro economy are the revenues that come from sales.

Relationships are developing from selling, which in turn becomes a sort of good will which is an intangible asset in the balance sheets of organizations. People have become politicians, great men in life as result of the relationship they have individuals in the course of selling to this great men, a typical example is the life of Andrew Johnson. Andrew Johnson was the only United States chief of staff who never went to school not even a primary school. He was a tailor by profession and was taught how to write and do arithmetic by his wife. He carved a niche for himself first as a tailor but the success of his tailoring profession was hinged upon an selling and excellent use of customer relations with his politician customers who are in serious desire of his well tailored suits. The relationship between him and his clients became so cordial that they encouraged him to go into politics. They provided him with both moral and financial support. He became Mayor of Glennville, member of the Tennessee house of assembly and later United States house of Representative between 1843-1853, Governor of Tennessee from 1853 to 1857 and United States Senate (1857 -1862) and following the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, he served as president from 1865 to 1869.

I am not interested in telling history of vice president Andrew Johnson but I am fascinated to bring this story to highlight on the gains of an excellent relationship. It was an exciting customer relationship between clients that shot this man to limelight, Relationship is essential to business concern and that underscore the position of relationship managers in organizations.

 Profession: Selling is a profession and an important one at that, the idea of selling has inspired men to write and develop the discipline of selling etc