Basics for retirement planning in Nigeria!

[Mellorando]

Retirement planning in Nigeria is something a lot of people believe is something you put off until much later in life. Allow me dispel this myth and breakdown what it means to plan for retirement. Imagine you have your final year exam to sit for. It’s the last hurdle for you to overcome before you finally secure your certificate and graduate from your university. You have a choice to leave preparation until the very last moment then end up being stressed and maybe even failing the exam. Yet you’ll wisely choose to begin preparing for it at least a few months in advance in order to have a great result and pass with flying colours. You understand the importance of this big exam so you make sure to prepare.
Yet, when it comes to retirement, we decide to only begin planning for it when it’s almost upon us. Just like our final year exams, we should begin making plans well in advance so we can obtain the best results.
Before we dig into retirement planning, let us first understand what retirement means. Retirement generally refers to the duration of a person’s life after they have left the workforce. This means a person who has retired has withdrawn from any type of labour and generally engages in activities for leisure purposes.Usually, retirement begins when a person reaches a particular age. In Nigeria, this is 60 years old. If we take this definition a bit further, retirement can be defined as a state of financial freedom where you have control over your time. The reason many people work is to satisfy various needs, particularly financial needs. Hence, even when they don’t feel like they still work. That is, they do not have full control of their time. In summary, true retirement is not tied to any age but a state of financial freedom.

How can you begin planning for retirement in Nigeria?
You finally understand all about retirement planning now you’re excited to get started on it. I have put together a few steps to help you get started.

1. Outline your needs: The first step is to outline your needs for retirement. These can fall under a number of categories like accommodation, healthcare and even feeding.

2. Estimate how much it will cost to cover these needs: You’ve got a list of needs for retirement now you can estimate how much you need to cover your retirement needs. When drafting these needs also make a point to factor in inflation too.

3. Make a feasible plan to cover these retirement needs: You now have a concrete idea of how much you may need monthly during retirement. Begin to plan how you can save and invest so that you can enjoy the benefits.

4. Open a pension account for your retirement fund: A great way to plan for your retirement is to have a pension account which is an account solely made to house your retirement funds. Some contracts of employment entitle you to have funds deducted from your salary. You should also consider finding out whether having a Pension Fund Administrator is something your employment covers.

 

[Kingsley]

This is a very serious topic, there are alot of basics for everyone mostly those within the working age bracket, to start planning their retirements because it will be a very big disaster for one to wake up one morning only to realise that time has past them bye and they can no longer struggle or hustle the way they use to, and hence money has stopped coming in. This will be a very challenge because such a fellow will find life very hard. It is very good for everyone to start planning their retirement and making project available for them to rest their back when the time comes. Because we will not remain the way we are.

But unfortunately in Nigeria there are no retirement plan for individuals and even those who are working under the government settings are still struggling with the government to get their retirement benefits, somany workers have died in the waiting process and still nothing has been given, many of them die of ill health or malnutrition because they are unable to take care themselves. It is very horrible situation. indeed. And most private organizations do not have plans of retirement for their workers, so it is best to plan it on your own.

 

[Kendy]

Retirement planning in Nigeria or any other country across concern is a great topic of utmost concern because not every individual would be employed in the federal government or state government organisations. In Nigeria, mostly government workers are at an advantage because of the contributory pension fund that exists between the government and the workers. Prior to this time, the Nigerian government was operating on a non-contributory pension scheme savings funding but due to reviews and handing of power to different people, the constitution was changed to a contributory funding between both parties. This has given leverage to government workers to be sure of a retirement planning which they can rely on after retirement which is always accompanied by the pension and gratuity.


It is not an easy venture for those who have no hope of government jobs, where some are business owners and other are literally unemployed or engaging in menial jobs which can only cater for their daily needs. Such people would find it really difficult to have a vision towards retirement planning and the government is literally doing little or nothing to enliven their burdens. It is appalling that even presently, the pensioners have to embark on a peaceful protest or clamour through the media houses before their pension savings and gratuity is released to them, which these situations gives little or no hope to the common man without government jobs!