I worry about retirement because….

How many of us are worried about retirement? Many would be worried even if we have a good job paying a healthy salary today The reason is because by the time we retire, we would not have a full time job and thus our day to day expenses have to come from whatever we earn through what we have. For example, the interests from our fixed deposits or unit trusts etc. The luckier few would have rentals from properties but for majority, it is more likely a downgrade of lifestyle. In fact majority would have less than enough to live comfortably till the day we say bye-bye because we have never worried in advance.
In America, eighty-six (86) percent of all working-age American households agree that America faces a retirement crisis. This is according to a recent report by the National Institute of Retirement. They worry that they will fall short of the retirement savings goals that would allow them to maintain their same standard of living today versus when they retire. However, the percentage of people worried about their personal retirement outlook is down to 74 percent from 85 percent 2 years ago. Of course, the current economic growth does help in making them more confident as well. Over half said they will continue to work even after they retire! 40 percent meanwhile said they would have to sell their home for financial security reasons.
Do we see a similarity with the situation in Malaysia? Actually, this situation is repeated in many countries and not limited to just Malaysia or America. The first question would be, WHY would people feel less confident? I think most of the time, it is because they have done nothing to fortify what they have before they retire. Second question is WHEN because in actual fact, if our investment had started earlier, we need to take less risks and still be able to achieve what we set out to have. Imagine if we started when we are much older? We may need to be much more aggressive and this is when luck must be on our side. Third question of WHAT to invest in can easily be found if we were to attend some talks by property gurus, or stock analysts or even your personal friend who is a unit trust agent.
If we have determined that property is one of such goal, then the question of WHERE would crop up. Where should we buy? Well, it is pretty safe to say that as long as you are not buying in the middle of a forest, any place is quite safe. Property prices tend to follow inflation rate and by the time we need to retire, we have a property that we can sell off. Do note that a RM350,000 home that we purchase today would have easily doubled during our working life. The most important thing we must know however is that retirement planning is something many worry but few do anything about. Are we the majority who does virtually nothing or the minority who think retirement planning has better start today? Happy thinking, planning and investing.
written on 3 Apr 2015
next suggested article: Can you retire with just RM900,000?


Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *