For almost all young adults who have
just started their first job, or who are just getting ready to settle down and
marry, planning for their retirement is not at all in their minds. For
those who have just gotten their first job, the experience of receiving your
paycheck is a thrilling and empowering feeling. Now you have money to
spend for the things you’ve always wanted to get. Billboards and glitzy
print ads beckon you to accumulate all sorts of products and services that make
you enjoy the life that you feel entitled to. At last!
But, listen, time waits for no
one. Sooner or later, you will find yourself with a closet full of out of
fashion clothes, outdated gadgets, and toys that you have outgrown. Worse
still, you may still have credit card bills to pay for these things, and zero
cash saved up for even your next vacation to Boracay. This time will
come, if you’re not careful. And believe me, that time could just be
around the corner.
If you’re smart, you should begin to
plan for your retirement as soon as you receive your first pay check!
Here are ten reasons why you should prepare now:
1. If you are employed, and your company is setting aside money
for your SSS or GSIS or company retirement, guess what? What your company
is setting aside is not going to be enough.
2. Time is in your favor. Who has more time to save for retirement at age
60? You, or your uncle who is 30 years older than you?
3. Because of # 1, you don’t have to sacrifice a lot in
order to save a lot. If you and your uncle wanted to accumulate P1
Million by the time you’re both 60, you would have to save a smaller amount
regularly, because you have more time to save. Right?
4. You can make more aggressive investments now but get
rewarded with higher returns. Usually, these higher risk investments
have a way of recovering very well over a longer period of time.
5. Inflation is not in your favor. You know it. Don’t be in denial. It will
cost you more to retire than earlier generations ahead of you. So, don’t
think that it will be affordable enough for you by that time.
6. You can start small and grow. Even setting aside a
small portion of your paycheck each month will pay off in big pesos later.
7. It’s easier to develop the habit of saving while you
are young and you have no major obligations.
8. As you accumulate savings over time, your money will
starting working for you, rather than you working for money.
9. No matter how much you love your parents, do you like the
idea of supporting your parents because they failed to save for their
retirement? Well, don’t impose your failure to save on your children.
They deserve a life of their own.
10. It’s great to enjoy your savings! Imagine the
nice and easy life you can enjoy when you have saved enough. If you want
to keep working even when you’re old, you will go to work because you like
to, not because you have to. And – when you have saved enough to take
care of a comfortable lifestyle – you can occupy yourself with work which
probably won’t pay much, but which will be fun and self-fulfilling.
This is courtesy of Save and Learn of FAMI.
