WITH Covid-19 grinding economies to a halt, the loss of job or unintended premature retirement may actually catch one off-guard from the sudden loss of income due to work cessation. This leaves one in a dire financial situation.
Apart from the loss of income in the present, the uncertainty of one’s financial future adds to the problem—including retirement goals.
While everyone wants to have a worry-free retirement and have fun ticking items off that bucket list, the current situation is a reminder that it’s always good to revisit financial plans every now and then to see if these still meet the goals they were created for.
Richard Lim, president of Sun Life Grepa Financial Inc. (Sun Life Grepa), stated: “Despite the pandemic and today’s dynamic work environment where companies are rapidly adapting to changes, we strongly believe that a comfortable retirement is still possible. A key factor is careful preparation anchored on proper financial management concepts.”
Misconceptions
While there is a wealth of information available these days, the challenge is sifting through these, choosing the best ones, and setting aside the misconceptions which may derail one’s goals.
This rings true in retirement planning. According to the article “12 Dangerous Retirement Myths that Turn Your Golden Years into Lead” by Todd Tresidder on FinancialMentor.com, there are retirement myths that can kill your financial security.
For instance, the common misconception that saving for retirement can be delayed until much later. Most people fall into this trap thinking that they will earn more later on, and thus have a better capacity to save. However, procrastination may easily lead to failure to plan, much less save. It is important to prepare as early as possible.
Another common misconception is that expenditures will be less during retirement. In reality, they actually go up due to the various maintenance medicines that one may need in his golden years as he begins to feel the toll of aging. The main goal is to retire in comfort and sustain one’s needs, including medication.
Yet another misconception that many fall prey to is that retirement could only happen at age 65.
The thing is, it can actually happen at a much earlier date. Indeed, sudden unemployment may happen anytime especially during a pandemic.
However one’s future is a lot more reassuring if the necessary preparations have been made early on, even if forced into retirement sooner than intended.
Preparing for tomorrow
The good news is, retirement planning is not rocket science. It can be done with ease, more so when you have experts and professionals guiding you.
Partner with a strong and stable financial services company like Sun Life Grepa, which can offer advice, solutions, and services that can help clients in pursuing their financial roadmap to retirement, especially in times like this.
“Our role is to help Filipinos identify their retirement goals and to provide them with sound financial planning advice in order to best achieve their dreams given this fast-changing world,” said Lim.
“When giving advice, we cover every possible priority and objective of the client to help them identify areas for improvement and avoid common mistakes,” he added. (PR)