Retirement Woes!

Imagine you are 65 years old and you have worked all your life.  Your children have grown and left home.

You have many health problems which now prevent you from working.

How will you survive?

The obvious answer is to collect your pension and retire.  It is not so easy though as for those who want to retire are unable to because of their lack of a viable income.

National Insurance Scheme

The National Insurance Scheme (N.I.S) is a compulsory contributory funded social security scheme, which offers financial protection to the worker and his family against loss of income arising from injury on job, incapacity, retirement, and death of the insured.

Persons eligible for retirement are those persons 65 ears or over.  These persons should have been contributing to the fund and have now stopped working.

This avenue provides those who retire with a cushion that can assist in their daily needs.  Can this be the only way to ensure though that retirees are taking care of the essentials?

Well let’s examine the facts!

How much is the average amount based on the National Insurance Scheme?

Pension Rates

There are various categories of pensioners and so there are different amounts of money that is paid out.

The average rate of full basic pension is $2,800 per week.

Is that really enough?

For some retirees they might have limited resources and so they will need more money than others who might have some family support.

The cost of food, transportation and utilities are steadily increasing so even if retirees have the ability to stretch their dollar, they will continue to feel the pinch of rising costs.

So what other alternatives do retired persons have?

The preparation for retirement begins long before you are 65 years old. It is imperative that while you are working that you put aside a fund that will supplement whatever is provided by the National Insurance Scheme.

A number of credit unions offer special packages that target workers who are trying to save for their retirement. These programmes are able to give retirees more options and a cushion for a more comfortable life.

A word of caution, if you are working for a company it is important that you know that you have a right to ask to see your N.I.S. records, to ensure that your contributions have been paid over.

The employee can also take legal action if he is denied a pension benefit, because of non-payment of his contributions.

So are you ready for retirement?

Drop me a line below!

Teri Ann Renee Paisley

Gleaner online writer

Tags: pension