I recently came across a depressing story in the news about an elderly senior citizen who was dumped on the streets by his children as they were no longer interested in taking care of him. Moreover, weeks of starvation had made him extremely feeble and sick. Fortunately, he was noticed and rescued by an NGO and is now recovering in an old age home.
This incident was extremely shocking yet the truth of many such elderly citizens of our country. It is observed that many citizens who are dependent on their children after retirement are left to fend for themselves even for their basic needs. Many of these end up in old age homes, while some become homeless.
This issue can be addressed to a large extent by opting for an optimum retirement plan that can help the elderly during their post-retirement age. Having such a plan can make the insured financially equipped and they need not rely on their kids for any financial assistance. This also provides a sense of confidence and helps to lead a happy retirement life.
Let’s deep dive into some of the other important reasons why you should never take retirement planning for granted:
To live with self-respect
When you don’t have sufficient income to take care of your needs, you will need to depend on others like your children or relatives for the same. This can be a recipe for disaster as they may start treating you as a burden after some point in time. As a result, you may have to compromise on things you need or do things you don’t like to do. All of these can create an unhealthy and toxic environment at home and result in fights and even cause emotional stress.
Planning and investing for your retirement while you are working, can help you create a huge corpus as retirement planning is a long term goal. This will ensure that you can live your life comfortably without depending on others for any sort of financial support.
To ensure regular income post-retirement
Many people make the most common and silly mistake of assuming that a lump sum amount in the bank would be sufficient for taking care of their needs for their lifetime. Unfortunately, due to rising inflation, the cost of living is also increasing proportionally day by day.
The cost of basic grocery items like sugar, cooking oil, rice etc has multiplied by almost 3 times in the last 2 decades. Thus, living costs are likely to go up further over the next few decades. As a result, rising inflation will erode your savings at a faster pace. Hence, it is important to have a source of regular income even after retirement which will take care of your monthly expenses.
To avoid using your retirement fund for other purposes
Many people tend to use their lump-sum retirement fund for other purposes like a child’s higher education/marriage or buying a property or vehicle or for any other liabilities.
While some of these expenses may be unavoidable due to the emotional quotient attached to them, the same should not be borne from your retirement fund. One can avoid such situations by investing in a deferred annuity plan which will provide monthly income for taking care of expenses as long as he/she is alive.
Concluding thoughts
Planning for a comfortable retirement is a must for all as it is highly significant to have a regular and guaranteed income to take care of one’s expenses even while one is not working. Unfortunately, it takes a lot of time for many people to realize this fact and gradually end up compromising even on their basic needs.
Saving even a small amount regularly in a deferred annuity plan for the long term, can help one to create a guaranteed source of income for a lifetime and lead a comfortable life with self-respect.
by, Rakesh Goyal, Director, Probus Insurance Broker