5 Reasons Why We Need To Prepare Retirement Fund Early. Financial freedom is when we no longer need to work from dawn to dusk, but abundant income still comes smoothly. We don't work for money, but money works for us. Isn't this really amazing? Especially Bismillahirrahmaanirrahiim when we have entered an unproductive age, ideally our focus is no longer busy making money but how to enjoy togetherness with our children and grandchildren and other religious activities.
Once upon a time a friend said to me, " Your job is good Rie, working as a civil servant gets a fixed salary and you can still retire later. But I have no pension, after work my salary stops and there is no pension ."
I have heard statements like this several times, from different people. These questions that come out of the heart are now even more heart-wrenching during the pandemic. An unexpected situation, suddenly a massive pandemic occurred.
My friend's question made me feel how important it is for us to prepare for retirement because in 10 or 20 years, we never know what other unforeseen circumstances might happen. It is unavoidable, but at least we have preparations, especially financially, to minimize the impact.
Why Do We Need to Prepare for a Retirement Fund? What is the Purpose of a Pension Fund?
Yes.. most of us must have that question and many more.
The simplest reason why we have to prepare a pension fund since we start working, so that when we enter old age we are no longer burdened with daily expenses, so that we can achieve what is called financial independence. Everyone hopes to achieve financial independence after retirement, and more importantly, to break the chain of the sandwich generation.
The sandwich generation is those who have to support their parents or other family members. For those who are married, in addition to having to meet the needs of their own families, this generation also has to bear the finances of their parents or other relatives.
- The cost of living will increase by the time. Daily needs continue to grow and require more expensive funding from year to year.
- The ups and downs of economic conditions are in sync with social polemics, political issues to the current pandemic. No one can predict when a crisis will occur, for example when there is a COVID-19 pandemic which has a wide impact, not only on the health aspect but also on the overall social and economic aspects affected by the pandemic.
- Uncertainty about our jobs in the future because there is no guarantee whether we can be free from the threat of layoffs or the like that causes us to be unemployed (temporarily or for long time)
- Unpredictable physical or health conditions. Yes, everyone wants to be healthy and fit until old and dead. But also the fact that when a person enters old age, health problems (degenerative) such as dementia, diabetes, impaired kidney function, lung function, hypertension, and other non-communicable diseases will become chronic and multi-pathological if not treated immediately. As figure out from just one aspect of disease, the estimated financing is not cheap and requires a relatively long time to recover.
- In order to enjoy a more enjoyable and happier retirement if we can do good (help) others with the financial reserves we have.
In short, let me say “ productivity will surely decline by the age, but the cost of living will continue to increase. We will definitely retire, but living expenses will never retire. “
And important question that must be answered immediately is how to prepare a pension fund before retirement?
What is Retirement Savings?
As we know, our productive and effective time can work actively with the carrying capacity of our energy and mind which is prime, generally between the ages of 20 to 60 years. After that, you could say we are at a less productive age, that's what we call retirement age.
Retirement Savings is a number of funds collected in a certain amount (can be in the form of savings in a bank, investment or other current assets) which we prepare to meet all our needs when we are at an unproductive age (retirement).
In this unproductive age phase, it is very important to have an adequate pension fund. That's why, while still productive, it is highly recommended to allocate a portion of your income, regularly saving or investing. Considering that most people still do not have this passive income source. There are still many who are not aware of preparing funds or savings for retirement.
For those who work in government agencies or agencies that already manage employee salaries with pension facility coverage, they will automatically receive a salary called a pension when they are no longer working. However, for those whose workplace does not accommodate pension funds as suggested by some of my friends, and based on personal finance tips we ourselves must be active and take the initiative to manage income in order to have a pension fund.
HOW to prepare a retirement fund from EARLY ?
In fact, many people are aware of the importance of retirement savings but it is difficult to make it a real. They feel it will be difficult if some of their income is set aside for retirement savings.
One thing we must remember, from every rupiah or dollar or euro or whatever we earn, we have the power to choose our oldness ( future ) we are rich, poor or middle class.
Everyone's retirement needs are different. Therefore, it is important to calculate and estimate retirement needs later. To calculate a safe retirement savings estimate, start by calculating your regular monthly expenses and then set a timeframe.
Retirement funds do not have to be in the form of money deposits that we usually keep in the bank, where the account is devoted to being used in retirement. There are several alternatives to preparing this retirement fund. But in my personal opinion, the one that is more flexible and can be implemented more quickly is to make retirement savings.
In order to prepare for retirement so that you can continue to enjoy oldness with full enjoy any activities and NOT retire from the pleasures of life. Then commitment to saving for old age is one of the wisest ways to prepare for a better retirement.
Financial freedom is the top ladder of a person's financial condition, when someone already has investments or active assets that are able to generate adequate "regular salaries" to finance their daily lives (without having to continue working again), and do as much charity as possible.
Well, to start saving for retirement we need proper financial management. How to maintain a balance between the amount of routine expenses each day and how much you can save for retirement, we need a calculator to help calculate "how much is safe to save as a retirement fund?" of the income we receive each month.
One of the recommended Free Financial Calculators to calculate how much income is safe to set aside as a retirement savings fund is CALCULATOR dot ME.
FYI, in this calculator application there are several menus that can be used FOR FREE, namely the menu are: Loans Amortazation, Mortgages Calculators, Auto Calculators, Credit Cards, Savings Calculators and Financial Planning.
Free Financial Calculators
With a retirement fund calculator, we can find out the amount that must be saved every month to reach the expected retirement fund. Use the retirement fund simulation below to get the numbers you need. For a simple practice, we can start by calculating an estimate of how much the average pension fund we need.
The average retirement age in Indonesia is 58 years with the life expectancy of Indonesians reaching 70-75 years. That is, we need to meet the needs of life during retirement which is about 20 years. In simple terms, if the routine expenditure per month is IDR 3 million, it means that in a year we need IDR 36 million, and within 20 years we need IDR 720 million to finance our own lives.
Once again, the illustration above is only an example. Yes… the variables can be adjusted according to each situation.
Overview of the Retirement Plan Calculator, which is a financial calculation application that functions to find out how much money you need to meet living expenses when you retire, and how much you have to set aside in savings each month. However, when calculating needs, don't forget to include the increase in inflation because the value of money today will be different from that in the future.
The simply use this calculator is by clicking on one of the menus that we need, it will display special help and instructions in the right column. For example, I choose to use the Financial Planning menu and the next step can be continued by entering variables according to the variables listed in the calculator application.
This Free Financial Calculator is suitable for use by anyone who needs a financial calculation tool because it has a variety of financial calculator menus that can be used for free either through desktops, laptops, tablets or cellphones.
At least but not the last, I believe Retirement Planning is Not Impossible.
Let's Plan our future life properly by start investing today, the sooner is better. With proper planning and starting quickly now, it is hoped that our savings will be able to fully finance our lives in the future. The when the time comes for retirement, hopefully we can enjoy financial independence, not only for ourselves, hopefully it can also be useful for many people around us.
So, are you ready to start preparing for retirement savings now, right ? Or maybe someone wants to share their experiences on how to prepare a retirement fund apart from saving in the bank? Feel free to write it in comment please...?