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MANILA, Philippines — A personal finance professional is advising Filipinos to consider thinking about retirement earlier in one's career, not just as one approaches their senior years.
Life insurance company Insular Life held a forum for its clients last April 23 in Makati, where chief product and innovation officer Jose Eduardo Ang pointed out people "never really discuss how to get to a retirement plan."
Aristides "Jong" Merida Jr., a retirement readiness expert, then gave a talk about the importance of planning for retirement early.
Merida compared retirement funds and one's wealth as "an amount of money that will set one free" after leaving a career behind, noting that amount (which is never small) should last a lifetime without running out or having to work again.
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He estimated the needed amount in the Philippines is P15 million, whereas most Filipinos receive P2 to 4 million — and believe it is sufficient to sustain them.
Merida cited data from the Philippine Statistics Authority where 99% of Filipinos fail to achieve their dreams of financial stability until the day they die.
As a result, individuals leave no wealth behind for dependents, who now must live with generational interdependence, generational poverty, and loans.
"The reality is, you spend in retirement," Merida said.
It is important then to think about retirement ahead of time in order to prepare for funds creation, the future lives of dependents, and the very likely possibility of illness at the end of one's life.
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