7 mistakes that could cause you your retirement

Evans Effah 07:47 - 01 February 2021

Mistakes that could cause you your retirement

Retirement planning is the process of determining retirement income goals, and the actions and decisions necessary to achieve those goals. 

Retirement planning includes identifying sources of income, sizing up expenses, implementing a savings program, and managing assets and risk.

However, according to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Databank Group, Kojo Addae-Mensah, most Ghanaian workers instead of enjoying a comfortable retirement, struggle to meet day-to-day expenses.

He noted that this stress is usually caused by mistakes many Ghanaian workers make during their working years.

The databank CEO outlined 7 mistakes most Ghanaian workers make that can cause their retirement.

He noted that people are still taking retirement for granted in Ghana. “People don’t start thinking about it [retirement] until they are about to retire.”

Mr. Addae-Mensah said retirement planning is still alien to most Ghanaians.

“Out of every 100 Ghanaians who reached age 60 [retirement age], only 2% can retire comfortably,” he quoted an actuarial research.

Here are 7 mistakes workers make that will affect their retirement;

People fail to set a retirement goal - To retire comfortably, one needs to set a goal or target towards their retirement.
Procrastinating retirement planning - This is self explanatory. Do not postpone retirement planning.
Not checking retirement expenses - According to him people enjoy a lot of allowances and freebies while working and they fail to factor all these into their retirement planning
Difference between Investment and savings and insurance - Insurance is different from investment.
People don’t have a separate retirement fund/account - Do not combine your retirement account with emergencies and day-day accounts. Separate your retirement account from your day-to-day account.
Know your risk appetite - Understand the kind of product or investment you put your money in. Ask all they necessary questions from the expert about an investment product before you sign up.
Do carry debt into retirement - Make sure you have settled or paid up your debts/loans before retirement.