Branch Manager of Databank, Kumasi, Hafiz Aziz, has advised the Ghanaian youth populace to think more about retirement and not see it as thinking about death.
In an interview with Naa Dzama and DJ Carcious on Y102.5FM Kumasi’s Myd-Morning Show, he observed that majority of Ghanaians are not receptive towards retirement and this is because they are of the notion that thinking about retirement while working or while in youthful days means that they are thinking about death.
“They see no reason why they should think about retirement when they are in their early or mid-thirties when they should be enjoying life so a lot of people like to postpone it until they are around age fifty to fifty-five before they start to think about retirement”, he said.
This, according to him is a big mistake and that is why Databank has taken it upon itself to educate people on retirement.
Hafiz stated that a lot of people tend to be scared of retirement, hence they lie about their age. He noted however, that the fright about retirement only comes in when one has not planned for it.
“We carried out a survey in Accra some time ago and we realized that out of a hundred Ghanaians who retire, only two are able to retire comfortably and that is two percent. Another 23% will have to continue to work after the age of sixty and this shouldn’t be the case. The other 75% of these hundred people depend on relatives”, Hafiz shared.
The financial expert mentioned that most parents go into retirement and depend on their children but that should not be the case because there is no guarantee that when parents clock the age of retirement, their children will be working by then. On this note, he advised that people should begin planning their retirement during their youthful days so that they do not become a burden on their children in future.
By: Maureen Dedei Quaye
