According to a study by financial services firm Sun Life of Canada (Phils.), Inc., Filipinos are poor financial planners, with only one in 10 able to leave something to their families when they die. Sunlife’s Study of Lifestyle, Attitudes and Relationships or SOLAR also showed that only 2% of Filipinos have saved enough for retirement, with 45% becoming dependent on relatives and 30% on charity. Meanwhile, 22% continue to work after retirement.
This is a pretty scary finding, one we would do well to heed and take notice. While some of us may not feel too obliged to save a little something for those we will eventually leave behind, preparing for our retirement is simply a must; we can think of it as the most important reason why we should take control of our finances now. When we retire, most of us will have limited periodic income (mostly from pension payments) and inflated expenses (mostly going to health care). In general, the best way to prepare for retirement would be to make sure that you have access to a substantial amount of ready, liquid capital and/or that you have the right kind of insurance. What this means exactly and how it can be done will be the topic of future posts.