by Tom Hickey
I recently read an article in the Business News edition
from the St.
John's Board of Trade.
The focus was on retirement planning and it outlined
advice from baby boomers on what they would have done, looking
back, in order to have less worries about funding their
retirement. The top 4 items were
- 1. Start
Saving Earlier (91 percent)
- 2. Pay
off your mortgage faster (73 per cent)
- 3. Save
more money or invest in an RSP (66 per cent)
- 4. Find
employment with a government or company that has a pension (66 per
cent)
A lot of this is common sense (which apparently isn't very
common), but frankly I find number 4 disturbing.
No, I'm not against pensions; they are valuable part of a
retirement plan, if you have one. On the other hand, you only have
to read the financial news the last few years. Many government
pensions are underfunded, which means we, the public, have to pay
extra to keep them solvent. The same can be said about many
corporate pension programs which means prices have to go up to pay
for them, or companies have to alter the terms of what was promised
to their employees.
As far as social supports go, the math doesn't work.
Generation X is relatively small, which means that that from a
demographic point of view, there aren't going to be enough
people to pay for the retirement needs (let alone health
care) of the generation that is retiring.
All these things tell me that the best advice to give
someone starting out is not to plan on having anyone help you with
retirement, plan on HELPING YOURSELF… which is why I find number
four disturbing. I think the last thing young people should be
doing is picking a career in the government, or any other place for
that matter because it has a pension. If this is what you
really want to do, you get great personal fulfillment from your
job, you get to live up to your own personal brand, and you happen
to get a pension that is great, but….
How about finding employment with a company
that:
- ·
Reflect your core values
- ·
Makes you want to keep learning
- ·
Helps you become a better person
- ·
Rewards superior results
- ·
Empowers you to be accountable and do the same for
others
- ·
Lets you have fun at work
Would you pick this company, or the one with the pension,
but doesn't really give you any other true fulfillment? What
regrets would you have looking back at 65 if you made your career
decisions using these criteria?
Or you could go to work in a place where you have a
pension, and maybe you won't get fired, no matter how mediocre
you are.
The choice is yours.