Tan Kin Lian's Blog: Can people afford to retire?

Tuesday, November 02, 2010

Can people afford to retire?

This article explains the need for governments in the West to raise the retirement age, where the state pensions scheme is funded on a "pay as you go" method which requires young workers to contribute towards the pensions of the retirees.

The Singapore government does not face this problem because it operates a provident fund scheme, where each contributor takes back his or her personal savings in the fund. However, the retirees in Singapore face the same problem of rising life expectancy and high cost of living - there is inadequate savings in the fund for their retirement. So, people in Singapore will have to continue working longer anyway as they cannot afford to retire.

But the elderly in Singapore face another big challenge - the elderly find it difficult to get jobs that pay a decent wage. They have to accept extremely low wage and even so, it is difficult to find these jobs. These challenge has to be addressed by the government, not just in words, but in concrete actions.

Tan Kin Lian

3 comments:

ron said...: Yes, I agree.

The issue here is not the lack of motivation to work beyond 60 yrs.
Employers are key players in making it happen.
The government is also part of the equation.

They have been trumpeting the call that everyone should continue to work as long as they can. That message is clear to all.

It seems to have have fallen on deaf years of employers.Only because the government says but do not enforce it or help to promote it.

Instead, it provides cheap alternatives for employers by allowing steady stream of young foreign workers.

To be fair, legislation will come into effect in 2 years time for employers to offer reemployement.
However, it lacks teeth and it is extremely slow and very accomodating to enterprise.

The rate of moving towards employing older workers is slower than workers getting older.
Are they waiting for them to die off and then change policies?

In Japan, older workers are re-employed to work at highway toll gates to collect ticket stubs from vehicles. Imagine, a country that has the most robotics technology still employs humans to do tasks that a card reader can do efficiently.

Why?

It may not be a great idea, since these older folks have to breathe toxic fumes during their tenure. I am certain we can be innovative here.. but providing cheap young labour is not innovative to help older workers.. a balance is required. Did not scholars factor this in? Do they not have older parents & grandparents?.. its really hard to accept.; November 02, 2010 10:10 AM
yujuan said...: Yes, we could, just eat ikan bilis and chillies with rice everyday, and use medical services across the causeway. Remember the Chu general of ancient China, fighting a war for his country - the general feasted on big fish and meats, while the soldiers who did all the fighting were fed beans and rice.
But the humble but expensive HDB
pigeonhole flat may be the biggest problem. There is no kampong houses
as an alternative here.; November 02, 2010 4:54 PM
Unknown said...: In my opinion, to build up our retirement fund, we should start young. Preferably when we start working and have the drive and energy. Besides knowing how to save, we should increase our income channels by having passive incomes and online businesses to supplement our main income.

Rgds,
Greatsage
http://sgwebreviews.blogspot.com; November 06, 2010 10:32 AM