I was reading a survey commissioned by one of the biggest pension providers in South Africa and the results are rather alarming. Pensions and making sure you have the financial means to live a comfortable retirement should be a must do earlier in your working career.
What they recommend is that at the time of your final salary you should be earning around 75% as a pension. Due to inflation and current debt many 65 year old's which is the pensionable age in South Africa are finding they only have 25% and not 75%. In order to achieve the magic 75% number they would have to work until they are 80. Imagine working until you are 80?
This must suck knowing you have to continue working or having to rely on your kids each month which I am sure many are doing. I know my in laws are supported via the kids and have free accommodation via a granny flat so they are the lucky ones who have no worries. What if the kids had no money though so it tells you they may not have had enough for a comfortable retirement.
The problem many households are facing now is the debt they currently owe so the first things people tend to place on hold are insurance policies like pensions as they are not for now and are for later. Deferring these policies by placing them on hold is only going to shrink the values of these monthly pension payouts when you are ready to retire.
This has always been a worry in the back of my mind even though I know I should be well above average as the answer is you do not know how much is going to be required to live comfortably each month is 20 or 30 years time. We have seen how much every food item has risen over the last 5 years so trying to guess what these items will cost in 20 years time would be impossible to calculate.
What may seem like a comfortable number currently may be seriously inadequate in 10 years from now making your retirement a less than pleasant time. Medical costs are a concern over and above that of just day to day living and you need a pension that rises well above inflation each year.
I do think those of us who have ventured into the online world of crypto have safety blanket because we know how to earn and I am sure many of us will be very wealthy at some point. The some point is the problem because many of us are not quite there yet and will still need to unlock that wealth.
The future I believe lies with in crypto and even though I am not banking on this as it is still a speculative investment currently the future is heading very much towards crypto and digital payments via digital currencies including crypto. I firmly believe my crypto earnings via staking rewards will surpass any pension scheme that is on offer and not just by a bit, but comfortably.
The target I have set is $10K monthly and if it takes 5 or 10 more years to achieve it does not matter as that is all extras over and above whatever pension would be paid monthly. In my mind I have no thoughts of retiring anyway as I work for myself which is fantastic and not tied to a corporate policy that says your last day is when you turn 65. I could not comprehend knowing I would have to work an extra 10 or 15 years in a job that I hate because I had to.