Young adults and retirement
We follow two cousins both in their 20s, Jude, a businessman, and Mary, as they embark on a visit to their 65-year-old Uncle Frank. Here is how the story goes:
Jude
Jude loves living the life. Whenever he hears the word, “Retirement,” he scoffs because it seems so far that it hardly feels real at all. That eventually became his excuse to justify not saving for retirement. He often jokes that he’ll still be agile and efficient well past his 70s, so he can still run his business and earn a living.
Mary
Mary is after the “baby-girl” life: slaying for the ‘Gram, owing debt just to buy shoes, bags, and human hair in vogue, and never caring about saving. She also believes that retirement is too far to consider now hence she makes no effort to supplement her compulsory pension contributions with additional funds. In fact, if she had her way, she wouldn’t even save a kobo for retirement.
This visit to Uncle Frank is about to change their lives…
Uncle Frank
Uncle Frank lives in a decent bungalow in a high-brow estate in Abuja. He is well off and makes foreign trips at least once a year to visit his children. He also has a thriving business managed by his younger son in Lagos and looks ‘fresh’ every time Jude and Mary see him. They both admire him a lot.
During their discussion, Uncle Frank asks his niece and nephew about work, business, and relationships. Then somehow the discussion veered towards later years and retirement.
He noticed their nonchalance towards the topic and chuckled. Then he began his lecture:
“You youngsters don’t realize that the years slip by and building a sizable nest egg becomes more difficult if you don’t start early. Remember that you’ll also probably acquire other expenses you may not have yet such as family, in-laws, mortgage, and others,” he said.
He took a swig of juice and continued, “You may not earn a lot of money now in your business and career, but one thing you have more of than richer, older folks is time. With time on your side, saving for retirement becomes a much more pleasant and exciting prospect. You have time to map out your retirement plan and whatever you save compounds with the years and gets reinvested to make you more money.”
“How do you lads think I managed to build the life I have now after my years in the Human Resource space?” he finished with a smile.
It was a visit to remember for Jude and Mary. They got schooled by Uncle Frank and suddenly, their motto of living for the moment sounded utterly lame.
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