Singaporeans trained to work, not to retire
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I believe this article says a lot about how well our government has provided for us older generations; - no real means to support ourselves when old.
Time is GMT + 8 hours
Posted: 21 September 2005 1133 hrs
Singaporeans trained to work, not to retire: elderly
By Loh Chee Kong, TODAY
They are well educated and established in their respective professions, but when it comes to growing old, their worry is as basic as this - jobs.
At a government feedback session organised for the elderly last Friday, the 30-odd participants - ranging from consultants to senior engineers and company directors - agreed on one thing: Singapore is "not a good place to retire in".
It is hard to find and sustain employment in one's old age because of the ageist sentiments of employers, they said.
A retiree who spent a large part of her life in the United Kingdom noted that "the old are being marginalised".
"Singapore is not a good place to retire in," she said. "The old should be enjoying their time, not working as cleaners."
Another participant, a 55-year-old consultant, added that Singaporeans are "trained to work, not to retire".
"It seems that people like me are being forced to work overseas. I'm planning to go to Malaysia through its 'silver-haired scheme'," he said.
Mr Phua Kok Tee, the 68-year-old CEO of Singapore Action Group for the Elderly, said that more should be done to tap into the service industry to provide jobs for the elderly.
"For example, in Borders in the United States, 16 per cent of its staff are 50 years old and above, as compared to just 6 per cent in 1999.
"This only came about after a conscious and concerted effort to provide employment for the elderly," he said.
This "constant cry for employment", given the participants' ages and relatively successful backgrounds, surprised Tampines GRC MP Sin Boon Ann, who chaired the session.
The 47-year-old MP asked the participants: "It's interesting how many of you are still thinking about finding or sustaining employment. Why not retire early and enjoy life? If it's a case of finances, what are your expectations?"
He added: "I suspect in Singapore, our expectations are set by the pace of life. A lot of pleasures don't have to cost the sky. For me, it can be just bringing my family to the beach."
If it is a question of financial security, many Singaporeans are putting unnecessary stress on themselves, he said.
But isn't the high cost of living a real issue?
Speaking to Today, Mr Sin said: "The cost of living could be a concern but I do not think that it is such a worry as to cause the elderly to be pre-occupied with staying employed.
"With adequate savings, planning and careful budgeting Â… they should have enough to see them through their old age."
He went on to assure Singapore's greying population that the country would not leave them behind.
"What they should perhaps realise is that we have a social safety net to look after them. They should take comfort in the fact that, should they run out of savings when they are older, there is always the family to fall back on.
"If there is no family support, then of course, the society and the community will look after them. And this is what making Singapore as a nation is all about." - TODAY/sh -
No money how to retire?
Our life span gets longer but where's the money to sustain it? -
It is our materialistic society that make us not retire early. I bet Atobe will say that it is the rising costs of living.
Think again, no one forced us to buy condos, cars and live off credit right? Living within your means is the answer to retiring early.
I am real estate agent and most of my client landlords are driving entry level Japanese cars, ie Corolla, Sunny etc. They are old and living off the rental income from the properties they own, mind you we are talking about $8k avg a month, which I think is damn good lor.
They worked their way to pay off the mortgage loan of these properties and live off the "pension" they are getting from them. Smart investing I guess. -
Yeah nobody forced us to BUY, but those who can afford it certainly wouldn't want to RENT. Because people want something they can KEEP, not something that's GONE after 99 yrs.
And I don't think everyone refrains from retiring because of greed. Many people prefer to keep themselves occupied rather than have nothing to do. Some elderly folks also prefer to support themselves instead of having their children support them. -
Bingo... but I think the for the majority of those grey haired individuals that I see on the streets of CBD, it is a case of "I retire already do what?"Originally posted by loosefuse:Yeah nobody forced us to BUY, but those who can afford it certainly wouldn't want to RENT. Because people want something they can KEEP, not something that's GONE after 99 yrs.
And I don't think everyone refrains from retiring because of greed. Many people prefer to keep themselves occupied rather than have nothing to do. Some elderly folks also prefer to support themselves instead of having their children support them.
We work all our lives and we forgot the simple enjoyments in life like a family, friends or short holidays. Face it, many of your friends are probably your colleagues at work. How many of us still go out regularly with our ex sch mates, ex platoon mates etc.?
It is those who worked their whole life away, missed out on such simple enjoyments that find retirement a bore and choose to work instead.
You may say "What do you know since you are not in the retirement age yet." To that, I have a perfect answer, I know of a ex colleague, now retired who is taking care of his grandchild, bringing her to the zoo, meet his friends, go for a swim in the pool etc. He is only 55. He choose to retire not because he is old, he choose to retire to enjoy the simple pleasures in life that money can't buy. With retirement, he sold his 5 room HDB flat and bought a 3 room HDB flat fully paid from the sales proceeds. He sold his car and choose to take public transport instead. He is living off investments that he has made with the money from his balance sales proceeds right now plus supplementary income from some small trading deals here and there. -
I personally will not slog my life away. I love to enjoy the simple luxuries life has to offer because I only live once and if it's not now, then when?Originally posted by ndsef:Bingo... but I think the for the majority of those grey haired individuals that I see on the streets of CBD, it is a case of "I retire already do what?"
We work all our lives and we forgot the simple enjoyments in life like a family, friends or short holidays. Face it, many of your friends are probably your colleagues at work. How many of us still go out regularly with our ex sch mates, ex platoon mates etc.?
It is those who worked their whole life away, missed out on such simple enjoyments that find retirement a bore and choose to work instead.
You may say "What do you know since you are not in the retirement age yet." To that, I have a perfect answer, I know of a ex colleague, now retired who is taking care of his grandchild, bringing her to the zoo, meet his friends, go for a swim in the pool etc. He is only 55. He choose to retire not because he is old, he choose to retire to enjoy the simple pleasures in life that money can't buy. With retirement, he sold his 5 room HDB flat and bought a 3 room HDB flat fully paid from the sales proceeds. He sold his car and choose to take public transport instead. He is living off investments that he has made with the money from his balance sales proceeds right now plus supplementary income from some small trading deals here and there.
There is seriously no point in working our whole lives away. But really, some people cannot afford the luxury of doing so. Because not everyone earns enough to allow them to retire early. You know many people in this "first-world country" are receving third-world salaries, don't you?
Add that with a family to support, and it can be really taxing.
Another problem with our society is some deem "people who can work but dont work" = lazy. That way, people are pressurized to retire later. -
They are well educated and established in their respective professions, but when it comes to growing old, their worry is as basic as this - jobs.
At a government feedback session organised for the elderly last Friday, the 30-odd participants - ranging from consultants to senior engineers and company directors - agreed on one thing: Singapore is "not a good place to retire in".
Why didn't the session find out from the senior folks what did they mean by "not a good place to retire in" and what was their idea of retirement? Doesn't retirement mean to stop working? Or does it now mean to retire from active or full time employment?
This "constant cry for employment", given the participants' ages and relatively successful backgrounds, surprised Tampines GRC MP Sin Boon Ann, who chaired the session.
The 47-year-old MP asked the participants: "It's interesting how many of you are still thinking about finding or sustaining employment. Why not retire early and enjoy life? If it's a case of finances, what are your expectations?"
Wasn't the session an opportunity for him to find out from the ground rather than he hallucinating in his ivory tower?
He went on to assure Singapore's greying population that the country would not leave them behind.
"What they should perhaps realise is that we have a social safety net to look after them. They should take comfort in the fact that, should they run out of savings when they are older, there is always the family to fall back on.
"If there is no family support, then of course, the society and the community will look after them. And this is what making Singapore as a nation is all about." - TODAY/sh
We were also promised of "more good years"
Sad, this is another PR type talk-only-session. Not only nothing concrete come out of it, issues raised were not even probed further and deeper. -
What do you expect? It's just a puppet show!
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How true..Originally posted by ShutterBug:What do you expect? It's just a puppet show!
Read this July 2005 National Wage Council recommendation:
Enhance Employability of Older Workers
19 With increasing life expectancies, workers will need to work longer and save more for retirement. However, older workers face greater difficulties with re-employment. We will need to enhance the employment rates of older workers. The NWC notes that the tripartite partners are currently working together under the Tripartite Committee on Employability of Older Workers to look into measures to enhance their employability and competitiveness.
I am waiting to see a NWC recommendation of employing Ma Xiao Ling to harness dead Singaporean's souls to work even after one dies. -
As a matter of fact, everything in Singapore come with a life time tag. Even a freehold real estate property is not really "age-proof", just take reference to the Fook Ji Building that was successfully aquired by the LTA at a "reasonable" market price by "certified" professional valuer.
Lessons learnt:
1) A property, irregardless if it is a 99yrs, 999yrs or even free hold, is still a real estate. It can be aquired by the gov for nation development eg building MRT or road or even car park.
2) A property is best to sell of at a pre-determined target profit margin, than to hold and wait for better valuation; before any unforeseeable events cock-up.
3) Never put all your eggs in a single nest. Some of Fook Ji residents actually dependent on rental returns to meet the ends.
4) "En-bloc" development is always desirable, but have to take risks due to unforeseeable events.
It would recommend a more reliable gold and forex FD (dual currencies - 1 account in USD and the other in Yen, AUD or GBP) in some reliable big foreign bank to build up your retirement. Use the CPF careful, it would be wise to invest your CPF in property (at least it can last you about 40years - with reference to Fook Ji Building) rather than shares/unit trust, or maybe some gold when the price is right. It is advisable not to overstretch the CPF payment for a real estate, you never know if the contribution celling is coming downwards or you loan interest would sky rocketed (US interest rate is still somewhere near the all time low level).
Car ownership is good to have, but not really a necessity for many people. Car ownership can drained a big time from your pocket. 1 Honda FIT at SGD60K at a 90% loan at 2.6%, can easily come out to around SGD110K after you finished repaying your loan. This handsome of $$$ can really enable you to get big $$$ in the 10year stock market cycle or put in other more gurantee investment vehicles (bond funds, insurance or forex fixed deposit). Please take note that you would need to do some homework before making your own investment decision. It would be best if you can do some read up on the technical papers. Good Luck!! -
this is taking a turn for the worse...
so.. the elderly are made to work... but with people firing the older workers to employ the younger workers, where the heck are they going to find the jobs?
be afraid.. be very afraid... -
spot onOriginally posted by the Bear:this is taking a turn for the worse...
so.. the elderly are made to work... but with people firing the older workers to employ the younger workers, where the heck are they going to find the jobs?
be afraid.. be very afraid... -
The sample of people they interviewed is skewed towards the well establish and upper middle class people.
There are still lots of uneducated and disabled old people out there who cannot own a roof and have only 10 buck and yet get robbed, working as cleaners for a pitiful sum while employers bully them. -
Correct. And when even the established middle class need jobs when they are supposed to retire what will happen to the lower income? This is a very serious issue which the govt really need to do sth about.
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[quote]Originally posted by pearlie27:
The 47-year-old MP asked the participants: "It's interesting how many of you are still thinking about finding or sustaining employment. Why not retire early and enjoy life? If it's a case of finances, what are your expectations?"
does the MP actually thinks that everybody makes lots of money before their retirement.
just go to the library and you will find a lot of peopl without jobs. many i am sure are in their late 40s or early 50s. -
Seeing more and more homeless people. Freaking gov said one thing but doing is another. freaking Blood suckers.Originally posted by dragg:[quote]Originally posted by pearlie27:
The 47-year-old MP asked the participants: "It's interesting how many of you are still thinking about finding or sustaining employment. Why not retire early and enjoy life? If it's a case of finances, what are your expectations?"
does the MP actually thinks that everybody makes lots of money before their retirement.
just go to the library and you will find a lot of peopl without jobs. many i am sure are in their late 40s or early 50s.
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wat to do??
if can then migrate liao lor... -
this is singapore.. nothing much we can do.. protest meh
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The problem is...people are making small money.
Making small money is easy.
But what we need is to make BIG money, and that's difficult.