Employers can get staff to start retirement planning early

IT IS troubling to read that in a rapidly ageing society such as Singapore’s, financial wellness seems to have dipped, particularly when it comes to planning for retirement.

The OCBC Financial Wellness Index 2023 released last month recorded its second consecutive fall to an all-time low of 60, with decreases in 15 of the 24 indicators, notably in “planning for retirement”. The index, which surveyed 2,000 working adults in Singapore aged between 21 and 65 in August 2023, found that the proportion who either do not have a retirement plan or are not on track with any is a worrying 79 per cent, up from 71 per cent in 2022.

Furthermore, the average age at which respondents in their 50s, who have not started planning for post-work life, stated that they would start was 60 – arguably a tad late to begin accumulating a meaningful nest egg, given that the current statutory retirement age is 63.