Retirement refers to a season in life when one has to permanently leave the workforce behind upon reaching the mandatory retirement age, voluntarily or on health grounds.
This is a process that should be handled skillfully and empathetically by both the employer and employee to avoid stress, depression and even premature death.
Retirement therefore is much more than just saving enough money for use upon retirement. It requires more holistic thinking and proper planning for health cover, family, purpose and finances in a well-executed way.
Sadly, some retirees go on recess before purchasing land, constructing houses, and understanding their families well since most of their time is spent at their workplaces.
All workers have to start planning for their retirement immediately after they start working, treating all moments in their working career as injury time.
Retirement planning therefore means preparing today for your future life so that you can continue to meet all your goals and dreams independently without being a burden to anyone.
This basically includes setting a goal and estimating the amount you will need to set up a meaningful investment that you are well versed with.
There are various phases of retirement. First and foremost, we have the pre-retirement level where one begins to think seriously about the preferred life in retirement and whether they are financially alert to achieve such an objective. This stage is so engaging since it involves amassing more finances to achieve a desired goal.
It is closely followed by the retirement farewell ceremony which is organised to recognize the retirees’ work or contribution. Soothing speeches are given which comprise a blend of experience in the current place of work and future expectations in life. In this perception, colleagues, friends and family members are honoured to usher in the new dispensation of life.
The third stage of retirement is; ‘I am now free and free indeed, I can spend as much time as I like on what makes me happy’. At this point, most retirees miss the point as they engage in heavy drinking over frustration for lacking an investment and a salary.
Retirement is something that many of us look forward to. We therefore spend a lot of time hyping it up only to discover that once in retirement it is not as exciting. A feeling of loneliness and a lost sense of purpose encroaches. This is called the disenchantment phase.
The next level involves re-orientating oneself to develop a sense of identity and develop new passions to find absolute fulfillment in retirement. This includes avoiding denial and wishing to go back in time before retirement
The final stage brings a feeling of contentment, developing a positive attitude and being happy in retirement. Here one settles in the new lifestyle or routine doing things they love most and this is where one is filled with a new sense of purpose.
It is also necessary to focus on the bottom-line approach which is a scenario that expends on the most necessary priorities leaving out less important items in relation to the general income, net earnings and net profit.
The Ministry of Education (MoE) has entrenched processes of retirement benefits of teachers into law by ensuring that a retiree receives full benefits in a maximum of 5 months.
Bonus: The TSC pension is calculated by the formula; Completed months multiplied by Annual salary divided by 480 and then multiplied by the number of years in TSC service.
By Hillary Khamati
Hillary Khamati is a teacher based in Western Kenya.
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