- Retirement planning should begin when teachers start earning, rather than waiting until their final working years.
- Astiba Kebong’o highlights savings, health and relationships as essential foundations for a dignified retirement.
- She argues that serving learners and supporting families should not leave teachers financially vulnerable after employment.
The day a teacher receives an employment letter is usually a moment of excitement. It marks the beginning of a career, a regular income and, for many, the fulfilment of a long-held dream.
But there is another important message hidden in that letter: the countdown to retirement has also begun.
For a young teacher, retirement may appear too distant to think about. There are immediate responsibilities to meet—supporting parents, educating siblings, building a home, raising children and responding to the many demands that come with employment. Retirement is easily pushed to the back of the mind.
Yet time does not wait.
A teacher can spend three or four decades serving learners and the nation, only to realise that retirement has arrived and the financial preparations made along the way were insufficient.
This is a conversation teachers need to have with themselves early enough.
The Retirement Benefits Authority’s 2024 Pensioner Survey offers an important warning. It found that 83 per cent of surveyed retirees were still supporting dependants, while only 41 per cent considered their pension adequate. The survey also identified good health as a major component of a satisfactory retirement.
These findings should encourage every serving teacher to pause and ask a simple question: What will sustain me when my salary stops?
Teaching is a profession of service. Teachers give their time, knowledge and energy to learners. Many also carry substantial family responsibilities. It is therefore understandable that much of one’s income goes towards other people.
But caring for others should not mean forgetting oneself.
Children grow up. They leave home, establish families and assume responsibilities of their own. This is part of life, not a failure of family bonds. A parent who has spent years providing for children should therefore also prepare for the stage when those children are no longer financially dependent.
That preparation should begin early.
Save before the pressure becomes greater
Retirement planning does not require waiting until one is earning a large salary. It requires discipline.
A teacher can begin by understanding their pension arrangements, monitoring contributions and developing additional savings habits according to their circumstances. Small, consistent steps taken over many years can make a significant difference.
Recent RBA analysis of FinAccess data found that only 38.9 per cent of active contributors believed they were saving enough for retirement. Only 32.2 per cent of pensioners reported that their retirement income met their needs.
The lesson is not that pension arrangements have no value. Rather, teachers should not assume that retirement security will happen automatically.
Where possible, they should consider suitable investments and additional sources of income, while being careful about high-interest or unnecessary debt. Financial decisions should be based on reliable information and professional advice where necessary.
A comfortable retirement is not measured by money alone.
Health can determine how much freedom and independence an individual enjoys in later life. A teacher who spends decades working without paying attention to health may discover that retirement comes with medical challenges that consume the resources saved over the years.
Taking care of one’s health should therefore be part of retirement preparation.
So should relationships.
For many teachers, school becomes almost the entire world. The timetable determines the day, colleagues become close companions and the classroom provides a strong sense of purpose. When employment ends, that structure suddenly changes.
Teachers should therefore cultivate meaningful relationships, interests, faith and activities outside their professional roles. Retirement should not be a period of isolation or loss of identity. It should be another stage of life with its own purpose.
Do not live for appearances
There is also a financial lesson worth confronting.
Teachers, like everyone else, can feel pressure to demonstrate success through expensive lifestyles, ceremonies, property, vehicles and constant financial support to relatives. While generosity and responsibility are admirable, they should be balanced with personal financial security.
It is possible to educate children, support family and still make provision for the future.
It is possible to serve others without becoming financially vulnerable.
And it is possible to live modestly today in order to enjoy greater independence tomorrow.
The objective is not to accumulate wealth for its own sake. It is to reach old age with dignity, reasonable financial security, good health and peace of mind.
Kenya needs teachers who are committed to their work. The profession carries enormous responsibility because every generation passes through the hands of teachers.
But service should not mean self-neglect.
Teachers should work diligently, uphold professional values and give learners their best. At the same time, they should remember that their own lives continue beyond the classroom.
The final school bell will eventually ring for every teacher.
A successor will take over the classroom. Learners will move to other classes. The monthly salary will eventually stop. Life, however, will continue.
The question is whether the teacher will have prepared for that next chapter.
Retirement should therefore not be treated as an event that begins when one receives a retirement notice. It is a process that begins with the decisions made during one’s working years.
Save while you earn. Protect your health while you are strong. Build relationships while you are active. Prepare while you still have time.
Teachers spend their careers preparing young people for the future.
They should also prepare themselves for theirs.
READ ALSO: Two university students charged over alleged child sexual abuse material
The shade enjoyed in retirement is often determined by the tree planted during one’s working years.
Plant yours today.
By Astiba Kebong’o
Email: jackiekebongo@gmail.com
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