Can we afford to retire ?



Chasing the daylight in the twilight years .

 Before we can retire . we have to be absolute sure that we can live a comfortable life. Inflation and  the cost of living is rapidly eating into our savings and the value of money is depreciating. Another factor is that our medical health expenses will rise sharply if in the event of  our poor health.

For the working class, many countries have increased their retirement age. Recently, Malaysia have increase retirement age to 60 but other countries like USA, France, China , Japan and Hong Kong ,etc have increase it to 65 or more. The various countries have acknowledged that they will not been able to support an increasing aging population especially in providing medical benefits.

In Malaysia, it is tougher for the future generation to save enough for their retirement benefits when their pay scale is not increasing fast enough. While Malaysian Companies have to compete internationally, the salary and wages have to remain low unless the companies have to go for high end products and shift their reliance on labor intensive and low tech products for survival. If the base do not change, the salary level remained the same while inflation and cost of living continue to creep upwards.

For those people who have been working for a long period  of time, we can notice that there are not much changes to the salary level.  A graduate earn RM1.500 per month 20 years ago and now a graduate earn RM2,300 per month on their first day at work. Based on an average annual inflation of 3%  and compound the impact , it would easily be more than a 100% cost up in our cost of living. How could they manage if their earnings falls behind their cost of living?  Their earnings will buy less things or their purchasing power have fallen.

Apart from  the cost of living factor, the property prices have been spiralling to absurd level with the price increasing 10 to 20 % per year. A terrace house  especially Penang  cost more than RM1 million while Condo of 2000 square feet cost more than RM500,000 in an average location and more than RM700.000 in a high end area and their monthly maintenance is about RM500 per month. For the low cost flats and apartments, it is not within the entitlement of the middle class workers or salary man. Furthermore, the price of property is also fast catching up in the main land.

This is a pressing problem faced by the new and old  generations of  the working class . For the old people, they have to work longer years to make their ends meet while the younger generation,who are still young and mobile, they will migrate or look for work in fast developing  neighbouring countries and to earn US$ and remit back to save for their retirement or they have the option to select the countries of their choice to live.

Looking at the scenario, things are not moving as fast as it should be and this brain drain or mobility of the  young and able workforce will shift in the name of survival. This is inevitable as the choice is limited for the working class.

We should be behave like an ostrich and pull our head in the sand while the changes in the working environment or the condition of living is changing rapidly. This is finding trouble for ourselves.  For the young, they have to think hard and face the problem while the old have to keep themselves healthy and prepare for long working years.

The world is changing and be part of the change.

Namaste.



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