Pensioners and prospective retirees have been advised to prepare a will ahead of retirement to keep their families together and be united.
A pension management consultant, Mr Wilson Ideva, who presented a paper entitled: “Life in retirement’’, advised them to always prepare a will ahead of their retirement to avoid crisis.
Ideva said it was not easy for retirees to adjust to new phase of life when faced with the reality of “suddenly waking up and not seeing yourself going to work as before.
“Thinking or making decision on where to stay, remaining at the place of retirement or relocating to place of birth or village or state capital are some of the decisions,’’ he said.
He said at retirement, one must take time off to debrief or refresh in order to be able to think right and avoid taking hasten decision.
Ideva, a former CEO of Premiums Pensions Ltd., advised prospective retirees to ensure they planned their retirement well ahead to avoid personal or family crisis.
He said one way to avoid such crisis was to write a will to avoid either internal family squabbles or extended family infiltration into immediate family.
According to him, writing a will does not in any way indicate that the person intends or is planning to die.
“A will is to ensure that your estate upon demised is shared the way you want it shared,’’ he said.
He however advised people who are scared of preparing a will, to share their property to beneficiaries when are still alive.
“But should inform them that ownership will be bestowed upon them at your final exit.
“By doing this, you will have a loving and united family with good bonding and a solid legacy left behind.
“However, for a Retirement Savings Account (RSA) holder, a will is recommended where you give comprehensive details of how your estate including your RSA balance is to be shared.
“This will save your family much delay when accessing your fund by avoiding going to court to obtain letter of administration with the attendant cost.
“Preparing a will could stop your extended family from taking over your sweat (estate) due to your exit,’’ he added.
The consultant also advised prospective retirees to learn to begin to think of how to take care of themselves at retirement, maintain relationship with colleagues, families and friends who share same lifestyle and common interest.
“Retirement is a period of rest when we should “slow” down from our normal course of activities which includes “slowing down” on financial obligations,’’ he said.
Earlier, NPC acting Director-General, Mrs Aisha Dahir-Umar said the workshop was to serve as an avenue to effectively sensitise intending retirees under the Contributory Pension Scheme (CPS).
The acting D-G was represented by Mrs Ekanem Aihomu, the Head, Benefits and Insurance at NPC.
Dahir-Umar said the workshop would also afford participants, being prospective retirees, the opportunity to discuss and address some of the challenges they might face when they entered retirement life under the CPS.
She said it was gratifying that the commission had been able to make pension administration transparent and seamless in accordance with one of the salient objectives of the Pension Reform Act (PRA 2014).
The programme was organised in Benin for prospective pensioners from Benin and Delta by the National Pension Commission (NPC) 2018 pre-retirement workshop.
No fewer than 600 prospective retirees from Edo and Delta attended the workshop. (NAN)