I see many articles on retirement planning and all, I start to think how can one really plan for retirement in today's volatile business environment.
If you flip today's Straits Times, you can read that Eastman Kodak, has filed for bankruptcy yesterday. This is one of America's most notable companies and has a long history. Years of poor performances has led to them laying off 47,000 employees and closing 13 factories. I remembered making a sales call at them back in 2008 at their Singapore office in lorong chuan. I am not sure if they are still around now, but this is a really a reality check that even if you plan for retirement, things which are beyond your control happens like companies falling into financial difficulties and end up folding.
The fact is that we depend on our day job for income, this is needed for expenses, payments and retirement planning. I am not sure how many Singaporeans can have a 100KSGD passive income per year. But to be pragmatic, we need our day job to keep us going before we retire. And for this, we need to work till we are in our fifties at least (estimated unless you are a super high flier you can retire in your forties).
I had survived 2 retrenchments in the past and had seen many of my colleagues being laid off. It is a part of life in Singapore, we cannot escape this, but we must find a way to deal with it, manage it and survive.
How to survive?
After job hopping in my earlier years, I can realised that working in Multinational companies (MNC) that has consistent profit, good cash flow, low debt and conservative in nature is a good choice. Usually, these companies will survive during downturns and can stay long. Some MNCs has subsidiary companies, when things go wrong, they might still provide you a back-up plan to find a post there. If your company has some key products to sell, there is a chance where if it collapse, there might be some competitors that will be willing to buy over the firm, so if your skills are needed, you will end up with the new company. (but usually with a pay cut). Lastly for worst case scenario, most MNCs offer retrenchment benefits, if you happen to stay long enough, you will get a substantial amount of severance package. My experience with local companies have been brief thus I cannot comment much.
Staying in a job till you are fifties?
I look around my office, I hardly see people in their fifties working, apart from the Directors, VPs and some managers. I started to wonder why, and I can come to a possible conclusion that only people in their fifties can survive in a company if they are in the top 5% of a organisation. Or have many of them already retired?
If I am in my fifties, can I continue to work at my current job? The answer is no. My personal take is that if we want to continue working till we are in our fifties, we need to move up, or we have to move out. The only way is to ensure your career progression is in place.
So if we work the right company, excel in our job, show value, move up the ladder, work till we have save or invest a sufficient amount, probably we can retire?
My top ways to 10 to survive a job till you are in your fifties and plan for retirement:
1. Join the right company
2. Excel in your role
3. Show value in your job
4. Move up the ladder
5. Be in top 5% in the organisation
6. Ensure company has retrenchment or retirement benefits
7. Save and invest to beat inflation and plan for retirement
8. Eliminate debts
9. Have passive income
10. Buy toto and win ( I mean work for Singapore Pools, they will never go bust )
If you flip today's Straits Times, you can read that Eastman Kodak, has filed for bankruptcy yesterday. This is one of America's most notable companies and has a long history. Years of poor performances has led to them laying off 47,000 employees and closing 13 factories. I remembered making a sales call at them back in 2008 at their Singapore office in lorong chuan. I am not sure if they are still around now, but this is a really a reality check that even if you plan for retirement, things which are beyond your control happens like companies falling into financial difficulties and end up folding.
The fact is that we depend on our day job for income, this is needed for expenses, payments and retirement planning. I am not sure how many Singaporeans can have a 100KSGD passive income per year. But to be pragmatic, we need our day job to keep us going before we retire. And for this, we need to work till we are in our fifties at least (estimated unless you are a super high flier you can retire in your forties).
I had survived 2 retrenchments in the past and had seen many of my colleagues being laid off. It is a part of life in Singapore, we cannot escape this, but we must find a way to deal with it, manage it and survive.
How to survive?
After job hopping in my earlier years, I can realised that working in Multinational companies (MNC) that has consistent profit, good cash flow, low debt and conservative in nature is a good choice. Usually, these companies will survive during downturns and can stay long. Some MNCs has subsidiary companies, when things go wrong, they might still provide you a back-up plan to find a post there. If your company has some key products to sell, there is a chance where if it collapse, there might be some competitors that will be willing to buy over the firm, so if your skills are needed, you will end up with the new company. (but usually with a pay cut). Lastly for worst case scenario, most MNCs offer retrenchment benefits, if you happen to stay long enough, you will get a substantial amount of severance package. My experience with local companies have been brief thus I cannot comment much.
Staying in a job till you are fifties?
I look around my office, I hardly see people in their fifties working, apart from the Directors, VPs and some managers. I started to wonder why, and I can come to a possible conclusion that only people in their fifties can survive in a company if they are in the top 5% of a organisation. Or have many of them already retired?
If I am in my fifties, can I continue to work at my current job? The answer is no. My personal take is that if we want to continue working till we are in our fifties, we need to move up, or we have to move out. The only way is to ensure your career progression is in place.
So if we work the right company, excel in our job, show value, move up the ladder, work till we have save or invest a sufficient amount, probably we can retire?
My top ways to 10 to survive a job till you are in your fifties and plan for retirement:
1. Join the right company
2. Excel in your role
3. Show value in your job
4. Move up the ladder
5. Be in top 5% in the organisation
6. Ensure company has retrenchment or retirement benefits
7. Save and invest to beat inflation and plan for retirement
8. Eliminate debts
9. Have passive income
10. Buy toto and win ( I mean work for Singapore Pools, they will never go bust )
Those in mgmt poistions will chop the bottom to improve bottom line and indirectly save their jobs.
ReplyDeleteExcellent tips. It is important to prepare a retirement plan now. The last thing your retirement should be is stressful for you or your family.
ReplyDelete