Retirement Expo is for everyone: Jaoji Koroi
Planning your retirement or have questions about retirement plans then head on down to the Retirement Expo at the Fiji National Provident Fund Downtown Boulevard.
The one week expo begins today from 9.00am – 4.30pm and ends on Friday.
It’s never too early to start planning.
More than 20,000 people over 55 years of age have no money saved in their Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF) accounts, statistics show.
Some 300,000 people – around 73 per cent – have balances below $10,000.
Low wages and frequent withdrawals have been blamed for the numbers.
This statistic has led the Financial Literacy Working Group of the National Financial Inclusion Taskforce to partner with the FNPF, the Reserve Bank of Fiji and the UN’s Pacific Financial Inclusion Programme (PFIP) to create an awareness campaign on the dire need to save for retirement.
At the expo, the public will be able to seek advice on retirement planning, find out how to start a business, obtain information on the various government grant schemes available and on financial products such as insurance, investments and loans that could help supplement FNPF savings.
FNPF is encouraging the public to visit the Expo to get information on retirement planning.
FNPF chief executive officer Jaoji Koroi said many Fijians are not planning ahead and preparing for a comfortable retirement and end up living below the poverty line. Mr Koroi said: “We are taking action to encourage our citizens to rethink their retirement.
“We want them to first understand that retirement is a certainty in life and whether they have enough saved to live comfortably after retirement.
“So creating awareness is the first step and then secondly helping our members to have a retirement plan–preferably as a long term goal. “We are also showing them various ways in which different financial products can help them prepare for retirement,” he said. An on-going challenge for the Fund is the low member balances specifically for those nearing retirement age.
“Our FNPF statistics are telling us, that the sooner we start planning for our retirement, the more time and options we have in achieving our long term retirement goals.
“If we leave it too late, then we will be forced to make drastic changes to our lives when we are retired,” he added.
An on-going challenge for the Fund is the low member balances specifically for those nearing retirement age.