‘Preparation ensures stress-free retirement’

The secret of stress-free retirement is the ability of workers to prepare for their lives after retirement being mindful that income will drop.

Speaking to Daily Trust on life in retirement, a retiree, Ibrahim Umar, said he has been enjoying his retirement since he left the civil service because retirement did not catch him unawares.

Umar, a member of the Nigeria Union of Pensioners in Kano State, said he has been retired for 15 years now from active service.

“I worked for 35 years and retired with a pension that can barely feed me for a week. I am not alone in this. Go and ask around and find out yourself. Many pensioners that I know cannot feed on their pension for one week,” he said.

The retiree, who declined to reveal his pension, said his meagre pension has not deterred him from enjoying his life in retirement because he made adequate preparations.

“I worked in Kano and Kaduna. I built two houses apart from my main house in Kano. Both of them are rented out now; so I collect rent,” he said.

He said he invested in property while in service and ventured into business immediately after retirement.

“I still had my energy. What would I be doing at home? I started business and it is sustaining me,” he said.

Umar buys grains from farmers during harvest season when they are cheap, stores and sells when the price goes up, usually close to planting season.

Retirement Quote

“Every day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and more, that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it will be welcome.” George Washington