Resolutions for 2024

Every year, Christians and non-Christians make resolutions.

These resolutions are expected to guide us on what we want to accomplish in the coming year.

This has become a norm at every New Year Service.

 Christians and non-Christians put down their New Year resolutions and pray over them, and sometimes to the extent of fasting to ask God’s favor and guidance to achieve them.

The kind of attention we give to these resolutions as individuals proves how important they are to us.

As the year comes to an end and we welcome a new year, I want to draw your attention to a very important subject matter, often left on the back burner. Pensions!

Pension is such an important factor in life, but we tend to give it very little attention.

We begin to think about pension only when we are about to retire, by which time it may be too late to salvage anything for a comfatble retirement.

As we prepare to make our resolutions for 2024, I want to urge you, as a pension contributor, to consider the following as part of your resolution for 2024.  

Consider

• That every month I will check if my pension contributions have been paid.

This is to be sure that your employer has remitted the contributions to the pension administrator, and not wait years later when you have left the company.  

•  That, I will follow up with the pension scheme trustee and administrator, to ensure that they have credited the contributions to my account and invested same.  

In the principle of time value of money, if the contribution is not paid and invested on time, the contributor loses income in the form of investment returns. 

•  That, I will check my statement of account from SSNIT and Trustees (Tier 2 and 3) every quarter (four months) to ensure that there are no errors and gaps in my contribution statements.

Checking and correcting all errors early will help you avoid unnecessary tension and pressure when you are due for retirement.

Many people get frustrated in accessing their benefits, because the primary information on records with the pension providers may differ from what they are currently using.

Therefore, ensure that all records with your pension provider are up to date.

• That, I will ascertain the performance of my pension contributions with my service provider.

Oftentimes, we do not care how the service providers are investing the funds. 

Going forward, we should show interest and ask questions on how the funds are performing so as to put the trustees on their toes to get the best investment for you.

• That, I will make additional savings in the voluntary schemes (Tier 3) to enhance my pension benefits.

The Tier 1 and 2 schemes are not the only schemes available for us to contribute for a decent retirement; there are provident fund and personal pension schemes with tax incentives which we can take advantage of to increase our pension contribution for a better pension. 

­­Retirement will come whether we plan for it or not.

There is no turning back when you hit 60 years, and there is no plan B at the time that we are weak and inactive. 

The time is now to pay the necessary attention to our pension and retirement-related matters and bring them to the front burner.

It should be part of us from the first day of employment until we exit into retirement. 

To many of us, pension may be our only resort when we retire, so let's pay attention to it and get involved.
 
The writer is Assistant Manager Corporate Affairs,
National Pensions Regulatory Authority (NPRA),
E-mail: frank.anderson@npra.gov.gh