The assurance of the basic needs of life is fundamental to every person’s existence, and this must be assured from the day of birth to old age. It is good practice to start looking into the future to see how your pension will turn out from the very moment you start working. As someone will say, “time no dey (in pidgin English)”.
In one workshop I attended, it was drummed home that thinking of your pension in the early days of your working life helps to save and prepare for some of the eventualities that are associated with pension life. It is normal for you to start thinking of all the wild expectations to prepare for one’s pension. From ensuring you save from the little you make to the possibility of adding multiple streams to earn more and save more, you will be motivated to think that your pension will be smooth.
I must admit that saving for the future and belonging to groups back at the university exposed me to certain financial principles that enabled me to get a mutual fund account to make some investments. I also understood the principle, that investments yield their desired fruits when allowed to go through the long haul of the fluctuation market, as seen in any forex trading. I got educated very early before I started working, that one should think of allowing their investment for a minimum of three years before any withdrawal. In fact, it was this basic principle that many did not understand and started panic withdrawals during the financial crises Ghanaians faced recently. Such withdrawals until your investment matures attract penalties, and no wonder people see the negative performance of their investments.
At times, it is not the fault of investors but the fear of the unknown. Considering the global financial meltdown and the instability witnessed, people may be justified in thinking that keeping their hard-earned currency under their pillows may be better than entrusting it to the care of financial institutions that are into business than for the welfare of their investors.
Adding to that, if you do not have the financial wisdom, patience, understanding, and endurance, coupled with the fact that currencies in certain jurisdictions are not stable and keep depreciating, one may consider spending their hard earned cash as soon as they are made.
I keep looking periodically at the few ones I have done and I know I am not alone. At times, when you see the value of the investments, you wonder why you cannot surrender if the policy allows, rather than going hungry. As if the policy developers knew, had they allowed every investor to withdraw their investment as willed, then many would choose to spend as they accrue. After all, what is the sense of keeping a big stick around you and allowing a dog to bite you?
It is not strange for traditional investment connoisseurs to suggest that instead of sitting as a king hungry on top of a donkey, it is better to kill the donkey, eat, and walk for the rest of the journey.
Don’t you agree?