What’s your retirement number??

Ideally, I’d like to be able to retire…..now. Hehehe.

Sometimes I wonder why people who are obviously rich still toil away trying to make more money. Is it for the benefit of their fourth & fifth generation? Is it pride? I guess will never know.

Given the choice, I will call it a day the moment I could fend for myself till the end, with modest budget for a living funeral (don’t want to be the star of a party where I’m already dead). That’s why I’ll never be rich :P

Accumulating wealth for fourth, fifth and sixth generation? What a noble purpose right, but the sad reality is that many of us are not even certain if we could pay our bills for 10 short years after retirement.

You think you have insurance in the form of EPF? That fund is designed with you, dead at 65, in mind. And even then you are expected to live a healthy, pink life with no vacations, no beers, no Astro, no medical bills, no golf, no mid-life crisis vehicles and no state of the art toys for grandchildren (or yourself).

Seriously, you should have backup plans other than EPF.

According to Prudential Retire-Meter 2009, an online survey conducted with respondents aged 30-40:

1. 65% think not having enough money to get by is a key retirement concern.
2. 91% have no idea or are not sure how much is needed for retirement.
3. 82% are unsure or don’t know if they are saving enough
4. 56% might have to work after retirement in order to provide income
5. 57% would save even more now if they realised they might run out of money at retirement
6. 50% believe the actual amount needed for retirement is higher than their current estimates.

Just look at result number 2, 3, & 6. These people are genuinely clueless! As for me, all I know is that I need truck loads of money. Maybe six or seven trucks filled with RM50 notes.

Ok on a serious note, if you want to find out what entails for your retirement, check out http://whatsyournumber.com.my/. It’s a comprehensive website by Prudential, the retirement expert, for you to find out quite literally what’s your retirement number. Check mine out!

Errrr, I think it’s time to say FML. Where’s the nearest 4D Toto??

Well, one thing that is better than winning the lottery is winning the “What is Adam’s Number” challenge. Adam is a fictitious character with commitments like you and I. Problem is, because he is fictitious and therefore only exists in the sub-consciousness of mine and yours, hence Adam needs help. He needs help with finding out what is his retirement number. The challenge will run for 4 weeks from 2nd Dec 2009 and in each week, new clues will be revealed to help you to get closer to Adam’s number. All you need to do is use the Prudential Retirement Calculator above to calculate his retirement number using those clues.

The fastest and most accurate answers will win prizes in the form of a retirement plan, all paid for by Prudential:

1x Grand Prize of RM100,000 placed in a PRUretirement accumulator plan
8x consolation prizes of RM12,500 each placed in the same plan.

If you win, you will have a kick start in a retirement plan that will grow in value and provides guaranteed monthly payouts after 10 years, all without any cost to you! So go on now, find out Adam’s number already!

The PRUretirement accumulator plan is designed for people who don’t want to be burdened financially all in the name of saving up for retirement. The monthly premium starts from as low as RM100 and you can enjoy a guaranteed amount of monthly income during your retirement years. I suppose this would be great for people who work for themselves with no fixed income. The best thing about it, you can enjoy flexible withdrawals from the retirement savings throughout the policy period.

If you’re looking for something that yields much quicker though, you should check out the PRUretirement growth which guarantees your monthly income received during the payout stage to be higher than the single premium you initially invested and also a lump sum payout at the end of the payout stage. Best suited for folks are who into instant gratification, hehe.

By the way, both plans have Death & Total Permanent Disability (TPD) covers so that’s one thing less to worry about.

Personally, I think one should start executing plans for their retirement the moment they start their 1st job. It seems such a distant thing to do now but I believe for a lot of people, by the time they realise it’s already a little too late. I definitely have some plans in store for my retirement (although since discovering my retirement number with the calculator, I’ve come to realise that my plans are hugely insufficient. FML), what about you?