Saving for Retirement

Do you have a retirement plan? Do you know how much income you need after retiring? And do you know how to ensure you have that income by then? Having financial security for your retirement takes effort. Here are some tips on how to get you started to save for your retirement.

1.

Start saving
If you're already saving, keep that habit going. The sooner you start saving, the more time your money has to grow. If you haven't started, start small and slowly work to increase the amount you save each month. Most importantly, don't touch these savings until you retire! As a CIMB Prime Plan customer, you have an option to open a Prime Savings Account, which offers a bonus interest of up to 1.00% on top of the basic interest when you save as little as RM200 regularly.

2.

Find out what your retirement financial needs may be
The general rule of thumb is that you'll need 70%-80% of your latest income to maintain your current standard of living after retirement. You should also expect that your cost of living may rise in the future eg, increase in healthcare expenses and inflation. Once you've figured out how much this is, use a plan like CIMB's EasyLife Retirement Plan to help you meet your goal and earn more Bonus Points.

3.

When do you plan to retire?
The earlier you plan to retire, the more you'll have to save now. The later you want to retire, the more time you'll have to save. Set a target retirement age to determine how much yearly savings is needed during retirement. This is when you'll discover if you do or don't need to increase your savings.

4.

Consider investing
Savings alone would generally not be enough to cover your retirement fund. So start learning about the investment options available. For Bumiputeras, the ASB is often recommended as an investment vehicle. Also consider CIMB's Max InvestSave that combines savings with investments. You can start with as low as RM50 and top it up monthly using a Standing Instruction for convenience. And as an added extra, CIMB Prime Plan customers also receive 0.1 Bonus Point for every RM1 invested monthly.

5.

Diversify your investments
The recent financial crisis taught us that having all your eggs in one basket can be very risky. So spread out your investment portfolio across products like investment-linked insurance plans, Fixed Deposits (FD), unit trusts, stocks or property. The mix of investments will depend on your age, risk tolerance and income level.

6.

Review your retirement plan periodically
Your lifestyle and priorities change as you get older, so review your plans to see if it needs to be revised. Perhaps you'll want to put your salary raise into an additional investment rather than a bigger car. Lifestyle changes require you to relook at your retirement plan and adapt accordingly.

Fifteen Days

At the point of me writing this, Chinese New Year (CNY) isn't quite over yet. After all, it's supposed to be celebrated over a period of fifteen days. I know what you're asking: What sort of a new year is this? Well, only the best one...or at least to me, my FAVORITE one, regardless of our faith, nationality and religion.

I was invited by TV2 on CNY's Eve to talk about the CNY spirit and to perform one of my songs on-air. I hesitated about taking up the slot because the request came at the last minute. Okay, I have to admit that it was because I shuddered at the thought of my father's angry face flashing before me. My father, like most Chinese parents, is very strict about us (his children, even if we're really adults now) being home for the CNY Eve reunion dinner. Missing out or being late for that dinner would be as good as suicide. Thankfully, the slot with TV2 was scheduled for the morning, so I hopped on board. I performed my self-written mandarin song on the piano and the response from the audience as well as the TV crew were better than I had expected - immediately after, TV3 invited me to do another interview and performance with them, this time, on the 2nd day of CNY.

It was great news, but, truth be told, my first reaction was, "NooOoooOO!!!" I mean, which Chinese (or even half-bred Chinese) would actually like to work during CNY? Nevertheless, I realised I should make the appearance because TV3 has been very supportive of my music (they've been airing our music videos quite frequently) and also for the sake of my other bandmates who have worked so hard to get constant airplay and exposure -, it'd be a waste to turn down this given opportunity. After all, it'd only take about half an hour, for crying out loud! So, kicking myself in the butt, I agreed.

When I got there, I found out that I had to do a different song at the very last minute due to some technical issues. Instead of sticking to the familiar songs I've done so many times, I decided to perform a song I have not even rehearse beforehand - a song I've written, of which the lyrics I couldn't even recall then! So I struggled to sort this problem out but in less than 10 minutes, I was made to seat on stage, and the producer had already started counting down to my air time! Eek! I went on to perform live nationwide just like that - underprepared. Unexpectedly, that very performance generated additional fans following me on Facebook.

Looks like my new year's already off to an incredibly good start...yippie!

But rabbit year and what not, how can any CNY not start well with the good ol' fifteen days of celebration? Fifteen days of food, family, food, family and food? Do forgive your Chinese friends if they come back to work behaving like zombies after this season. It's just a serious hangover from all the merry-making we go through annually.

Gong Xi Fa Cai!

Janice is the Songwriter and Vocalist of the band, Janice and the Supertank.