Retirement planning in Nigeria is something a lot of people believe you put off until much later in life. We’re here to dispel this myth and break down what it means to plan for retirement. Here is everything this article covers:
- What is retirement?
- What is retirement planning?
- When is the best time to begin planning for retirement?
- What are the benefits of planning for retirement early?
- How can you begin planning for retirement in Nigeria?
Imagine you have your final year exam to sit for. It’s the last hurdle for you to overcome before you finally secure your certificate and graduate from your university. You have a choice to leave preparation until the very last moment and then end up being stressed and maybe even failing the exam.
Yet you’ll wisely choose to begin preparing for it at least a few months in advance in order to have a great result and pass with flying colours. You understand the importance of this big exam, so you prepare.
Yet, when it comes to retirement, we decide only to begin planning for it when it’s almost upon us. Just like our final year exams, we should begin making plans well in advance so we can obtain the best results.
What is Retirement?
Before we dig into retirement planning, let us first understand what retirement means. Retirement generally refers to the duration of a person’s life after they have left the workforce. This means a person who has retired has withdrawn from any type of labour and generally engages in activities for leisure purposes.
Usually, retirement begins when a person reaches a particular age. In Nigeria, this is 60 years old. If we take this definition a bit further, retirement can be defined as a state of financial freedom where you have control over your time.
The reason many people work is to satisfy various needs, particularly financial needs. Hence, even when they don’t feel like they still work. That is, they do not have full control of their time. In summary, true retirement is not tied to any age but to a state of financial freedom.
What is Retirement Planning?
Retirement planning is the task of identifying your retirement income goals and outlining the steps required to achieve them.
The steps for achieving your retirement income goals also include creating savings and investment plans that help you accomplish them. After these steps are clearly defined, you can begin to make adequate actions that will lead to you achieving these goals.
When is the best time to begin planning for retirement?
There’s no better time than right now! You might think it’s too early and that perhaps you have a few decades before you hit the Nigerian retirement age. But the truth is, you can never be too young for planning for life after you’ve retired.
Long-term planning is great to achieve those goals you have outlined. There’s much more time to put those plans into action and achieve your goals when you start early. We promise, that your 65-year-old self will thank you for planning ahead.
What are the benefits of planning for retirement early?
Many people wonder why they should begin planning for retirement now. Here are a few benefits:
- Planning for retirement early ensures that you’ll be able to fully enjoy your retirement years.
- It’s a great way to take advantage of compounding interest.
- Achieving your retirement goals well in advance means you can choose to retire a little earlier than the official retirement age in Nigeria (65 years).
How can you begin planning for retirement in Nigeria?
You finally understand all about retirement planning now you’re excited to get started on it. We’ve put together a few steps to help you get started.
- Outline your needs: The first step is to outline your needs for retirement. These can fall under a number of categories like accommodation, healthcare and even feeding.
- Estimate how much it will cost to cover these needs: You’ve got a list of needs for retirement now you can estimate how much you need to cover your retirement needs. When drafting these needs, also make a point to factor in inflation.
- Make a feasible plan to cover these retirement needs: You now have a concrete idea of how much you may need monthly during retirement. Begin to plan how you can save and invest so that you can enjoy the benefits.
- Open a pension account for your retirement fund: A great way to plan for your retirement is to have a pension account which is an account solely made to house your retirement funds. Some contracts of employment entitle you to have funds deducted from your salary. You should also consider finding out whether having a Pension Fund Administrator is something your employment covers.
Retirement is definitely something you should begin to plan for as early as you can. With Cowrywise, you can begin saving and investing ahead of retirement seamlessly.
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Good evening, my question to you please if open an account today in naira his the money will converted to us dollar to running the account
If you are investing in a dollar fund, yes.
Can the funds be traded rather than investing to increase gains?
What if your money is in cash(Dollar)
Please I already have an account, will I have to re-open another account before investing in dollar?
Can I invest in the next eurobond using dollar (cash)? If yes, will my returns be in dollar as well or it will be converted to naira??
Hi Helen, you can invest in Eurobonds at any time. However, we only accept naira deposits at the moment. Also, your returns accrue in dollars.
So which is best to earn the second way or first?
Focusing on returns will be better
Hi, what is the minimum amount you can invest with.
Hi there. You can invest the naira equivalent of $100
Hi Ope, does that mean I’d need two accnts to operate the fund, I.e a naira account to put in the naira funds which is d only 1 u currently accept, then a domicilary account where my returns would accrue in?
I want to invest in your Eurobond.
I have re-installed your new app an still can get the eurobond plan?
How much is the minimum equivalent dollar for a start?
Can i get an overview of all the benefits and rules of this plan?
***and still can’t get the eurobond plan?
Do you allow people from south Africa
Hello, my question is if I invest in the dollar mutual fund how do I get the returns?
Will it be in naira or in dollars and will I have to open another account for the returns to go into
Can’t you go down to 50USD
Hello Nsikak, currently the minimum is $100 but we we are looking at a possible review in the future.
The new minimum is $10
Hello will I have to re-open another account before investing in dollar?
luckysolomon444@gmail.com
I have invested in dollars mutual fund… It means I Will get my return in one year
Hi Jonathan,
How is the return/interest on your investment from November 27,2020 so far??
No you don’t have to, just click on invest in mutual funds, you will see the options there. You can navigate and alot with your account.
If I invest in the euro bond, it is expected that my return accrues in dollar, right? And how do I withdraw the dollar? Do I need to convert it to naira, if yes, how can I convert my dollar to naira on the app. Lastly, how long do I need to leave my investment on cowrywise? Or can I withdraw anytime?
Am interested. Let’s say I put in a $1,000. What the ROI…within 1 year.
Your interest is 6.6% then calculate it for one year, I think so
Hello,
As a Nigerian, can I save my money in dollars even though I don’t want to invest in a dollar mutual fund?
Pretty soon, yes!
If l invest in naira am l going to get it back in dollar
You’d be getting it at the prevalent naira exchange value of the dollar.
Am going to save in naira am going to get it back in dollar
You’d be getting it at the prevalent naira exchange value of the dollar.
Hello ope pls how much is $10 in naira
How long does the investment last.i.e when can I get my returns
I will give BIG CONGRATULATIONS to the entire Management of COWRYWISE for this wonderful opportunity to be a good investor with simple and sound education on various investment opportunities an investment can be done with little and grow within a short period period of time
God bless
Thank you so much ?
Now if I put 100$ in one year what is my return
If my return will be in the current dollar rate at the time, when i am investing and when am getting my returns, what exchange rate do u use? Black market rates or the bank rates – please verify in each case. Thanks.
Hello please if you can create the one we can start with the minimum $1 we’ll be happy ??
I just started investing in eurobond funds on cowrywise. So far so good, it has been a good platform to invest money and earn back. Kudos to the team behind this platform