Discussion on retirement is unending basically for its importance to life and living. Retirement planning is not a choice but a must. If you plan well, you end well. If you fail to make hays while the sun is still shinning, you lose out.
I have taken it as priority visiting elderly men and women who had worked and retired and had been in retirement for twenty years and above. Will it be strange if I posit that it is possible to spend more years as a retiree on earth than in actual work? In simple expression, I have met men who worked for about thirty-six years, retired and had lived thirty-seven years thereafter. How have they survived? One thing they got right was children education. They did not only train their children well but ensured that the children all had left school and were already working before they retired. As they get older such that can’t even engage in any serious activities to generate any income anymore, the then well-trained children who are now well to do in the society come to the rescue. How?
At the birthday celebration of one of such few weeks back, the first child came out to pour emotions on their father. He emphatically stated that they were not out to deceive their father but to say who he has being to them. They realised that their father gave them the best of education not out of excess but had to deny himself for their sake. The father never knew these children saw or knew because they never even behaved so as kids. Today, whenever they remembered the sacrifice of their father for their own education, they are compelled to act and pay the father back handsomely. What will be your children’s testimonies about you when you are old?
I met a young lady who sponsored herself through university more or less. She got married in her two hundred levels and the husband took over the rest. According to her, her father was old at the time she was born so, she knew that her father had no income to support beyond certain levels but her mother was a successful trader who would rather prefer she goes to the market to sell with her to classrooms to study. When it was time for her to enrol for WAEC, her mother never did hence, she missed a year. Guess what? The mother’s business collapsed years back, the mother no longer has income. On the other hands, the little untrained girl is now out of university, married to a successful man and living well. What do you think the commitment to her mother should be? Of course, she seldom visits with gifts but rather grudgingly. Your children education is not a choice but a must if you ever wish to end well.
Think about it. Danfo drivers, touts, house maids are all uneducated children of some parents. If you failed to train your children, you are indirectly training rather unknowingly, security guards, cleaners and drivers for the educated children of some parents.
My assertion is predicated on the saying in my village that ‘houses that are built would soon become objects of selloff by children that were not built or properly trained.’ Therefore, children education and training should be top priorities. Ensuring the best of education, within the limit of your abilities for your kids is not an option, for if you fail to, you are only building and nurturing potential security guards, drivers and messengers in your kids.
To my mind, as you make plans to owning a personal home before or as you retire, take the time to consider your children education too so that you and your finances would find rest when the need becomes necessary at a later date. Did not the even holy books admonish that you train your child so as to give you rest? Why do you need to train your children?
Modern Trends
We live in the jet age where changes and activities take place at the speed of light; we live in a world that has now been reduced to a mere village because of technological interconnectivity whereby the
occurrences in a part of the world has direct implications on other countries regardless of distance all in a jiffy, a world where competition has got no regards for boundaries, tribes or creed. Hello, if you fail to position your children well ahead for the challenges of our times; you might just be preparing such kids for others to rule over. The definition of slavery in our world is changing as I see future servants appearing in neat jackets as against rags, I see the slaves of tomorrow in exotic cars and even l in highbrow areas of some sort. You know why? It is because global wealth is increasing at such a speed where the rich men of today, when compared with what will later be, would look like poor men. Listen, the next phase of global competition is a thing of the mind beyond today’s comprehension. Are your kids equipped? It is your responsibilities and should be part of your retirement plans.
Gone are the days when first degree was enough, the days are over when just one professional certificate can suffice; the days are coming and the times are here when multiple qualifications and experiences in varied fields of human endeavours would be the prerequisites for survival. Are your kids prepared? Why do you need to train your kids?
Your Kids Are Your Pride:
How proud are you with your current status considering your age? We live in a world where financial break-even age is far lower and keeps getting lower than what it used to be. Have you found that the limitations of yester years are the stepping stones of today? Can your kids be positioned to climb the Everest that you ever thought was impossible? Can they reach the heights you never imagined? Handle the kind of wealth you never can comprehend? I lost my father three months before I was born but that isn’t the issue here; I recall a scenario in our secondary school days, we were with my friend’s parent for dinner and on the table, sat one of their family friends who hadn’t been around for awhile. Hmmn, I was jealous as my friend’s dad proudly introduced and described my friend to his friend as ‘taller, more handsome and much more intelligent than me’ he said as he- my friend’s dad compares himself to his son. I make bold to say that your retirement is not secured until your kids become your pride. Take a cue from Otunba Subomi Balogun of FCMB; name the whiz kids of Nigeria’s financial market today and you would definitely name at least two of his kids; that’s a proud father, a man that can retire and indeed relax. Aig and Herbert of Access bank took over the management of the bank in their thirties; can you place yourself in the stead of their parents? Aig and Herbert’s parents might not need their money for anything but their joy is completed and their heads swell when they see their well trained children flying high beyond mediocrity. What are you doing? Abedi Pele was Ghanaian national team captain in his days; this man has successfully replaced himself with two of his kids in the country’s national team. That is how to retire and just like I earlier said, Otunba Subomi Balogun is one Nigerian that knows how to do business and retire as he sits back now and see his son manages the financial empire he built. Go and speak with Ladi Balogun and you will find that he was prepared and was adequately trained to handle his office as the CEO at FCMB. Need I tell you more?
Continued Life:
Your kids would ever remain your burden till death until you train them to become a phenomenon in our days. Your kids are your continued life, an extension of whom you were and the possibilities of who you can be. Would you have loved to be an athlete but weren’t for factors beyond you? Your kids are the other opportunities to see yourself on the field, running. History has it that the father of John Kennedy trained and financed him to be the president of America that he- the father never was and he succeeded at it and you know what? John never disappointed destiny when he eventually became the president because he became the President by design and not by chance. Please note that it takes conscious efforts to achieve; it takes the motivation coupled with a good environment to make success. Your means and opportunities at retirement may dwindle; make sure that you devote lots of attentions to seeing to your kids training now. Let’s consider how to achieve some of these goals within a short period of time.
Identities Of Improperly Trained Kids:
The first identity of improperly trained kids is pride and show off; they litter Nigerian higher education campuses wanting to be noticed as the sons or daughters of so and so by their living style which is characterised by frivolous spending and wanton waste. I see this more among kids with politician fathers and that’s why all they have are just what the parents stole hence, in the Nigerian business and even political circle, I might be wrong but aside Femi Otedola, name one child of a frontline politician leading a revolution in anything irrespective of their education and whatever. This is a shame of a nation.
The rest of this discussion continues next week. Please feel free to reach me via obastocks@gmail.com. God bless you.