Retirement Planning and Socio-Economic Wellbeing of Retirees in Nigeria: A Study of University of Uyo Teaching Hospital, Uyo

Abstract

In every life situation, there must be a beginning and the end.  Any good start must have a good end and this must anchor on effective planning.  Management of life after retirement entails planning to accommodate a new life style when one withdraws from active service.  This study agrees that any worker who ignores retirement planning is taking a serious risk as the retiree must re-strategizes, adopt and implement new methods to ease the problems associated with post-retirement life.  Therefore, a worker must plan for exit immediately after getting employment. Irrespective of the fact that government has provided various schemes to cater for post-retirement years, retirement period has always been tension packed and thought provoking as many potential retirees are unprepared.  This could be attributed to poor planning, lack of funds, non-payment or irregular payment of pension and gratuity.  This study affirms that a palatable and fun filled post-retirement life demands effective planning, training and proper counseling, thereby recognizing that workers who fail to plan for their post-retirement life are planning to have unnecessary threat to their old age.  These threats includes: poor health condition, unhappiness, low self-esteem, redundancy and low socio-economic environment. Understanding that retirement is a time characterized by changes in the emotional, social, economical, health and nutritional aspects of life with either positive or negative effect are very essential.  Workers must therefore identify means of managing their post retirement life irrespective of harsh and unfriendly conditions to remain productive and healthy after active service. This study opined that government should embark on investment opportunities, training and skills acquisition, awareness campaign through seminars, workshop and public lectures in planning for retirement.