Have you ever thought about the aging population and some challenges they face due to a lack of retirement security? Today, I would like to inform you about the aging population and retirement security as a pressing issue because it is already affecting society. There is a continuous increase in the aging population number, without any retirement security hence a need for a collective effort to ensure stability and dignity for the elderly population in the future.
The rise in world’s aging population is expected to have some socioeconomic and political implications by 2050. Thus, by 2050, the number of people aged sixty-five and above is expected to reach over one billion (Sasiwongsaroj & Burasit, 2019). This will have more implications after 2050 as the number will continue to grow. Retirement security is one of the major challenges posed by this increasing number of the world’s aging population. Most people are not informed about saving more than enough for retirement, leading to inadequate funds for self-support in their later years (Kwan & Walsh, 2018). As a result, one may end up working for many years, yet at retirement, they still have financial burdens.
I have an uncle, Mr. John Draws, who worked hard his entire life but ended up retiring uncomfortably due to a poor retirement plan, including a lack of savings. He is in his eighties but struggling to meet his basic needs, forcing him to rely on his children and grandchildren for financial support. This is one of the stories common among the aging population that had poor retirement security brought about by a lack of saving for the future. One major contributing factor to this challenge is the decline in traditional pension plans and the burden of retirement savings being treated as personal responsibility (Ali & Frank, 2019). Therefore, this poses a challenge, especially to young youths, as they are also trying to shape their early lives in their early thirties to late forties (Ali & Frank, 2019). This is where the problem begins; hence a need to be informed in advance about the importance of the retirement security plan.
This issue can be addressed by increasing our retirement savings, especially through participating in several initiatives and programs. For example, individuals can take a step to participate in the employers’ 401(k) plan as a step to increase their retirement savings (Cardella et al., 2021). This is done by considering saving a portion of your monthly income until retirement age, whereby you can use the savings for self-support. Retirement security is an issue that needs to be addressed as early as now as we are likely to feel its consequences in our aging years and also adversely impact our future generations due to financial burdens and over-dependence on them. Without the retirement plan, we have inadequate retirement savings, increasing burdens on several government programs like social security, including pensions that otherwise could have been used to cater to other needs. It may also lead to an increase in poverty among the elderly, and you included if you do not have a retirement security plan.
In conclusion, the aging population can only sustain their living standards after retirement if they have enough pre-retirement savings. The elderly population records a high disparity in their sources of income hence a need for a good retirement security plan in an aging society to avoid future adverse impacts. Let us all have a good plan for our future, where aging will not be a burden but rather a celebration of the achievements of dreams with confidence. Thank you for your time.
References
Ali, S. B., & Frank, H. A. (2019). Retirement planning decisions: Choices between defined benefit and defined contribution plans. The American Review of Public Administration, 49(2), 218-235.
Cardella, E., Kalenkoski, C. M., & Parent, M. (2021). Less is not more: 401 (k) plan information and retirement planning choices. Journal of Pension Economics & Finance, 1-21.
Kwan, C., & Walsh, C. A. (2018). Old age poverty: A scoping review of the literature. Cogent Social Sciences, 4(1), 1478479.
Sasiwongsaroj, K., & Burasit, Y. (2019). Features and Challenges of an Ageing Population in Thailand. ISEAS Publishing, an established academic press, has issued more than two thousand books and journals. It is the largest scholarly publisher of research about Southeast Asia from within the region. ISEAS Publishing works with many other academic and trade publishers and distributors to disseminate important research and analyses from and about Southeast Asia to the rest of the world. 357.