Our reading informs us retirement implies a stage when one has to leave work because the employee has reached the mandatory age of 65 or has served at least 15 years but has to wait until 60 to receive the benefits. In our case, we have reached 65 but has not paid 15 years of premium. The latter condition implies that although the employee has served 15 years, only 13 years worth of premiums have been paid thereby disallowing the worker to receive monthly pension.
The aforementioned scenario is one of the cruel situations an employee can experience because retirement is a fact of life and happens at a time when the capacity to be employed elsewhere is next to impossible or the worker does not have much zest to go on working.
Thus we dare advise this early to young workers to consider retirement as a decision such that long before reaching the mandatory age, you have made it your personal lookout to check your status as often and as clear as possible. Do not rely on your HR, take the initiative before you too will be in the same dilemma I unfortunately encountered.
Now, the only consolation I have is the simple lifestyle I adhere to and the lucky situation I am in: having very caring children who are also my friends, buddies and sponsors.
Retirement indeed is not just reaching the mandatory age; it is also a decision to: take care of one’s status years before it actually happens; savor every year of employment such that you do not take a year’s leave unless necessary for the benefits are affected; prepare what to do with the money should it be in your possession because when it finally comes its value has diminished so alternatives should already e part of your thought process; stay enthusiastic until retirement comes because temptations to leave one’s workplace becomes enticing when bullies and dilemmas come to one’s realm.
So there you go: live before you retire so that when you finally retire you can still live . . .