Retirement may seem distant, but leaving preparation until the final years of employment carries lasting consequences. That was the message Ruthy Nyawasha, Retirement and Risk Management Officer for the Southern Africa-Indian Ocean Division (SID), put to employees during a two-week series of presentations on retirement preparedness from 12 to 23 October.
Nyawasha asked employees to treat retirement not as the end of employment but as a life stage requiring preparation of its own. People may spend some 20 years preparing for a career and another 30 to 40 years working, she said, yet give comparatively little thought to the 20 to 30 years they may spend retired.
“Retirement is not about choosing between working and doing nothing,” she said. “It is about choosing how you want to live, contribute and find fulfilment in the next chapter of your life.”
Her presentations stressed that planning extends well beyond money. Employees were asked to consider their future purpose, health, relationships, living arrangements, family responsibilities, social networks and income sources, and to live within their means. Retirement affects household income, caregiving, inheritance and dependants, she said, which is why family circumstances matter.
A recurring theme was personal responsibility. While the organisation contributes towards employees’ retirement benefits, Nyawasha said employees must assess whether those benefits will be enough and take further steps where they are not, considering diversified income and seeking financial guidance suited to their circumstances.
“Saving is not about how much money remains after spending,” she said. “It is about deciding how much to keep before you begin spending.”
Chief Financial Officer Hopekings Ngomba said the series underlined that retirement can arrive at any time, for reasons unrelated to age.
The Seventh-day Adventist Church has long provided a defined benefit retirement plan covering both retired employees and their dependants, a provision established in the Church’s early years and reflecting Ellen G. White’s counsel that provision be made for ministers and other workers no longer able to carry the work, and for those who depend on them.
Employees were also encouraged to have direct conversations with their families before retiring, about who will still depend on their income, where they will live, whether beneficiary and estate arrangements are current, and what their spouse and family expect.
“The employer contributes towards our retirement, but preparing for it is the employee’s responsibility,” said SIDMEDIA Chief Financial Officer Mavis Mweemba. “Start early. Your future depends on the choices you make today.”
Stewardship Director Mundia Liywalii said the sessions had renewed his own intentions. “A retirement well planned is a retirement well enjoyed,” he said.
