The Meaningful Retirement Guide: A Time-Tested Path to Financial and Social Relevance for Every Worker.

2021 Paul Udofot. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse 03/08/2021

ISBN: 978-1-6655-1886-4 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6655-1885-7 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021904627

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Foreword

The Meaningful Retirement Guide is coming at a time when the world challenges are forcing many into early retirement.

The author has employed the evidences of history and the testimonies of living personalities to show that retirement should not be an end to human life activities and achievements. He has shown cases of many who had made great contributions during their retirements.

The book contains information on options that are available to retirees that can make their lives meaningful. The business options that a retiree can consider, with guides on how to develop a Business Plan, is well presented. The possibility of Consultancy engagements and Agricultural enterprises that are open to retirees are also examined.

Common challenges that confront retirees such as Stress, Health Matters, Finance and Social Pressures are fully discussed with possible guides that can make the retirees to successfully manage them.

The inclusion of personal life stories of some retirees will surely help many to look forward to their retirement with optimism. I commend this book to all who want to fulfill their destinies and make new adventures in retirement. Indeed, the retirement years can be converted to years of fulfillment and greater glories.

Olusola Oyewole, PhD

(Professor of Food Microbiology and Biotechnology)

Former Vice-Chancellor, Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria, and Former President, Association of African Universities, Accra, Ghana

Acknowledgments

I am greatly indebted to individuals and institutions whose sources of information were used in the course of writing this book. Paul Uduk provided the initial motivation for the writing through his Book Writing Clinic, Aniekan Mbah and Enoh Nelson showed an uncommon interest towards its completion. Afahaide was helpful in the cover design and the editors were excellent in their job which they did cheerfully. I am eternally grateful.

For my late father,

Sir Malachy O. Udofot, KSJ, who opened my eyes to the treasure in retirement, I love you and owe so much to you.

10% of Author royalty from the sales of this book will be donated to my Alma Mata, Holy Family College, Abak, through the Old Boys Association.

‘As to methods there may be a million and then some, but

principles are few. The man who grasps principles can successfully

select his own methods. The man who tries methods, ignoring

principles, is sure to have trouble’. Raph Waldo Emerson

CONTENTS

Introduction

Chapter 1 Understanding Retirement

Chapter 2 Proven Essentials in Retirement

Chapter 3 Generals in Retirement

Chapter 4 Time Management in Retirement

Chapter 5 The Business Option

Chapter 6 Independent Life as a Consultant

Chapter 7 Wouldn’t You Rather Farm!

Chapter 8 The Stress Factor

Chapter 9 Health Matters

Chapter 10 Personal Finance

Chapter 11 Personal Life Stories from the Heart

Chapter 12 Finishing Meaningfully Strong

References

Appendix

INTRODUCTION

A man who does not plan ahead will find

trouble at his door. Confucius

The stories as captured in the following scenarios are true.

Scenario 1: George, 53 years and Mary, 50, husband and wife respectively, were doing well as mortgage professionals in the United States until the financial crisis of the 2009. In the early days of the crisis, they felt secured from the turbulence of the crisis. Months later, they lost their jobs and were forced into retirement. They started depending on their savings for survival. Within a short period, their home plummeted by over fifty percent and their egg nest shrunk considerably. An advice from a Consultant further shrunk their fortunes. Unable to maintain their lifestyle in retirement and sensing a chaotic future life, they relocated to Las Terrenas in Dominican Republic, a global retirement destination.

Scenario 2: Saviour Maxwell was 26 years old in 1985 when he started work as an administrative officer in the government service. He had a brilliant career and never missed a promotion except once when he could not be evaluated because of an accident that kept him hospitalised for almost two years. In the year 2003, he lost his wife through a strange disease that defied all medical attention. He was saddled with the responsibility of becoming a single parent and raising three children. In 2010, he remarried and the new union is blessed with a child. Saviour’s wife works with a bank. In 2019, Saviour left the service in retirement in line with extant rules of the Service. He had expected a seamless transition into retirement. The gratuity which Saviour had expected to use in starting a new life in retirement has not been paid even after one year. The wife has been very generous and supportive. In the course of events, the wife was relieved of her bank appointment in a mass retrenchment exercise occasioned by the unstable global economy. Saviour feels betrayed by the entire system and blames his current situation on consequences of retirement.

Scenario 3: In the Japanese island of Shikoku, a retiree, Hayato Koki was saved an embarrassment by his son who showed up when he missed the pension payment in one of the designated months in the last quarter of 2018. The Japanese government pays its retirees six times a year on the 15th of even-numbered months. For a minor mistake of his, Koki could not make the payment schedule for the period. With no other source of income in retirement except the payment, life would have been unbearable for Koki during the period if the son had not intervened. Another retirement issue!

Scenario 4: For Patricia Michael, life has never been dull. Patricia has always been lucky both in school and at work. As an oil industry worker, she had the privilege of many foreign trips, and she lived well with her family. At retirement, the children were all grown up and working except for the baby of the house who was about finishing her Master’s degree programme in Civil Engineering. Pat was handsomely paid her severance benefits when she retired. But, she was duped of the entire amount by a group of fraudsters, who may have been trailing her for about a year before her work disengagement. The proposal they had presented to her looked genuine and seemed to have matched her dream life in retirement. She was so badly affected that, but for her investments in landed property, she would have been reduced to a beggarly level. She however had consolation in her children and husband who stood by her. Few years later, she got very sick and money was urgently needed to fly her overseas for a special medical attention in Israel. She could not make the trip as she died before one of the properties could be sold. In his funeral tribute to his wife, Pat’s husband attributed her death to retirement-related matters.

Samuel Emmanuel Chikodi (not real name) who had retired as a School Principal and having completed all retirement documentations, said thus in frustration: ‘I voluntarily retired from the Imo state civil service to pursue other interests about 12 years ago. After waiting endlessly for my pension and other accrued benefits to no avail, I decided to go back to my first love, Civil Engineering. But for that stroke of luck, only God knows how I would have been able to survive with my family’.

On November 3, 2020, The Punch newspaper carried a headline ‘Soldiers disperse protesting pensioners in Calabar’. They were apparently protesting nonpayment of their entitlements. And perhaps in a seeming twist of events, retired soldiers were on the receiving end some few months later. The Channels Television reported on Wednesday January 15, 2021 of large numbers of retired soldiers visiting the Federal Ministry of Finance headquarters in Nigeria to protest non-payment of benefits.

The above persons had worked, made careers and retired. They had enjoyed their career life and had expected the bliss to continue in retirement. But, this never happened. I am sure you would not want to share in their varied experiences. They all had frustrating retirement experiences which are common to many people across the globe. In many cases, retirement does not turn out as many would want. Frustration, anxiety, loneliness and sadness have become familiar features. When you fail in retirement, you would end up defeated, disappointed and perhaps a failure! Many people end up facing this obvious situation. This is because you may not have the opportunity to right certain wrongs of your career life.

Retirement comes when nerves would have been weak, bones thin, job gone, influence waned and health challenges come knocking! Funding retirement planning process has remained one of the biggest economic and social challenges of the 21st century. Generally, retirees who are the target of such planning process end up despondent, traumatised and some even die untimely. They are bored, discriminated against and the poverty severity index is highest within the retiree age bracket. In many cases, retirees simply exist. They need help, counsel and support. This book which is based on results of researches, personal stories and observations across the globe is intended to provide needed counsel and support. It is to guide the reader into a meaningful retirement life of promise and purpose.

You may currently be working. Work is good!

Work plays an important role in the development of the adult personality, and makes a significant contribution to the quality of life we live. One is easily described related to the work he or she is involved with; the teacher, doctor, pilot, engineer, dock worker, civil servant and soldier among others. The extent of work is expressed in the fact that a large proportion of a nation’s income is paid to workers as salaries and wages. The significance of work is further expressed in newspaper and television headlines as they report work-related matters like Gross Domestic Product (GDP), tax issues, employment, strikes, capacity utilization, downsizing, school placement and in recent times, artificial intelligence.

But, there comes a time the motivation or capacity to work dwindles either voluntarily or in a forced circumstance, no matter the level of one’s mental alertness. There, comes retirement! The transition from work to retirement