Spend wisely to guarantee a happy retirement, says Gittens

Barbadians are being reminded to monitor their spending habits before their retirement age, if they want to live a comfortable life in their later years.

This advice came from Vivian-Anne Gittens, author of the “Louise Fairsave” newspaper column on personal financial management, as she addressed the Barbados Association of Retired Persons’ (BARP) seminar on Personal Financial Management and Economic and Financial Literacy on Tuesday. Participants of the morning’s session were exposed to a variety of money-saving tips and strategies which could be used to build a better safety net after retirement

During her presentation, Gittens told BARP members that the best way to save money was to keep track of their spending routines, as it would help mitigate wastage.

“The most important thing when it comes to spending, not only for retirees, but for almost anyone who is earning a living and trying to manage their finances, is to track how they spend every cent.

“What you find, is that a lot of money would slip through your fingers that you never realized before, because in your head, this is how you spend your money. But how you actually spend it is something different.

“Track how you spend every cent. Does it match how you are thinking? Then if you do that, you not only review your budget for spending, but you stick to your budget,” she advised.

High interest rates was another area Gittens warned BARP members to watch out for, because as she explained, the high cost often goes unnoticed when purchasing high-value items.

“The saving I am talking about here, is the saving on interest payments.

“If you really check when you track your spending, you will see that you spend a lot of money on interest, because you have bad behaviour.

“You want things before you really can afford them, so you are willing to pay someone some money so you can have them before you can afford them. If you save on interest payments, you will have more money, and it will allow you to be more flexible on what you can spend,” Gittens explained.

The former Chief Executive Officer of Nation Corporation also acknowledged that though insurance was seen as unnecessary by a large number of retirees in Barbados, its importance could not be overstated, as it protected those closest to the policyholder.

“Insurance is an important tool that provides protection for your dependents. If you did not have dependents, you probably would not worry about insurance, but it protects your family, spouse and partner, and even older people,” Gittens said. (SB)