Text: Proverbs 6:6-8, 13:15, 21:5, Jeremiah 29:11
By: Ekaragha, Isaac (Deacon)
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Planning: The act of formulating a course of action or drawing up plans. It is also defined as deciding in advance what to do, how and when to do it, and who is to do it.
Old Age: This is a period in life when someone is no longer physically and mentally active as he needs to be. A period when one may not be able to physically perform much task/job to fend for himself, yet he does not want to become a liability to anyone.
Introduction
Ageing happens naturally but ageing well takes careful planning. Old age carries a lot of challenges. Therefore, what you may become in future starts today. In other words, your today most often determines your tomorrow (future). Old age most times calls for dependence on others but if you plan well for your future you may be less dependent on others. Financial planning for old age may require that the individual starts planning early in life. Whatever your means of livelihood, whether a white-collar job or self-employed system, sound planning towards the future or old age is of utmost necessity to avoid disastrous consequences in old age or retirement.
Your Personal Security Plan
Older adults face many decisions in the last decades of their lives. Taking some time to look at the issues ahead and plan accordingly can make the future easier and more enjoyable for you and your family.
Here Are Some Area to consider:
Your Money: saving for old age or retirement, no matter how small the amount is very important, and you want to make sure that you have enough money to live on and enjoy life in your old age including your family.
- Your Health Care: You may need more health care in old age than you did when you were younger. It is important to ensure that you have health insurance coverage if affordable and have enough money on hand for proper nutrition like balanced diet, eating more of fruits and vegetables and less of carbohydrates. Not much fatty foods but lean meat such as chicken and turkey. Minimal exercises such as walking around your room a few minutes at least twice weekly is recommended.
- Your Life: In the event of health emergency such as major injury, stroke or terminal illness, it is not the best time to make key decisions. Preparing advance directives like a living will, durable power of attorney and other documents that state your end-of-life wishes can save you and your family from unnecessary stress in a time of crisis.
- Your Care Proper: It is tough to think about not being able to take care of yourself, but that point may come. Friends and family members may not be able to give you the level of care that you need when living with a disability. It is when you are still healthy and able, try and make decisions about potential living arrangements like hospice care, nursing home, assisted living facility etc.
Core Areas to Invest in Prior to Old Age
To be in near stress-free state during old age, you must endeavour to invest on the following depending on your financial circumstances.
- Give Good Education to your children: exposing your children to sound education or reputable vocation would remain the best legacy to bequeath to them. Teach them morals and the value of the dignity of labour. They could be self-dependent in their endeavours, thereby ensuring your longevity.
Never you rely on your children 100% for your needs as a means to justify the huge expenditure you expended on their education in the past – Proverbs 22:6.
- Make Sure you have a building structure: whether a two-room apartment or not in your hometown or in the township where you reside to avoid paying rents at old age or retirement.
- Erect Economic Structures like Stores, civic centres, residential estate for rent purposes depending on your financial capabilities.
- Portable Water, bakery business outfits
- Buying shares in reputable corporate organisations
- Aggro allied businesses like piggery, snail farming and goat rearing business
- Consultancy services business
Factors Militating Against Sound Planning
- Scarcity of Resources: Scarcity of resources might be a challenge but not necessarily a justifiable reason for not making sound planning for the future. For example, teachers of old who were stereotyped or considered stingy and poor, using ruler to measure tuber of yam to cook, were able notwithstanding to train their children to any level of education.
- Misplaced Priorities: This is one area some people miss the mark in their decision-making process. They misplace their scale of preference. Paint a scenario where a young man on a lucrative job with reasonable pay started acquiring fleet of flashy cars at the expense of making economic investments and later got summarily dismissed from his employment after ten years of service. Rent got expired and was ejected. No savings, no home or house of his own and started sleeping in the cars with his family members – Proverbs 8:1,4,5,12.
- Procrastination: this is delay doing something that you should do at the right time. This poises challenge to sound planning and development – Ephesians 5:5-17.
- Fear of the Unknown: No venture no success is a popular adage. Sitting on the fence due to fear of the unknown disrupts planning vision – 2 Timothy 1:7.
Consequences of Poor Planning
- Delay and Getting Behind Schedule: Without a concrete plan regarding any project, you are bound to experience delay
- Confusion and Disappointment: These occur when you do not put sound panning strategies in place.
- Harbour Regret: Regret usually happens as a repercussion of the things not done or completed. Take for example, failure that usually occurs when you do not chase your goals to a logical conclusion, e.g., the man with fleets of flashy cars sleeping in the cars with his family.
Conclusion
God wants only the best for His children. When we make Him the centre of our planning, we free Him to give us His best. God has plans to give us a hope and future.
May God give you the desires of your heart and make all your plans succeed – Jeremiah 29:11, Psalms 20:4.
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