Assalamualaikum and good day to IIUM Confession readers. Seperti tajuk di atas, i nak cerita about retirement fund.
Sorry if i guna bahasa mix bahasa and english. It’s much easier to talk in rojak language so bear with me.
Intro, currently in mid 30’s, a wife, anak 2, alhamdulillah bahagia and cukup dengan kehidupan yang agak mencabar dengan ekonomi yang naik turun sekarang.
I terpanggil nak buat confession about retirement fund ni sebab situation yang jadi baru – baru ni.
I was at hypermarket, stocking up groceries, then after dah bayar and dekat luar-luar tu, ada booth and i nampak logo of 1 bank with a banner about retirement fund.
I tengah tunggu my husband so i observe the salesman / salesgirl, both chinese, langsung tak approach orang melayu. Almost 100% chinese.
I bukan nak bercakap pasal bangsa here but you akan faham why i said this later.
I had a discussion with my husband about having retirement fund untuk di hari tua. So since dah ada di depan mata, even dia tak approach i, i decide to approach him instead.
I just asked, “you ada apa2 brochure that i can look at tak?”
Then the salesman sambut i dengan baik, inform they don’t have brochures but can explain about the plan briefly on their ipad.
So me and my husband pun spend around 30 min listening to the plan details and so on. Yang menarik perhatian i ialah 2 kali dia tanya I, dia cakap,
“Kakak sorry i cuma curious saja, what makes you want to have a retirement fund? “
Then i explain my reasoning that i don’t think so i can live my elderly life only with KWSP saving.
With the recession, medical expenses di hari tua, ubat2, i think we need more so sebab tu i cari retirement fund.
Dia tidak la cakap straightforward cuma dia ada bagi hint kata kakak antara customer malay terawal, tak ramai orang2 macam kakak (I guess dia refer kepada bangsa la kot) yang interested dengan retirement plan.
Now don’t get me wrong. I pun bukan nya di tahap financially independent. Hutang rumah, commitment lain2 di bank masih ada,
I doakan bukan hanya i but semua kita boleh slowly reach to financially independent satu hari nanti.
Cuma based dari experience yang i belajar di sekeliling, i think it’s very crucial untuk force diri kita bukak satu tabung saving di hari tua.
Tak semestinya retirement fund / saving, tapi apa2 juga method (investment, property) simpanan untuk hari tua. My late parent pun tak ada saving.
My late father, cuma ada KWSP and he literally spend it all within 6 months. Jangan katakan tahun, 10 bulan pun tak sampai.
Also, i witness dengan mata i sendiri how i pernah nampak family kawan i spend 3 million (after jual tanah) and habis within 1 year and half.
Back to my father, so basically ] i and my sibling akan bagi duit every month.
My father in law also passed away recently, which left my mother in law and another younger sibling at home.
Since my in law also tak ada any savings, so now my husband covers it all from groceries, bills, anything my mother in law need including sometimes keperluan younger sibling.
I bukan nak berkira spend dekat parent, no that’s not my point.
My point is that, ada some parent with mentality, “tak pe la anak2 aku sara aku pulak sebab dulu masa kecik- kecik aku dah sara dioarang semua “.
My in law and my parent both a good people, cuma poor financial management lead to kehidupan di hari tua tanpa apa-apa saving.
I can see that sometimes mereka ni segan bila nak mintak duit, siap mintak maaf dulu kalau susahkan.
And from part anak- anak pulak, kadang2 teringin nak jenguk mak di kampung tapi sebab tengah bulan, tak cukup budget nak spend dekat kampung nanti, jadi hasrat tu terpaksa terkubur.
Kalau dah balik rumah mak, kena belikan groceries yang easily boleh habis 200-300 then sebelum balik, mesti nak hulur2 sikit.
From parent side, rasa serba salah bila minta duit, from anak perspective, rasa bersalah kalau tak dapat bagi yang secukupnya.
All this awkward feeling, the guiltiness from both sides tak kan ada kalau kita ada proper financial plan and tak ada kekangan kewangan antara dua- dua pihak.
On the other hand, ada 2 situation yang buka mata I. First, my friend, parent dia not like wealthy rich tapi senang.
So apa yang parent dia dah buat dari awal, dia buat saving for my friend, when she gets married, they give her a house. A simple apartment but enough to take away 1 of the biggest commitments.
So even kawan i gaji tak la banyak sangat, around 4k, but she have no commitment. Rumah dah settle sebab parent belikan, then kereta just share with husband.
Her whole salary was only for herself. And dia balik rumah parent dia almost every week.
Dulu, masa i single, i ada menyewa 1 rumah. Owner lama rumah i jual rumah tu to someone else.
Owner baru nak buat site visit nak tengok macam mana i jaga rumah and tengok jugak keadaan rumah if nak buat repair ke apa. She come with her family.
A woman in her early 40’s ada anak dalam 3 orang. Yang kecil sekali around 4 years old.
Masa berborak, owner inform i sebenarnya the true owner of the house is the boy yang umur 4 tahun. Dia kata dia belikan rumah ni as investment.
Nanti anak- anak dia dah besar, ada rumah 1 sorang, terpulang la nk duduk situ ke or nk jual and use that money to start a new life ke.
So my landlord is actually budak umur 4 tahun yang cakap pun pelat-pelat masa tu.
I tak nak aim tinggi- tinggi macam parent kawan i or landlord rumah lama i yang boleh beli property for their kids,
But apa yang i and husband i aim is that, we have enough money to support ourself without expecting our kids to spend their money on us.
So that in the future, anak- anak i tak rasa serba salah nak melawat, tak rasa terbeban bila tak dapat nak bagi i duit.
I just want to sufficiently support myself without susahkan anak-anak. Tu pun dah cukup.
I percaya tugas kita as parent sampai ke hujung nyawa tanpa mengharapkan apa-apa balasan dari anak-anak.
Kita tak tau apa akan jadi masa akan datang, maybe my plan could’ve fail, ada dugaan or anything, but deep down, Allah swt know that i put an effort to not burden my child.
Dalam islam pun, usaha then tawakkal so this is part my usaha.
Lastly i doakan dipermudahkan urusan my family and also to the rest of parent out there yang sedang mencuba untuk jadi yang terbaik untuk family masing- masing. Aamiin.
– Puan S (Bukan nama sebenar)
Hantar confession anda di sini -> https://iiumc.com/submit