Mr Andrews D. Agblobi, Financial Economist and a Lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, on Wednesday urged workers to prepare well ahead of retirement to avoid disappointments.
He said every worker must try and have multiple sources of retirement income before finally retiring to maintain their lifestyles and comfort.
“You must start saving early, make wise investment decisions, take care of your health, clear any student loans, and avoid pension babies if you can,” he said.
Mr Agblobi said this at a day’s workshop organised by Pensions Network of Ghana of the Trades Union Congress, a social protection network, in collaboration with Ghana Federation of Labour (GFL) for senior members of the various organised labour who were members of the network in Accra.
The workshop was organised in collaboration with International Trades Union Congress Africa, (ITUC-Africa) to equip members with the techniques and methods of calculating pensions and benefits to assist their union members who would face problems with their pensions.
Mr Agblobi took participants through the various pension schemes and how they operated in Ghana and urged unions and their members to develop interest in pensions and how they were calculated so as to help members in times of difficulties.
Dr Anthony Yaw Baah, the Deputy Secretary General GTUC, said the network's idea was very impressive and the response from the unions was also encouraging and urged unions who were not members to facilitate their membership.
He said the network was sparked due to the gap in SSNIT registration and that of the Second Tier and charged all unions to ensure that all their members were registered for the Second Tier.
He said GTUC had started working with the GFL on pensions and was happy they had honoured the invitation to be part of the workshop.
Dr Baah said plans were underway to invite other organised labour groups to join the network to give them the chance to always upgrade themselves and relay it to their members.
“The key benefit members derive from the union is that their pensions are intact and this means that unions must be responsible by giving the updates and also ensure that members do not pay more taxes than they should.
“You must expand your tentacles to prove the union’s efficiency as well as opening pension desks in all the unions and the deputy secretaries general will be in charge,” he said.
Mr Eben Aidoo, Deputy Secretary General of GFL, commended the organisers of the workshop for their efforts.
He said workshops of that nature would broaden their scope and equip them to task SSNIT and the National Pensions Regulation to do the right thing.
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