| Kippreport.com

No money, no honey—You’ll be working all the way to your 60s -study

August 8, 2011 12:42 by Precious de Leon

Where do you see yourself at 60 years old? If you have visions of staying at home to care for the grandkids or tee-ing up on the 18th  hole or even travelling around the world, then you should feel so lucky that you’re not part of the 51.3 percent in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) who expect only to retire well after their 60^th birthday.

And according to the Bayt.com MENA Saving and Spending Trends, when blue-collar workers finally do retire, 27.7 percent of them are relying on a combination of career savings and investments as a means of post-employment support while 21.6 percent will merely rely on career savings and about 10.1 percent are only looking forward to social security payouts.

Now you may think this is too far into the future to worry about now. But here’s the reality: we are going to be working through our silver years because of our financial situation right now.

After all, how can you expect to cash in during retirement if you don’t even have savings right now? With an astonishing 40.9 percent in the MENA region admitting that they are currently unable to save anything from their household income, according to the study.

BILLS, DEBTS AND KIDS

So where does the money? Well, about 40 percent goes to paying rent and mortgages, another 40 percent goes to food. The rest is spent on the kids’ school fees, clothing, transport and travel. Maybe it’s just us, but we think it’s worrying that almost half of your salary goes to just paying for debts and keeping a roof over your head.

While these appalling numbers are in line that Bayt’s earlier released Consumer Confidence Index which saw professionals say their salary increase was not keeping up with the cost of living, it’s hard not to think about the last ten years in the Middle East fostering a lifestyle filled with shopping festivals, luxury properties sold off-plan, zero-downpayment loans on offer and countries being marketed as retail destinations.

And now that you’ve lived the rockstar-like lifestyle, you have to face the consequences of living beyond your means.

FACE YOUR FEAR. LEARN THE UNKNOWN.

So how can you move on from this? Well according to the study, most of us (43.6 percent) don’t mind being schooled on investment. So that’s where you need to head. (And if you are the 22.4 percent who claim to be clued in to the benefits of investing, then this could be an…

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Tags: Bayt.com, employment research, investment education, MENA, Middle East retirement, office research, old age worker, retirement UAE, working at an old age, Working in the Middle East