Retirees sound rainy day alarm

At 78, Wilson Brown has weathered life's fiercest storms. A horse trainer for over four decades, Wilson's life took a sharp turn when he became a single father of five after the untimely death of his partner. With no formal pension plan and little education, he braved the odds and learnt a painful truth - retirement is the ultimate rainy day.

"No one told me about saving for a pension," Wilson revealed.

In his youth, saving for retirement was an alien concept. Unable to read or write, Wilson relied on wisdom gleaned from the wealthy horse owners around him. Their candid conversations taught him one critical lesson: you must save for the unexpected.

"Mi listen to the money man them, who own horse, when dem a talk [and seh], 'You haffi put down something to have something.' ... I wasn't working much because the horse nuh always win, so when mi get a likkle money, mi have to save something," Wilson recalled.

He took control of his future and went to the Jamaica Foundation for Lifelong Learning, where he enhanced his literacy skills, which helped him as he navigated life. But Wilson, like many informal workers, had no formal pension plan. He was only familiar with the National Insurance Scheme (NIS). Despite this, he saved diligently, scraping together funds whenever he could.

Today, Wilson's disciplined savings provide a lifeline. He relies on rental income from two properties, his NIS, and occasional support from his daughters. But even now, he approaches his finances with caution.

"No matter how much you earn, you need to put down something; it's not every day you may be clapping. You won't have that job forever, so put down something," he urges.

"Mi daughter them nuh always have it, and the bills them high, so mi tek time with the spending. Even now, I still try to save what I have," he added.

For Paulette Davis, 68, retirement is no walk in the park, even with a pension. A former telephone operator in the public service, Davis learnt very early to prepare for her golden years. Today, she receives a government pension and benefits from the NIS - but it's far from enough.

"As a telephone operator, I didn't earn a big salary, so my pension is small. I am still paying the mortgage, and by the time I pay the mortgage, light bill and cable bill, the money is done," she said.

"I rely on my two children for help, and sometimes they don't have it because they have their own lives and family, so it is hard. I thank God for my pension, because I don't know what I would do if I didn't have it," she says.

Paulette believes that if you can't afford a pension offered through one of the regulated institutions in the public sector, one should at least contribute to the NIS.

"Try at least to pay the NIS because when you come home, it's a rainy and stormy time; and though it's small, it's helpful when you have no income coming in," she says.