Retirement Planning: A Pre-Retirement Framework for Employees of Wesleyan University-Philippines

Abstract

This study aims to design a pre-retirement conceptual framework for employees. The framework’s basis is the respondents’ demographic profile such as age, sex, civil status, years of service, educational attainment, nature of work, and monthly salary. The extent of readiness in terms of financial planning, wealth, health, and network engagement. And the challenges in terms of lack of knowledge in Investment, difficulty in time management, poor attitude towards savings, and running out of money. The study respondents were 40 employees who were 55 years old and above, working at Wesleyan University – Philippines, Cushman campus. The study made use of a descriptive research design. The instrument was a survey questionnaire created by the researchers and was critiqued and validated by a panel of experts in terms of its content. It was piloted to a group of teachers before it was used. The demographic profiles were presented according to percentages, and weighted means for the extent of readiness were used.The respondents were mostly faculty, female, married, and 57-58 years. They have been working for almost 20-29 years in the institution with the highest educational attainment of a master’s degree and have a current salary range of P24,600.00 – P28,600.00. Regarding the extent of readiness for retirement, the employee respondents still need more income for a longer time to save and invest accordingly in terms of financial planning. Also, in terms of wealth, employees’ respondents know how much money they still needed to accumulate by retirement. Moreover, in terms of health, respondents have a regular check-up to reduce healthcare costs make them more aware of their health. The correlation analysis showed that the respondents’ profile variables were significantly correlated with the extent of readiness of WU-P employees towards retirement. Likewise, the respondents’ profile and the challenges faced by WU-P employees towards retirement are significantly correlated. A pre-retirement conceptual framework was designed to focus on aspects of readiness for retirement and some wellness dimensions. It can be concluded that most of the respondents were not ready for retirement. Therefore, a Pre-Retirement Conceptual Framework for employees is designed to prepare respondents for retirement. The study recommended adopting this pre-retirement conceptual framework and using this framework in developing a pre-retirement program for employees. Institutions should financially support the pre-retirement program for employees.