March 26, 2009

Have you any plan for retirement?

I had an interesting interview session with someone today. We posted an advertisement at the Bar Council 2 or 3 months back when we were served with a notice of resignation by one of our lawyer. At that time, we thought we might substitute her with a new lawyer. We now have second thought about it, until we met this interesting man.

The man who came to our office has already reached his sixtieth birthday a few months back. He is currently attached with another legal firm which seems to not fully utilising his expertise. His practising certificate was not even renewed as they consider him more of a para-legal than a real lawyer. This man only obtained his status as a lawyer in 2003. He was a bank officer who rised through the rank. He started work in 1970 as a clerk until he retired in 1997 as a Vice President. The bank is not just some local bank but is a foreign bank who had quite a history in Malaysia. Though Malaysian banks nowadays dominate the scene in Malaysia, that is considered a big deal.

As I was interviewing him, looking at him and probing him with relevant question, I have a nagging question at the back of my mind which I finally asked him. Didn't he plan for his retirement? Why is he working and is still looking for new opportunity at his age? Isn't working since you are 21 years of age is enough? He told us that he can actually rest at home and use his savings for a real retirement but he is looking for new challenges. His sons are all grown up and one is even a doctor. His current firm is actually underutilising his real capabilities and he wants to join us if we are willing to pay his asking price.

Hearing his story, I realised that retirement is a concept not for all. Some retire only when they are no longer capable to get out of bed. Some retire early but goes back to work as they grew tored of resting. Some never take a holiday in their whole career and retirement is the time for them to rest. Some never retire at all as they die too early or they never wanted to in the first place. As a business owner myself, I never plan to retire as I think I would love to see how far my firm can go and if it reach the highest plateu, I can see it.

Any thoughts on your retirement?

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

well, really salute thins kind of person.. hope to retire at the age of of 45 and travel around

Anonymous said...

I almost finish my Uni. This is my final year. Maybe I should plan my retirement from now. Cool post man and I clicked your ads (3 ads - maxis, marbella and nuffnang)

Anonymous said...

still in uni.. not thinking about retirement anytime soon.. =P

Relax said...

I have planned for my retirement. the time is up once I hit one of these financial goals:

Goal 1:

reaching financial freedom between 5 to 10 years time with sufficient passive income to cover my expenses and future investment.

Goal 2:

Reach a networth of 1 million RM between 10 to 15 years time.

personal injury marketing said...

retirement. I still have a long way to go, but I hope to travel around the world. Working from home is the best life for me, its like im already on permanent vacation!

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