I came across a post of a former headteacher who turned into a street beggar after 30 years of teaching and another about a 50-year-old man who was a retiring administrator with UGX25m($7000) on his account and was wondering what business he could do.
These are just examples of very many people who go into retirement with less or no preparation at all. I took time to respond to the one that had the 25M ($7000) and was wondering to which business to start.
As a personal finance coach, I don’t advise people to go for any business idea just because some people are making money out of it. There is more to business that we don’t get to hear from the ones running them.
Any business idea can be good and you can be successful at it if at all you decide, develop the passion for it, and work towards its success. Either you choose to open a restaurant, hardware, or go into farming, etc, you can be successful as long as you love doing that, have the customer in mind and be hungry for your business’s success even in the tough times of the journey.
It is also advisable to start small with say a quarter of the money and where possible you can find a business coach to hold your hand in all aspects of setting up and running a successful business.
It is very risky to just put your all retirement fund into one idea at ago especially if you don’t have proper knowledge about the business aspects of that idea.
You may also get a business partner who understands business and with whom you can combine that capital and start a reasonable venture.
Otherwise, I think we should learn from this gentleman’s story that you don’t wait to hit 50 years to think about your retirement. There are so many ideas you can put in place to ensure you don’t struggle in the retirement years you meant to rest.
Some of these can be to invest in real estate, plant trees, start and run side hustles, write books, life insurance, invest in stocks, save with other retirement benefit schemes, etc. Do all these when say you are still in your late 20s so that by 50 years, you have accumulated enough to take care of yourself for the rest of your life.
Diversify your monthly income away from salary for those employed. The world has changed that anytime you can lose your job and be pushed into early retirement, you however have some assurance if you have been able to set up something that can generate an additional income outside your salary and that time can be an opportunity for you to boost this.
To your success,
Coach Samuel Ibanda
WhatsApp +256703803255
