By NATARIO McKENZIE
Tribune Business Reporter
nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net
Many Bahamians have a “cultural opposition” to long term-savings vehicles such as a pension or retirement fund, a financial services industry executive believes.
Khalil Braithwaite, director of business development for Leno Corporate Services, said too many Bahamians fail to give serious consideration to their retirement plans.
“We don’t look at retirement because we don’t take it seriously,” he said. “Culturally, we as a people are opposed to looking at retirement because that deals with saving for tomorrow.
“On one level, as a culture, we never factor in retirement. We will do our best for our children, but we don’t think abut retirement. In a cultural sense we aren’t looking at retirement because we aren’t programmed to see it. That has created a lack of a sense of urgency amongst Bahamians in terms of preparing for retirement.”
Mr Braithwaite, who was a panelist at a recent Bahamas Millennials Society forum, added that there was no incentive for companies to offer pension plans for their employees, viewing it as an added expense.
“In the present environment there is no pension legislation, meaning that it is not mandatory for companies to provide a pension benefit. On a company level, employers [tend] to see it as an expense. It’s the natural way of things.” said Mr Braithwaite.
“There are no incentives for companies to provide this benefit as a benefit, and so there is that element. Legislation has been introduced, which is a great step for the Bahamas. They’re revising it to make it more holistic, to make it mandatory.”
Mr Braithwaite said certain industries were using pension plans as an attractive element to lure potential hires.
“You also have certain industries that have a high turnover and definitely don’t want to consider it,” he explained.
“There are industries where it is used as a tool to retain employees, or those who recognise the contribution that a person would have made to the company’s growth.”
Mr Brathwaite said that while pensions was a hot topic two years ago, that discussion has been completely overshadowed by Value-Added Tax (VAT).
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