Singapore population is getting old and government is worrying about ageing population related issues. Recent released figure in September 2016 reported that there are 13.7% of citizens were aged 65 and above. This is about 750 thousand of seniors in the whole population of 5.6 million. The figure may become 2 million (38%) by 2050. Scary, isn’t it?
As we grow old, all kind of sickness will come and health care related expenses will also increased. For the country, the government will be burden with all the health care costs as a nation. It is forecast that in 2030, there will be 2.3 working-age citizens for every citizen aged 65 and above.
The workforce obviously become much smaller if there is no increase in birth rate and foreigners are being restricted to come into Singapore. This kind of scenario implies that tax collection from the working adult is not able to support the ageing senior citizens. Government will not have sufficient tax collection to sustain the nation expenses.
Singapore Government has setup the National Silver Academy (NSA) to offer seniors aged 50 years and above taking up courses. Courses will be conducting at its network of post-secondary education institutions and community-based organisations. Seniors can choose from any of the 6 categories below:
- Health & Wellness
- IT & Science
- Ageing & Life Skills
- Humanities
- Finance & Business
- Media, Arts & Design
Even in Canada, more people are entering into the retirement phrase of their life. Here is the article recently talking about the Retirement nest eggs cracking, many of them started to realize that they need more income to sustain their living expenses. Some decided to go back working, others who are fortune to have money build their own business. How about you? Have you thought about it when you reach retirement age?
Government has been working hard coming up with a lot of action plan, to encourage a more successful ageing life style among the seniors. Subsidies for the courses and no exam is required for the participants, all these arrangement is to get more seniors to take up the offer.
However, I find that there is something lacking in all these arrangement. By offering courses for the seniors to take up and learn new things, what are they going to do with the increased in knowledge and skill sets? Knowledge gain in the mind but do not apply it in our daily life become a memory store in our brain.
If there is a way for the seniors to earn additional income, after completing a course and able to apply what they learn to make a living out of it. Will this be more useful and reduce the burden on the government to support the health care cost, if the seniors are able to self-support by themselves?
Only Way To Help Ourselves When We Are Old
According to United Nations, global population aged 60 and above is growing fast and there were 841 million in 2013. This figure should have increase further by now and it is forecast to reach 2 billion in 2050.
All nations are facing the same issue relating to population getting older, and do you think the government have enough resources to take care all of us? The only way we can help ourselves is to prepare now for our future.
I am using Wealthy Affiliate Online Platform to create my own online income generation and in times to come, I will be able to support my own healthcare expenses when I grow old. Wealthy Affiliate offer Online courses to teach you how to make money online and provide basic free membership for anyone wish to learn. You can sign up for premium membership once you are familiar with the Online platform.
Seniors have many years of experiences which can share with others and use their experiences to make money online. Wealthy Affiliate teach you to find your niche and market your niche experiences to others. By sharing your experiences and at the same time generating online income for you, this is what I wish to see it happen in Singapore.
When the seniors able to support themselves, even with smaller young working population and reduced tax income from the young, the government will not be burden anymore with the health care costs.
Singapore government has said it could not tackle the problem alone. Therefor, as a citizen of Singapore, we must help our nation by providing good solution to reduce the tax burden on the younger generation and helping the seniors to live a fulfilling lives and age well.
Let’s us share with others about the Wealthy Affiliate Online Platform. When you help 10 of them, and each one of those 10 help another 10 each, the multiplication of 10 x 10 x 10 x 10 …. effect can reach million of them in total.
Do you want to know, what are the aspirations of an older Singaporean? You can visit his article on Population SG and read about it. I like particularly one statement he mentioned in the article, “People who are self-employed are not subject to mandatory retirement. They are the lucky people.” Do you want to be that lucky person? I would suggest that you start to plan your online business from now. How to start your online business? Visit my “Get Started” page and sign-up for the free starter membership and learn all the techniques you require to know by starting your business and be the lucky person you want to be.
Driving Taxi or Grab As We Grow Old
In Singapore, cars are expensive and one option for older generation can consider is driving Taxi or Grab to supplement our daily expenses. Singapore is a city state and population is rather dense. Therefore, the opportunity to provide transportation services is there. However, you need to prepare facing all kind of riders on board your vehicle.
This option is for people who enjoy driving and have licence to drive. If you do not have this criteria, Online business could be an option you wish to explore.