Are we working to be poor?

What sort of times are we leaving in when we need our retirement packages to soothe the burdens of our cost of living, while we are still employed?

The early access to retirement packages is seen as a means to help ease the financial burden that the economy has us in, but the question we really should be asking is: if while we are employed and we need financial relief, what means will we have to attain relief when we no longer have a steady income?

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Imagine working all these year with the goal of saving enough to live when age kicks in, only to have to “urgently” open this very savings pot, to get by just enough to be able to comfortably commute to work, put food on the table, keep the lights on when Eskom allows, or to even clothe oneself in order to, wait for it, get to work!

And while we are on the subject, can we be honest and admit that it must be a hard feat for those who call these places of affluence their workplaces, to have to see what life could be, only to have to go back to the everyday struggle that is informal living.

While Sandton lawns are manicured, paved and well hydrated, swimming pools with sparkling blue waters and children lapping up the joys of youth… while across the highway, lawns are too expensive to keep, water is stored in buckets and children give up their youth as their parents sweat it out in places of affluence, the lives of the haves living so close to the have-nots must be a struggle.

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Understandably, our retirement packages are just that, they are ours! We should be able to access them to better our lives, but the question is: when is it the right time to access these funds?

Who do we blame for the dire state of our economy, who do we demand answers from when we can no longer have the most basic of food stuffs, when electricity costs an arm and a leg, how do we embark on entrepreneurial journeys in the absence of work?

We seek alternatives and the economy laughs at us. And now we are about to tap into savings for our golden years. Basically we are working, just to remain poor!

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