A large percentage of people working in Trinidad and Tobago are self-employed, according to the Central Statistical Office, and for them, retirement planning brings unique challenges. Unlike employees in more traditional jobs, many self-employed workers cannot rely on a steady monthly pay cheque. Being self-employed also means that you are on your own when it comes to retirement savings. Whereas employees are automatically enrolled in the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), and some benefit from employer-provided pension plans, there are no similar provisions for the self-employed. The good news is that there are still savings options open to self-employed workers who want to retire comfortably, especially for those who start early. Annuities Provided by insurance companies and other financial institutions, an annuity lets you pay premiums and receive a lump sum or regular payments in the future. Mutual funds A mutual fund is a managed portfolio of stocks and ...

Given the current economic climate, the Government of Trinidad and Tobago has placed even more emphasis on the collection of taxes. There are a few important things I should highlight. 1) All taxpayers are entitled to a Personal Allowance of TT$72,000.00 per year. This means that you do not pay income tax on your first TT$72,000.00 of income, so you pay no income tax at all if you earn less than this amount. 2) Tertiary Education expenses is limited to $60000 3) First time homeowners are limited to $18000 4) Contributions or premiums paid to deferred annuities/tax savings/pension fund plans and 70% NIS contributions is now limited to $50000 annually. I have attached the link below for further details. https://www.finance.gov.tt/services/income-tax/paying-your-taxes/

R esist the herd mentality Some people make financial decisions not because it's a good investment but rather because of emotion. Consider basing those decisions on need rather than want. Just because everyone's doing it doesn't mean it makes sense. Be content with less Small lifestyle changes can lead to massive savings. Consider eating in and being efficient when spending your  money. Stay the course Educating yourself financially and putting your plans to paper will help you track spending and cut cost. Even if your income stays constant more funds can be directed toward investing. Put your money to work While an increase in salary or back pay may trigger a shopping spree for most of us why not invest surplus  income as this could eliminate any spending temptations. Cut back on large expenses The average Trinidadian spends the bulk of their money on three things: housing ,transportation and food. As controversial as it may be consider cutting back on...

For many, retirement may seem a long way off. I have included a good example to show the true reality of your retirement income. Let us suppose you earn an income of $10000 monthly ,at age 35 and hope to retire at age 60. Try looking at your retirement from a monetary perspective. Put quite simply you would only have 300 months within which you will be paid $3000000. An individual who is not actively pursuing a retirement plan will be faced with even greater financial shortcomings when retirement hits. Registered annuities will pay a monthly income for the remainder of the annuitants life. It is usually a great solution for an individual to put aside small values monthly  and annuities even offer annual benefits via tax refunds. Lets take a look back at the above example. A great place to start is to consider investing 10% of that $3000000 toward your golden years . Therefore that $1000 per month guarantees you an income every month from the day you retire until the day yo...