Many workers retire with “low balances” in their accounts with the Fiji National Provident Fund (FNPF), says fund CEO Jaoji Koroi.
Speaking at the inaugural retirement counselling session in Suva yesterday, he said the main goal was to raise awareness to members who were over 45 years old.
“Most of the members really do not know their status with FNPF. They do not know their prospective balance when they retire,” Mr Koroi said.
“We will be opening our FNPF outlets on every last Saturday of each month. We have started in Suva today (yesterday).
“The idea is for individual members to come to us, have a session with us, understand what is their current balance, what will be their likely balance when they turn 55 and what are the options available to them.”
During the week, he said members mostly enquired about pensions and withdrawals, while Saturdays were now open for counselling.
“This is the first time we have organised this. Our main goal is to create awareness for members who were over 45 years of age and will retire in the next 10 years.”
He said the sessions would help members know the amount they would need to retire with and the options available.
“They can either fully withdraw or take the pension option. This allows them to plan for their future.”
He said the response from members was positive.
He emphasised that members were retiring with low balances in their accounts.
“A lot of members do not know this. This has been an issue in the past. We are trying to create awareness on this.”