Mauie Flores

I visited my parents yesterday with the boys. My mom is setting up a small beauty salon and she asked me to check it out. It's still a long way to completion because she's just counting on her monthly pension to fund her small business. Knowing about that got me to think about my own retirement.

As a freelancer, I do not have the luxury of employers taking care of my retirement fund. Although I still have 30 years to go, I'm now in a state of panic to save up for my retirement fund.

What do Filipino freelancers like me have as retirement fund options? I did a quick research and here's what I found:

• Pag-IBIG and SSS - Both government agencies have self-employed types of memberships. All a freelancer has to do is to enroll and religiously pay the monthly contributions. Not only do they qualify for the pension fund, but they can also apply for long term and short term loans, as well.
• Retirement fund saving plans of commercial banks - BPI (where we have our savings and current accounts) have the Personal Equity and Retirement Account (PERA). I'm sure other banks also have a similar product.
• Investment funds - Insurance plans often offer investment funds that also double as a retirement fund. There are also the fixed rate anuities of which I am not yet familiar of.
  
• Other financing options - We got our houseboy a health insurance that also comes with an accident insurance plan and a savings fund. We'll be paying for five years but the coverage is 10 years. On the 11th year, he is entitled to get his 50 thousand peso savings fund. I know it's small but this is only because we got him the lowest monthly contribution possible which is Php 1,500.

I'm still reading about more retirement fund options for freelancers here in the Philippines so come back and check the list once in a while for updates.