Taofik Salako
NIGERIANS need to pay attention to comprehensive financial planning and wealth management to optimise their incomes, savings and investments and ensure they have desired retirement life and leave a legacy for their heirs and the society.
At a private breakfast session on retirement, tax and wills held by Meristem Wealth Management Limited in Lagos, finance and investment experts underscored the importance of retirement planning, tax planning, will and trust.
The theme of the session was: conversations you do not want to have. Group Managing Director, Meristem, Mr. Wole Abegunde emphasized the need for individuals to begin retirement planning at an early stage of one’s career.
He said that the key to a comfortable retirement lies in the time allotted to putting resources aside noting that starting early makes retirement a lot easier.
He explained that Meristem aims at enlightening and helping attendees make informed decisions about the management of their wealth and its preservation over the long term.
A panel discussion that featured Sulaiman Adedokun, Managing Director, Meristem Wealth Management Limited; Mercy Aminah, Managing Director, Meristem Trustees; Yomi Olugbenro, Partner and West Africa Tax Leader, Deloitte and Joseph Ariyo, founder Telnet Group of Schools itemized the key points individuals must focus on.
The session was moderated by Damilola Hassan, Head, Wealth Management, Meristem. Adedokun noted that there are two phases of retirement including active retirement, which involves the desire to remain active and engaged – travel, take vacations, get involved in community and social causes and passive retirement, which includes spending time with family, nursing health issues and generally winding down.
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According to him, these retirement phases are not inevitable and should be characterized by financial stability which must be accumulated early in one’s career.
He further explained that retirement planning should not be treated as an activity for the old or about to retire, but rather as a starter pack for a fulfilled career.
Olugbenro addressed one of the pain points for attendees which bordered around understanding the tax regime in the country.
He spoke on the benefit of the new finance bill for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) and small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
“Prior to the amendment of the finance bill, all entities and companies in Nigeria have been mandated to pay company income tax on their income, but with the new amendment of the bill, micro and small enterprises are no longer automatically required to pay company income tax, where small businesses in this regard are classified as companies with an annual turnover of 25 million naira or less,” Olugbenro said.
He added that while the value added tax (VAT) rate might have been increased, government is also encouraging MSMEs and SMEs to float their business through legal entities and in exchange their businesses can benefit from incentives.
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