Regrettably, a great many young people, especially men, have no interest in discussing their retirement years, seeing it as an intrusion upon their current lifestyle and a distant bridge which they’ll cross when they reach it — that is, if they ever do.

Which is why we found the article titled ‘Children are not your pension!’ in yesterday’s edition of this newspaper to be a compelling read, with the main takeaway from experts that men should “buck tradition and actively prepare for their golden years”.

Indeed, for many Jamaicans, it is cultural practice to depend on their children to take care of their needs in old age. In some cases, the children are also expected to provide for their grandparents as well.

Those in the population who are more insightful would have noticed that this dependence on children is increasingly tenuous and is not working out well for either party, for the simple reason that there is too much poverty in Jamaica.

We embrace the suggestion from Mr Davian Jones, insurance pension sales officer at the NCB Insurance Agency, that: “Planning for the best stage of your life — when you are free from work and ideally free of bills such as a mortgage — should be seen as important as planning for any other major event in your life.”

Planning for retirement and following through with the necessary action gives the best chance of having some kind of retirement income. The earlier one sets out to do this the greater the income or pension.

This propensity for depending on children as old-age pension is, unfortunately, not limited to Jamaica. It is a worldwide phenomenon, which is more pervasive in the lower-income countries. Yet, wherever it is practised, the trend is the same — children are finding it burdensome to take care of themselves and their parents.

The Planning Institute of Jamaica (PIOJ) tells us that Jamaicans over 60 account for nearly 14 per cent of the population and are the fastest-growing segment of the country’s demographics. That means more old parents who require medical and social services.

At the same time, the Financial Services Commission reports that at the end of 2022 only 143,000 people, or just 11.2 per cent of the employed labour force, were in some kind of pension scheme. Roughly 500,000 were covered under the National Insurance Scheme (NIS), which provides an appalling maximum benefit of $13,000 per month.

Adult children, especially those who have their own families, are going to find it difficult, if not impossible, to provide for parents who carry into their 60s a sizeable mortgage, credit card balances, car payments, insurance costs, and utility bills. It’s what African Americans sometimes refer to as a “black tax”.

Important things to remember include the fact that parents sometimes outlive their children and so they might not always be there for them; unless they are wealthy, they might only be able to provide for needs not wants; competing needs can lead to internal conflicts and parents can lose their freedom and independence, according to Nasdaq.

As for parents who abandon their children, they might as well forget any assistance in old age.

Workplaces should do everything to encourage young employees to plan for retirement.