For only P500, Social Security System (SSS) members can start saving up for their retirement fund and earn a higher annual return through its reintroduced savings program.
SSS President and Chief Executive Officer Roland Ledesma Macasaet urged its members to enroll in the MySSS Pension Booster, which can provide a projected annual return rate of 7.2 percent.
“If you want to build your retirement fund while you are young, invest in the MySSS Pension Booster. You have a medium-term financial goal? Why not start saving your money in the MySSS Pension Booster to reach that goal? Our savings program offers so much flexibility than most savings programs,” he said.
The program is composed of mandatory and voluntary schemes, wherein the former automatically enrolls members contributing above the ceiling of P20,000 to the Regular SSS Program.
SSS allows partial or full withdrawal of their savings in the program wherein they get their total contributions together with the investment earnings, Macasaet added.
However, members are encouraged to retain their money in the program until they retire. “When they get their retirement, total disability, or death benefits from the Regular SSS Program, they will also receive their total contributions plus investment earnings from the MySSS Pension Booster tax-free.”
Maritime professionals, overseas Filipino workers (OFWs), self-employed professionals, and corporate executives, are encouraged to start building their retirement funds as early as today, noting that “planning and saving for retirement should begin from the first day they start earning money.”
“When people are in their 20s, they have their whole life ahead of them. Saving for their retirement becomes their least priority. However, the best time for them to start saving for retirement is today while they are young. When they retire, they will realize the immense value of building a retirement fund early in their lives,” Macasaet stated.
Another advantage of early saving for retirement is compound interest, which is the case of the MySSS Pension Booster, where members’ pooled contributions earn investment income annually, he said.
The SSS chief said that members could further maximize their earnings if they stay in the program for at least five years or more because the longer they leave their money with SSS, the bigger earnings they will get.
The SSS earlier rebranded its Worker’s Investment and Savings Program (WISP) and WISP Plus into the MySSS Pension Booster to cater to corporate managers and executives, doctors, lawyers, OFWs, Filipino expats, seafarers, and young professionals who want to boost their savings or retirement funds.
The booster program is among the reforms introduced by Republic Act No. 11199 or the Social Security Act of 2018, sponsored by Finance Secretary Ralph G. Recto during his senatorial term, who also serves as the chairperson of the Social Security Commission, the highest governing body of the SSS.