How Social Media Can Help Your Retirement

Typically, we associate peer pressure as something that young people struggle with. However, adults struggle with it as well. It impacts the decisions we make in life, and that extends to our savings, investments and financial planning for retirement.

Unknowingly, social media has slowly but surely crept into our lives to become one of the major sources of peer pressure. Think about it, when was the last time you went a full day without checking your Facebook, Twitter or Instagram? You might even be reading this article through one of the social media channels.

Aside from allowing us to keep in touch with our peers and obtain relevant information at our fingertips, social media has also become an essential ingredient for marketing today. People like to share positive things in their lives, which tend to have a higher level of engagement among their peers on social media. Pictures of friends enjoying their overseas travel and new gadgets make us think that is the norm in life. It is not.

Realistic or not, these posts unknowingly encouraged us to work harder towards our own dream trip, lifestyle, or even ideal retirement plan.

A recent survey done showed that nearly a third of non-retirees in America responded that they are motivated by either financial embarrassment, or the feeling that they are behind their peers, to make better financial decisions.

It would be of no surprise if this percentage were higher in Singapore, the most “kiasu” country in the world.

Different generations have different strategies for financial planning

(Source: Merrill Edge)

According to Merrill Edge, the generation that has yet to retire is showing a lot less dependent on the advice provided by financial advisors, and an increasing reliant on websites and applications to better manage their finances.

Social media tools to help with retirement

Twitter:

Start following useful twitter accounts to get easily acquainted with upcoming events, useful financial tips and news. Some of these accounts may include that of government agencies such as CPFsingapore, or those of financial blogs such as @DNSsingapore (yes, that is us) and @bigfatpurse.

Facebook:

We know of many financial advisors who have created their own Facebook pages to better facilitate the sharing of information. Go on and follow them on Facebook to ride on the information that they are sharing. Yes, they may have sales agenda but ultimately, learning and having more information beats not knowing anything.

Financial websites:

Every time our government rolls out a new initiative, or change an existing policy, it can be difficult to understand how all these could affect our lives. And if you do read up on the changes from the government websites or even the entire press release itself, you will quickly realized just how difficult it is to understand what they are actually talking about.

Financial websites and blogs tend to be written from the point-of-view of the average Singaporeans, largely because these writers are Singaporeans themselves, and are only interested on how any policy changes will ultimately affect them.

Hence, the articles are written in ways that are a lot easier to digest and more importantly, relevant to us.

Where do you get your source of information when it comes to financial related matters? Share it with us on Facebook.

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