Inspiring, award-winning business leader and financial services expert, Perminder Choban reveals that retirement as we currently know it is a relatively new concept and provides statistics that reveal many Canadians are not preparing financially for retirement.

RICHMOND, VANCOUVER BC– July 21, 2015 – Award-winning and inspiring business leader and financial services expert, PerminderChohan has posted a new blog on the Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network website entitled, “Retirement, A Relatively New Concept.” Even though most people think about retirement, most don’t consider the history of this concept.

Mr. Chohan clues us in, writing, “The history of retirement is just a little over 100 years old. In fact, in 1890 most people died while still employed. If their health held out beyond their ability to work, they “retired” at age 85. So, as you can see, our concept of retirement is fairly young.”

Chohan turns his attention to a New York Times article to further illustrate this point quoting, “In 1883, Chancellor Otto Von Bismarck of Germany had a problem. Marxists were threatening to take control of Europe. To help his countrymen resist their blandishments, Bismarck announced that he would pay a pension to any nonworking German over age 65. Bismarck was no dummy. Hardly anyone lived to be 65 at the time, given that penicillin would not be available for another half century. Bismarck not only co-opted the Marxists, but set the arbitrary world standard for the exact year at which old age begins and established the precedent that government should pay people for growing old.”

(http://www.nytimes.com/1999/03/21/jobs/the-history-of-retirement-from-early-man-to-aarp.html)

Chohan continues, adding, “The U.S. adopted 65 as the retirement age in 1935, and it was adopted in Canada shortly thereafter. This timeline makes the parents of the baby boomer generation retirement pioneers, as we now know it.”

Providing even more statistics, Chohan states, “According to a report on Statistics Canada from the Canadian Financial Capability Survey, “in 2014, one in three Canadian adults (33.8%) were not preparing financially for retirement either on their own or through an employer pension plan.” In addition Statistics Canada also reports that, “Almost 6 in 10 (59.6%) Canadian adults did not know how much money they would need to save to maintain their desired standard of living during retirement.” (http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/141106/dq141106b-eng.htm)

The entire blog can be found at http://www.dfsinrichmondsouth.ca/retirement-a-relatively-new-concept/

About Perminder Chohan

Mr. Chohan started his career in the financial services industry when he joined a Registered Education Savings Plan company in 1998. In six short months, he became their number one agent nationally. In 2003, Mr. Chohan expanded his career spectrum and started in the life insurance industry. Since then he has been instructional to over 200 agents in their career training and development. In 2009, Mr. Chohan joined Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network as a managing director. His office has since proliferated with great business success.

Under Mr. Chohan’s leadership, the financial centre received multiple top awards from the network in categories such as recruiting, business growth and total sales for a centre with less than 50 associates. As of beginning of the fall this year, Mr. Cohan’s team once again leads in sales, recruiting and growth.

About Desjardin Financial Services

 Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network with its Quebec counterpart, SFL Partner of Desjardins Financial Security, is a national financial products and services distribution network. All together, the network has over 40 financial centres and more than 1500 independent representatives across Canada.

At Desjardins Financial Security Independent Network, every associate is an independent representative in partnership with the network. This means that our financial services advisors are not limited to a single line of products, and we’re not tied to a specific investment management company or insurance provider. We look at our clients’ individual needs and guide them in choosing the services and products that are right for them.

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