A smashing sight, unveiled by the Fire Boys of Vauxhall Street

In an eye opening social experiment, AIA Insurance made people come face-to-face with their future retirement life. A group of Sri Lankans from varied demographics came together in one interesting exercise to discuss what their realistic retirement would look like. Having picked their likely retirement homes, vehicles, travel destinations and shopping preferences from a pack of picture cards, the participants were able to draw up an image of what their retirement would look like.

Interestingly, the younger group was optimistic about their futures, opting for fancy cars, luxurious holiday homes and trips to Paris and Rome! However, the older group  appeared to have much lower expectations, opting for basic vehicles, standard homes and essential shopping. Notably, some were even rather pessimistic about their futures and accommodated the possibility of ending up in the elders’ home.

Neither group was prepared for what came next. The AIA Future Teller, the retirement calculator that gives you an approximate figure of how much you will need at the point of retiring to enable the lifestyle you want, came as a shocker to everyone! However lavish or frugal, they all needed a much larger pension fund to pay for the lifestyle they saw for themselves than they thought!

AIA’s message is simple - be prepared and act now. And if you plan in time you don’t have to give up or adjust your dreams. There is a gap between what you have and what you will need at retirement. Close that gap.

You can view this thought provoking video on AIA’s facebook page aiainsurancesrilankaplc and if you want to try the AIA Future Teller, watch it till the end and click ‘learn more’ - which will direct you to the calculator.