Retirement is as inevitable as death. One cannot run away from it. One cannot delay it either. When it decides to come, it comes. No matter what. Everyone, whether in the formal or informal sector will retire at some point and for the majority of the people, life is never the same.
The worst thing that can ever happen to someone is to retire without something to fall back on. Depression sets in when the normal stream of income reduces or stops flowing in as soon as someone retires. It is, therefore, important to prepare for this inevitable day.
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It is on the premise of making Kenyans have something to fall back to when the sunset years finally set in that the National Social Security Fund (NSSF) was born. This is a friendly service organization that exists for the public good. It offers social protection to all Kenyan workers.
NSSF provides social security protection to workers in the formal and informal sectors. They register members, receive their contributions, manage funds of the scheme, process, and ultimately pay out benefits to eligible members or dependents.
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NSSF plays a huge role in Kenya’s economy that is rarely seen from the surface. For instance, the organization is significant in the mobilization of domestic savings among Kenyans in all sectors. This has played a role in poverty reduction and increase in financial inclusion.
It has played a role and continues to in the reduction in dependency ratio through the provision of Social insurance to Kenyans in both informal and formal sectors which will in turn help to reduce vulnerability and poverty among the elderly in Kenya.
There have been efforts to support Kenya to become a middle-income country through an effective social protection system and NSSF has been at the forefront by creating products and services tailored towards making sure that this dream is realized.
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At the same time, NSSF has been putting some huge investments in Government Bonds and T-Bills, as well as supporting the implementation of the BIG Four agenda through affordable housing.
What is more, the informal sector worker provision of consumption smoothing in the short term and long-term savings for retirement is something that every Kenyan should embrace.