It is not a particularly good idea, says Janice Robinson Longmore, to dip into you retirement savings to pay for advanced degrees for your adult children.

Yet, it is a practice not uncommon in Jamaica, says the vice-president for funds administration at First Global Financial Services, and too often, with painful consequences all round.

"You cannot use your life savings to educate your child and then plan on their support during retirement," she says.

children should pay

Indeed, says Robinson Longmore, people close to retirement age, having taken on the costs of funding such higher degrees, often abroad, have been known to lose their homes as the debts pile up.

Robinson Longmore's suggestion: Beyond their first degree, children, except where their parents can demonstrably afford it, should pay for their education.

Beyond being wary of taking on education debts at that stage of their lives, Robinson Longmore has some other advice to people not far from retirement:

They should rid themselves of all debt as they approach the time when they will no longer have jobs. Mortgages and all loans and credit cards should be paid off. No new debt involving the purchase of cars, homes or the use of a new credit card should be incurred. They should make all additions and renovations to their home before leaving their jobs.

They should take advantage of government health programmes, such as the National Health Fund and the JADEP - the Jamaica Drugs for the Elderly Programme - which can be combined with their own health insurance to leave them with almost no expenditure at all on chronic diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension and asthma.

They should not cash out their pensions when moving from one job to another, but ask to transfer it to their new job. If the pension is vested, that is, the individual's contributions have been matched by those of his/her employer, they should leave it where it is until retirement. Such individuals should also consider contributing to an independent pension scheme, such as those offered by credit unions and other fund-management companies.