Abstract:
OBJECTIVES : The study investigated whether dentists in
South Africa are actively planning for retirement and if
they are confident about being able to retire as financially
independent.
METHODS : An anonymous online questionnaire was used
to collect data from private dental practitioners who were
members of the South African Dental Association. Stata
release 11 was used for descriptive statistical analysis.
RESULTS : The majority of the respondents (71%) were
male and 42% of respondents were older than 50 years
of age. It was mostly the older respondents, namely 71%
of 41-50 year old respondents, 94% of 51-60 year old
respondents and 72 % of respondents older than 60
years, who were actively planning for financial independence
at retirement. More than half of the respondents
(54.35%) were not confident that they would be able to
retire as financially independent and think they will have
to postpone their retirements.
CONCLUSION : Retirement planning is much more complex
than simply contributing to a pension, provident or retirement
annuity fund. Dental schools can play an important
role in equipping dentists with the necessary knowledge
and skills to enable proper retirement planning, and to
encourage early retirement saving and investment to ultimately
ensure financially independent retirement.
