Introduction

Being poor is not a sin, but remaining as one is. This is one of the value that is being
lived by most of us. People are striving to excuse themselves from poverty, so at an early age
they are starting to work hard and earn. But many are just focusing on the present and are
neglecting for the future. So one of the solution of the government is the pension plan. A pension
is a regular payment made during a person's retirement from an investment fund to which that
person or their employer has contributed during their working life. However, social protection in
the Philippines has historically been weak and fragmented, and has mainly supported small
segments of the population in the formal sector. The country lacks effective social protection
schemes, where, ironically, the greatest number of people lives in absolute poverty. Philippines
is a home to an ever-increasing number of older people or people aged 60 and over. As of June
2014, there are 979, 319 pensioners in SSS and they receive a monthly pension of P 2,988 on
average. Many of this older people do not receive enough pension to support their subsistence
needs and meet their mounting medical expenses resulting them to rely on their families and
informal social networks for survival or worst just ignoring their needs. In its report, the National
Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said the average pension a senior citizen receives from
the Government Service Insurance System was only P7, 768 in 2008, P8,359 in 2009 and P8,
586 in 2010. GSIS, the state-owned pension fund for government workers only approved a 1.5
percent increase in pensions effective January 2010. However, average increases of prices of all
items between 2009 and 2010 are 3.6 percent and 3.8 percent among all income and bottom 30
percent households, respectively. Thus, during this period, the average monthly GSIS pensions
did not increase as fast as prices of general commodities. These means that pension cannot catch

up with the rapid growth of inflation, so the researchers would like to find another type of
investment, which could be more enough to support the financial need of retirees.