Both retirement schemes and superannuation funds are pension arrangement designed to encourage Jamaicans to save towards their retirement days. Both arrangement are crafted to provide a slew of front end and back end tax incentives for Jamaicans who use them to save money. Both arrangements have many similarities but this article discusses some ways in which retirement schemes differ from the presently more common superannuation funds.
One of the most striking difference between retirement schemes and superannuation funds involve the range of people eligible to benefit. Membership in superannuation funds is limited to those employed by employers that are willing to take on the various legal and administrative costs associated with such funds. Unfortunately most companies have chosen not to take on these costs which have limited the number of Jamaicans being able to benefit from superannuation funds. As a consequence, one dilemma faced by policymakers was how to make Jamaican who are not members of superannuation funds have access to similar benefits.
