Young people rarely think about retirement; to them it is a time of life in the far distant future - and they are not even sure they’ll live long enough to retire. However, the years do pass quickly and it will seem no time at all before retirement looms ever closer. And it’s a bit late to start retirement planning then.

While you don’t have to constantly think about retirement planning while you are young, you do need to plan for it. Find out how much you will need per year to live on after you retire and multiply it by 25, which is the average length of retirement. Allow for things you might want to do, such as travel. Then find out how much money you will need to have saved up to give you a comfortable retirement.

If you have been actively working for many years, you might find retirement just plain boring; so planning is also needed to make that transition - not just in the financial area. It’s not that easy to suddenly lose contact with all your work colleagues and the stimulus of the working environment, especially if you were happy in your job. You might want to ease into it gradually by working part time. Or you could have many activities planned to keep you busy.