We all know we need to save for retirement and that it can be particularly important if you live and work away from home. You may move from country to country during the course of your career, which will make planning for your retirement even more essential.

Wherever you have chosen to live in the world, planning for your retirement is vital if you want to have financial security. With people living longer you could well be retired almost as long as you were working.

You may be enjoying a great lifestyle now but someone once said "It doesn't matter how much you earn, it's what you save that matters".

So you need to plan carefully if you are to sustain a good standard of living when you stop work. Remember your pension will probably be your major source of income when you retire, so it pays to make the right decision and the best time to do something about it is now.

"But I don't need to worry as I'm going to inherit money"

Yes, you may well do, but supposing you don't. Supposing you fall out with the person or persons that you hope to inherit from. They may change their mind and leave it to someone else or could re-marry which may reduce or remove the legacy. On a more sombre note they may fall ill and require long term medical care which can be very expensive. Yes, you may get an inheritance but you may not. Do you want to rely on it?

The plain fact of the matter is the only way that you can guarantee to have the level of income that you require in your retirement is to plan for it yourself.

"Yes but I'm not ready to do it now" – "I'm too young to think about my retirement"

It never seems to be the right time to start putting money away, there are always holidays or cars to pay for. However, every month that you put it off, you will reduce your future income significantly or have to contribute more to get the same level of retirement income. You need to realise there a cost of delay.

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