Provision for retirement can take many forms but for many, the need only becomes pressing when retirement is a few years away. By then, the cost of addressing the need will be very much higher and ultimately many are left disappointed with the level of benefits secured. The State Pension alone (at £97.65 per week for 2010/11) will be inadequate for most and therefore, additional private provision is advisable.

The Government has introduced significant changes in recent years which affect all areas of retirement planning, including State, Personal and Company Pensions. In many cases, these changes have reduced retirement benefit expectations (especially from the State) and the opportunity for early retirement may be more difficult to achieve (due to increasing State Pension ages and the earliest age from when other pensions may be claimed).

Many of these reforms may have affected your own retirement income expectations and therefore, it is prudent to review your provisions periodically to ensure that you remain on track to realising your objectives. Without this, you run the risk of needing to work for longer (depending upon your health), or at worst being reliant upon a basic subsistence income from the State, which is unlikely to allow you to enjoy your retirement to the full.

Retirement planning need not only include pensions as other far more flexible and accessible forms of investment may play a significant or even primary role. What is vital is to at least consider when you hope to retire and if that was today, to decide upon the basic level of income you would need for this to become a reality. This does not mean that your plans and needs are set in stone (as clearly, your circumstances may change many times) but it will at least enable you to plan how best to make your retirement objectives a reality.