by The Green Fairy

Created on: November 16, 2010

One day you'll want to retire from day-to-day work and enjoy the fruit of your labors. You might choose to wind down your career gradually or bring it to a complete stop. Whatever you do, you'll want to be sure you have enough money to live on, to enjoy yourself, to pay for healthcare and perhaps even to leave as an inheritance for the next generation.

The best way to save for retirement is to have a plan and to act on it. The details for your plan will vary depending where you live and your personal circumstances. Almost every nation encourages people to save for retirement but the way they approach it and the incentives they offer vary from one country to another.

But what's essential for successful saving is the intent followed by the action. Without either of these you are depending on chance and good fortune.

Once you've decided to save for the future, here are some ways to approach it. It's important to remember that the earlier you begin saving, the more you'll have at the end, or the less you'll have to put aside now.

1. Take maximum advantage of your employer's pension plan. If your employer is willing to match the amount you put into a pension scheme, up to a certain amount, then you should do all you can to get your maximum entitlement. This is extra money for you in the future so while it might be painful to make slightly higher contributions now, you'll reap the reward one day.

2. Pay into a personal pension plan. These operate slightly differently in every country, but in general there are some useful tax breaks to be had if you put some of your earnings into a pension savings plan. This could be through your employer or completely independent. 

3. Pay into a tax free savings plan. Again, each nation takes a different approach to these. Canada has the TFSA (Tax Free Savings Account) while the UK has the ISA (Individual Savings Account). This is way of saving that's not directly linked to retirement but is a great way to build up a fund that can be used in the future.

4. Invest in assets. Not all savings has to be in the form of putting cash aside. Assets, such as a land, property or a business can provide a sizeable amount of cash if they are sold to fund retirement. Property can include buildings, fine art, wine, or gold.

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