Retirement Planning
Ideally you should start building your retirement fund as soon as you start work.
If you are lucky to be employed where there is a pension scheme, take full advantage of it. If not start saving anyway, even the price of a daily cappuccino is worth saving for your retirement.
Forty years of earning is all you have to fund your remaining life until you die. If you don't take retirement funding seriously you will be left with zero choice once you stop working. No-one wants to just survive on the state pension alone.
Income
Retirement income can come from a range of sources, not just pensions. Any assets that can be turned into cash to produce income are part of your retirement planning. Some are better at producing the growth than others. Currently property is popular but it should never be the only asset you own.
Asset allocation
Consider the downside of property - it can be a deteriorating asset, most new properties need substantial capital expenditure over the years. Currently there are a lot of new builds in the wrong areas where prices are falling and flats remain unoccupied. Areas can stop being fashionable, particularly if there is a lot of absent landlords and the vandals move in. Tennants often cause damage and leave without paying their rent. Property can be an excellent way to invest but it is far riskier, and harder work, than most people realise.
Stocks and shares have made excellent returns for investors in the past three years but again there are risks. Corporate bonds, antiques, paintings and just about anything else you may think of investing in come in and out of vogue.
Advice
A good adviser can discuss the pitfalls of most assets and help you build a diversified portfolio of assets that suits your life style now.
The things to aim for are tax efficiency, balance of risk and reward and the ability to dispose of sufficient assets, quickly enough, when you need to. The easy disposal of an asset, cheaply and without paying a disproportionate amount of tax is crucial when you are planning for retirement income.
Also:
