Preparing for the road ahead!

t’s never too early to begin planning for retirement. The word ‘retirement’ might scare people compelling them to think about the future. I will plan, ‘some day’. The riskiest word that just gives us an excuse to shelve important decisions.

While this term might sound daunting, it will be good to start planning early. Retirement planning is a process of ensuring the available financial resources without compromising on the desired lifestyle during retirement years.

The first step would be to review how we intend to live today resulting into a point, how we wish to live in the future. People are living longer, traditional benefit plans are now non-existent and inflation is eating away the wealth. All these reasons create a requirement for a life planning strategy which includes wealth formation and wealth management. Every individual has a different preference depending on his spending and investing capacity. Deciding the right age to retire, the required annual income, a realistic return on investment and estimating the value of your savings and other sources of funds are some of the crucial factors for your ultimate retirement goals. Beginning to save for retirement at an early age is one of the important actions in accomplishing success!

Retirement planning is an ongoing, enduring process and the key is to identify early your financial goals so that you have adequate time to save for the present and plan for tomorrow. You may face speed bumps and diversions on the road leading to retirement, but with pertinent planning and disciplined investment it is surely possible to stay on the right track. Haven’t you heard? The only person who will take care of the older you, is the younger you today.

The reader is a communications executive based in Dubai.

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