Imagine people finding out the hard way how true this quote is. And imagine their panic and despair as they realize that it is quite probably too late to start building an adequate retirement pension.

For many, the ten or twenty years until retirement may seem like the distant future. The warning lights, however, have been flashing for quite some time now.

The reality? Governments worldwide are facing future pension obligations that they will not be able to meet. In developed countries, people are living longer. Consequently, we are faced with aging societies in which fewer workers are paying increasingly higher taxes for the health and retirement benefits of their elderly citizens. Coupled with a declining birthrate, one is left to wonder who will fund the retirement pensions of today’s workers.

Due in part to these discouraging demographics, the trend is for governments to have their citizens take more individual ownership of pension planning. (In the financial services world this is often described as “moving from defined benefits plans to defined contributions plans.”)

What can YOU do about this ticking pensions time bomb?

For one thing, the earlier you face up to the issue, the more options you have. That’s probably why these five important topics almost always seem to come up whenever our consultants meet with people concerned about achieving their financial goals for retirement: