I remembered sitting in school as a young child visualizing what I wanted to be when I grew up. Little did I know that life doesn't always go according to your plan. there are bills, rent, mortgage, school fees, car payments and grocery bills that keep increasing month after month. After giving it some thought I've come to realize that everyone basically want the same thing: 1) to protect their children and love ones from poverty 2) to maintain good health and ensure money is available if they do become ill. 3) to have adequate savings "although saving might be an issue" 4) most  people want to retire early with a comfortable pension With over twenty five years experience in the financial industry , I have decided to share basis financial advice that can be used to take you through this difficult economic climate.

In these tough times I know it may seem difficult to save. There is a distinct difference between saving and investing. Even though they both involve putting aside money they each have  different roles in your financial portfolio. There is an old saying "cash is king" this can often prove to be true as savings can allow an individual to have funds available when its needed most. Savings can even fund investment at times. What exactly is savings?   Savings is the process of putting away hard cash in a liquid safe account that can be accessible within a short space of time. Its best to have both medium term and short term savings. Short term would usually be within 1-12 months with distinct goals such as house and car insurance premium payment, school fees or even playing mas. These accounts usually carry low interest rates and no monthly charges. Medium term savings offer higher returns but most companies attach withdrawal fees and charges to deter withdrawals before

For many, retirement may seem a long way off. I have included a good example to show the true reality of your retirement income. Let us suppose you earn an income of $10000 monthly ,at age 35 and hope to retire at age 60. Try looking at your retirement from a monetary perspective. Put quite simply you would only have 300 months within which you will be paid $3000000. An individual who is not actively pursuing a retirement plan will be faced with even greater financial shortcomings when retirement hits. Registered annuities will pay a monthly income for the remainder of the annuitants life. It is usually a great solution for an individual to put aside small values monthly  and annuities even offer annual benefits via tax refunds. Lets take a look back at the above example. A great place to start is to consider investing 10% of that $3000000 toward your golden years . Therefore that $1000 per month guarantees you an income every month from the day you retire until the day you di