You know how it is. You’re coming up to the big 6-0 — and if you’re not, you will be — and you start thinking about that milestone called the retirement age that you’re hoping to come across on your journey through life at some point in the next decade. For many people, that milestone is still at a predetermined point; unlike death, the final destination after retirement, you know when retirement is coming. For some lucky others, retirement is an achievement that can be attained at a time of their choosing — early, on time or late.

And then you start thinking about your accrued pension entitlement, the size of your pension pots and the other assets and investments that you’ve put aside for your retirement. And you realise that something’s not quite right here, that there’s not enough. At least not enough to keep you — and those close to you — in the manner to which you and they have become accustomed. For yet others, then, retiremen