This 'Tweet', by one of my Twitter contacts Jim Zeigler in the USA, is provocative to say the least. But the longer I do this job, the more I realise that the traditional idea of retirement is as relevant today as the Sinclair C5.

Until only a couple of decades or so ago, the normal state of affairs was that you had a job for life, worked there from age 18 till age 65, then retired on a good pension. Whatever your politics, you must surely agree that the decline of the manufacturing sector in this country to be replaced by the service industry with its high staff turnover, has done for this idea of retirement.

I heard it said recently that Baby Boomers don't retire, they re-tyre, that is they change what they are doing or how they are doing it. The idea in the tweet above that it's possible to live a life doing what you hate in the hope that one day you will be able to stop doing it, depreses me. Why would you spend so long doing what you hate?

I suppose I'm privileged to love my work so much. I'm aware that many people aren't so lucky and feel trapped in the staus quo. What is really trapping these people though is fear about money.

Financial Planning will enable you to visualise your financial situation instead of it being an amorphous blob of confusion, 'out there', but not quantifiable. It'll help you to understand your options and help you to accellerate your progress towards them. It'll remove the fear of the financial unknown and help you to realise dreams.