• How much do you want?
• How much do you need?
• What is realistic?

How do you decide what is an appropriate amount for you to live on in retirement?

1. To ensure that they are on track to fulfil the purpose you put them in place for. Consider the implications of not being in a position to pay a bill when due, buy a house (for you or your children) when you had planned to do, retire by a certain age. The list goes on.

Aside from the wonderful climate, beautiful sandy beaches, exquisite food and friendly people, Portugal also offers significant wealth planning opportunities.

Various Governments and financial press have continued to cast aspersions over the long term sustainability of the State Pension and pointed to the need for consumers to make their own retirement provision.

I come from a family of non-financial people. None of my childhood friends ventured into the financial world either. When communicating with any of these good people, I have always had to try and jargon bust our dreadfully complicated lingo into something that is easily understandable.

Life insurance can provide invaluable financial protection for your loved ones in the event that you die, but it isn’t always easy to work out exactly how much cover you need.

It's all you ever seem to read about these days isn't it? Ever increasing layers of complication are added each passing year, by Governments that tell us they have been making pensions "simpler" as far back as 2006?