In talks I've given all over the country, one thing always draws gasps from audiences: the realisation of just how much is needed, in working assets, to fund a pretty modest long-term lifestyle once you have finished working for a living. Nevertheless, decisions are made everyday to buy another newgadget, or another newoutfit, putting today's pleasure over tomorrow's necessity. So, before you choose between spending your SSIA or investing it and then what to invest it in, consider how the world has changed and what this means for you and your loot. This will give you the "why" of financial planning and long-term investment!

Chances are, your parents and grandparents never heard of the term "financial planning". That's hardly surprising. In times past middle Ireland had little possibility of building balance sheets, or becoming financially independent ¡V you know, that fairytale point where your working assets (that is, all of your investible assets, but not including your home, car, etc.) are capable of permanently replacing the cost of your lifestyle. Back then, that notion was neither a real possibility nor a real problem. High unemployment and mass emigration, set against a backdrop of continuous economic failure, meant that most people were just making ends meet - often just barely.

The employment deal was also fundamentally different. It was common to stick with the one employment for the entire length of one¡¦s career, putting in forty years service and earning a pension that could be beefed up with the State old age pension. And, of course, there were no envious glances at the Joneses because most people were in the same boat without life jackets . . . and it was leaking.

There was also a fundamental difference in attitudes to retirement...

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