FOREX NEW YORK COMPANIES

Calum and John Laurie, both of West Lothian, are a perfect example of the way retirement expectations are in decline. Calum, a 57-year-old retired police officer who still consults for the force, has an index-linked pension of two thirds of his salary, which he has been receiving since age 49. John has no pension at all so far, even though at 33 he is just 16 years younger than the age at which his father retired. He expects to have to work until he is 69 at least, and will not receive any state pension until a year earlier.

Father and son's different experiences of finance reflect the changing face of our society. "Things were so much simpler when I was a young man," said Calum. "Credit was so much harder to get and when I joined the police you were simply enrolled into the scheme with no opt out, so there was no question of not having a pension."

Retirement planning is less straightforward for John, a father of two who runs his own outdoor fitness business. John has seen the credit binge of a decade ago catch up with him, and has little spare cash to pay into a pension. With credit cards, student debts and car finance loans compounded into a £23,000 second charge on top of his £130,000 mortgage, he is struggling to find the cash to contribute into a pension.

He has done well out of getting on the property ladder early a decade ago, although his current home, which cost £230,000 two years ago, is now worth £205,000. He would like a retirement income of £20,000 in today's terms, yet to achieve that he is going to have to save more than £350 a month in a pension, assuming he receives a state pension of £7,000 a year. If he delays starting to save by five years, the amount he will need to save will rise to £456 a month.

John said: "Financial products are more complicated now than when my father was a young man. These days you have to make your own choices, whereas in his day it was all done for you. For many years I was not offered a pension because I was not senior enough, and, for those periods when I have been, I have thought I would not be around with this employer long enough to make it worth it.

"The other big difference from my father's generation is that credit was easy when I was in my teens and early twenties. Everything was supposed to be OK because the equity in your house was supposed to pay for it all. I had a fantastic time on credit cards and there was no warning that you needed to rein it in. Then the credit crunch came. The monthly mortgage payments are really biting now and the idea of forking out even more on a pension will leave us really stretched."

But John accepts that the longer he leaves it, the harder saving for a decent retirement will be. "For years I thought I could rely on property for my long-term future. I now accept that a pension may be what I need to do," he said.