Is it sensible to start saving money for retirement when you need all the money you can lay your hands on to live your life now! Surely if you invest your money in something that you can use during your life, then use the equity for retirement, that is better than having a pension?

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Yesterday.

You need to adjust your view of where you are, you do not "need all the money you can lay your hands on to live your life now", you are just too lazy to budget! Think about it, if your boss came to you tomorrow and said "Times at Mill is hard, lad, we'll have to fire you all or give you a ten quid a week pay-cut..." you would likely take the paycut over being on the dole and going to the JobCentre all the time...

If you give YOURSELF a ten quid a week paycut, and invest it in a mutual fund yielding 10-12% a year (long-term average), you will have a million pounds or so CASH by age 68

Or you can be the average Brit and expect the government to look after you...

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I would say that it is never to late to start looking into a stable retirement plan. I don't know how reliable it would be to rely on an equity from an investment because you will never be sure how much you will get back in the future. It is a bit of a risky idea since economic shocks always hit different sectors and when it comes time for you to need to use this equity it might not be as much as you were planning for. I would look into and ISA or possibley a pension or both. Maybe you should start thinking about what would work best for you. I found this general overview on pensions. Thought it might help!
uk.Moneto.eu Pension Index
Or since you said you need your money for living now maybe an ISA would be better because then if you really need the extra money you can get to it again!
Fidelity.co.uk ISA options
I really think it is always a good idea to put a little something aside so you don't panic 20 or 30 years from now! Hope this was useful

Cheers

Thanks for your suggestion and i agree that it is never to late to start looking into a stable retirement plan.

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