Aegon, one of the world's largest pension firms has published an interesting piece of research about how saving small amounts of money today can add up with the power of compounding to be a large amount of money several years in the future.

They highlight on what many people love to buy (sometimes on a daily basis) a Café Latte from Starbucks or one of the other High Street coffee shop chains. Save on the cost of one these on a daily bases and look at what can be financially achieved -

• The UK Government is proposing that the state pension age rises from 65 to 67 for a 35 year old and 68 for a 20 year old
• But an extra £2.40 saved by a 35 year old earning the average salary of £25,000 could enable them to reach a target pension (ignoring state pensions) of ½ their final salary at 65, not 67 years
• A 20 year old could retire 3 years before 68 at 65 with just an extra £1.68 saved a day

Summary

With all the talk on pensions being generally negative it's actually surprisingly easy to take matters into your own hands by making small changes in your savings and/or personal budget. These small changes made today can as the Aegon research shows, make a massive difference to your future retirement choices.