figures take neither inflation nor investment income into account). Just remember -- your home is not a 100% useable asset because you will still need to live somewhere. Conclusion. Believe it or not, many New Zealanders have given no thought to how they will survive financially after retirement. Others procrastinate because retirement seems so far away. One of the most common questions we are asked about retirement is, "When should I begin planning for it?" The answer is, whatever your age, "now." Imagine if you had, say, $400 a week to put towards building and asset-base for your retirement.  That is why paying off our mortgages and any other debt must be our first step towards planning for retirement.  Being debt-free immediately increases our disposable income.  This is the income that can then be used to build an asset base for those retirement years. The second step, once debt free, is to determine what will be done to build that asset base.  There are numerous possibilities for investing money - a rental property, the share market, a conventional bank, some business venture.  I'd suggest  anyone with money to invest gets some sort of investment advice.  After all, this is your retirement money and it needs to last a long time.