Navigating the pitfalls of retirement planning

MANY people wake up one morning and realise it's time to plan for retirement. Often, they are in their 40s or 50s. By then, much precious time has been wasted; cash could have been deployed to work in the financial markets much earlier.

One common human trait is the fear of loss. Confronted with falling asset prices, investors sometimes sell at the bottom of the market and never return. When prices then s…