Retirement is something nobody thinks about when they're young and struggling to be the most sought after personal chef in Toronto. However, the years come slowly creeping up and before you know it you'll be too old to work. If you've been diligent about saving for retirement, you'll be very comfortable, but if you've put it off and put it off until it was too late, you'll be forced to rely on your old age security cheque. To keep this from happening to you, follow these tips on saving for retirement.

Start Early

Ideally, as soon as you got your first job in the fire sleeve factory you should have started squirreling your pennies away for retirement, but hardly anyone starts that early. Start as soon as you're starting to have a little surplus left over from your paycheck that you don't have to spend on groceries or rent or utilities. And if you've left it late, don't convince yourself it's too late. Better late than never.

Invest

Saving is all well and good but if it's sitting there in your savings account, even if you're a lawyer in Toronto it's only earning you pennies a year when it could be working much harder for you. If you want your savings to grow, you need to invest it. Go to a financial planner, either at your bank or at a financial management company, and open an RRSP (Registered Retirement Savings Plan) or another investment fund. This will put your money to work.

Manage Risk

The riskier your investments are, the larger the potential returns, but your retirement savings plan is not the type of thing you want to try and go high risk with. Because along with potential high rewards, there's also potential ruin. If you lose it all, you'll have to work at your Newark airport car service until you're dead instead of having a nice break after retirement. There will always be some level of risk in investing, but by spreading your money around you and your advisor should be able to manage it.

No Dipping

It can be very tempting when you're young to dip into your retirement savings when you really want something. Whether it's a new car or a shiny new toy, resist. Once you break the barrier between you and the money, you will find yourself crossing it more and more often. So buy used woodworking equipment instead of brand new stuff. Drive your car a little longer. Go to PEI on vacation instead of Australia, and keep your hands out of the cookie jar.