IT is a rare person who does not yearn to retire early to a villa in sunnier climes, away from work stresses, gridlocked traffic and grey skies.

Although nearly half the working population has no pension plan, survey after survey, including the most recent one published last month by Standard Life, continue to show that people in their twenties, thirties and forties all want to give up working before the conventional retirement age of 65.

In its survey of 950 respondents, Standard Life found that about half of those felt they were too young to worry about a pension.

Another quarter said they didn’t earn enough to start one and another 10% said they didn’t have to bother taking out a pension because their spouse had one.

Even those who had a pension didn’t know what it was worth and most did not know what the state’s old-age pension added up to. (The answer: less than €170 per week.)

While many people dream of giving up work at a younger age, most people are living longer, making that a more expensive dream than ever, according to John Gilmartin, a financial adviser with Business and Financial Planning in Malahide, which does a lot of retirement planning with clients. This all makes financial planning increasingly important.

“People who want to retire earlier have to understand that they are probably also going to live longer,” said Gilmartin. “What it means is that they have to start their pensions a lot sooner and put serious money away every year by no later than 35.”

Anyone who would like to have an annual income in retirement of €50,000 really needs their pension fund to have accumulated to €1m or so once they are at retirement age. Even those who are happy to retire at 65 need to put by substantial amounts to reach that €1m goal.

For example, given interest of 5% compounding monthly, a 25-year-old would need to put into their pension about €650 a month for 40 years. This may seem high but, taking tax relief at the higher rate into account, their actual contribution per month would be less than €460.

As many employers also contribute to the pension fund for their employees, the actual monthly pension deduction from the gross salary might be half that amount.

Someone who leaves it to 35 to start a pension and who has the same goal of €1m and the same interest rate of 5% will need to ensure their total monthly pension contribution inclusive of tax relief and the employer’s share is about €1,200.

For a 45-year-old, that figure rises to about €2,430 and a 55-year-old with just 10 years left to retirement would need a pretty unfeasible monthly contribution of more than €6,435. When it comes to pensions, the lesson is to start early or pay the price.

For those who have the resources, it is also a great idea to make additional voluntary contributions (AVCs) to their pension fund. Not only will doing so boost their income in retirement but it is also a flexible option that allows PAYE workers control over some part of their retirement fund.