The defined benefit scheme – whereby the employer promises the employee a specified payment upon retirement, the amount of which is calculated based on several factors including the years the contributor has been in the scheme, their age, and their salary at retirement – is no longer viable in today’s world.

Recently, the high-profile collapse of the construction firm Carillion has served as yet another example of why this is the case.

The collapse means that, just like in the heavily reported case of retail giant BHS, thousands of employees are likely to have their carefully laid out retirement plans affected. Now that the company has gone into liquidation, it cannot afford to pay employees their expected pension amount, leading to yet another sizeable pensions black hole with a deficit of around £580 million (although the BBC reports that the final figure could be as high as £900 million).

I’ve spent the last 40 years working and saving – so what’s next? Should I remain in the UK or consider pastures new? Well someone once said, “The grass is not any greener on the other side” – but what if it was?

Expats may be able to benefit from generous tax legislation in some popular retirement destinations if they decide to make use of new flexible pension rules.

Changes from April 6 will allow those, remaining in the UK and over 55, to withdraw all the money from their scheme, with 25pc as a potentially tax-free lump sum. Alternatively, they can withdraw it in chunks with 25pc tax-free and the remainder taxed at their marginal rate.