As February turns to March, so ends the annual barrage of advertisements from financial institutions that urge Canadians to contribute to a Registered Retirement Savings Plan and then reap the immediate tax savings.

Most of us likely turn the page or zap through those ads. We鈥檝e got enough on our plates already, with rising fuel prices, the most expensive housing in the country, and making plans for summer vacation.

Sure the tax break we get for contributing to an RRSP is nice, but who鈥檚 really thinking 20 or 30 years down the road when that money could be used toward a new plasma TV today?

We all should.

As it stands, the money deducted from our paycheques for the Canada Pension Plan won鈥檛 go very far to sustain a middle class lifestyle by the time we retire. In fact, there are doubts whether the national pension plan itself can survive the approaching huge bubble of retiring baby boomers.

Just ask workers in France, Germany, Spain and England, who鈥檝e seen their government pension plans so depleted, they鈥檙e now being told they鈥檒l have to work a few years longer before they can claim what is rightfully theirs. Many of those countries have been crippled by strikes and protests as workers ponder a future when they鈥檒l be lucky to enjoy Freedom 75 rather than Freedom 55.

And don鈥檛 think your employer鈥檚 private plan will make up the difference.

For years some companies have been whittling benefits or deferring their share of contributions to tide them through tough times, or make their books look better.

Most Canadian workers spend their employment lives looking forward to the day they鈥檒l no longer have to answer to a boss and punch a clock.

They dream of languid afternoons on the golf course, cross country trips in the RV, extended travels to Europe.

But increasingly and worryingly, that dream is becoming more remote.

鈥擭ew Westminster NewsLeader