IT USED to be that life started at conception or birth, depending on your religious views.

These days, it may just as well kick in at age 62, going by the fixation on retirement planning.

That's it, as far as some insurers and financial planners are concerned.

Their refrain: Save now so that you can maintain your current lifestyle even after you stop working.

Or, even better, "make your money work harder" for you by buying insurance or investing it.

People are told from as young as in their early 20s to plan for retirement, as the spectre of a penniless old age looms in the distant but all too vivid future painted for them.

As a result, close to a fifth of Singaporeans believe they need a hefty nest egg upwards of $1 million to retire comfortably.

Okay, that rules me out for the cosy watch-sunset-under-the-porch scenario, unless I win the Nobel Prize and the 10 million kroners (S$2.2 million) that it comes with.

But really, I wonder about the mathematics, given that the average Singapore earns about $40,000 a year.

All this talk about retirement planning has given rise to a breed of cautious Singaporeans who plan 60 years ahead when they are 20, lining the whole journey with do-or-bust mileage markers - and strict budgets.

They buy a car at 25, tie the knot at 30, start a brood at 35, move into a downtown condo at 40, sack the boss at 50, and so on and so forth.

They squirrel away every available cent, split dinner bills painstakingly with friends, and buy stuff only if there's a sale.

While it's prudent to plan for our golden years, something's wrong when it stifles spontaneity 40 years ahead of schedule and induces much hand-wringing over a perceived lack of funds.

Besides, the wish to maintain one's "current lifestyle" in retirement doesn't stand to reason.

Me at age 62 cannot be the same me at 30, mentally, physically, emotionally.

My needs and wants will be totally different. In fact, the checklist of wants will probably have whittled down to insignificance.

Branded handbags and designer threads? Wine and dine? Holidays in exotic locales?

When I'm all wrinkled and probably arthritic? I don't think so.

Even if I become chronically ill and require long-term, expensive, medical care, I could just "call it a day", as a friend puts it.

So I'll forget the daunting million-dollar requisite. As Ms Liz Pulliam Weston, an American financial columnist, says, how much you need to retire is really entirely up to you.

I'll be contented with just a room full of books, decent food on my table, and satisfaction with a life well-spent.

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