When planning for retirement, the first thing people think about is where the money will come from once there’s no full time job anymore.

That is why most people start planning and saving for retirement several decades in advance. Although there are several solutions that help you retire comfortably, such as pensions and equities and life settlements, a lot of people are not aware of all of them.

The truth is, financial solutions available for retirement have expanded in the last few years. People retiring today or in the years to come have more options available than those who retired 20 years ago. The following are the top 5 financial solutions you could use to secure your future post retirement.

Retirement savings account: There is nothing more secure than having significant savings to retire on. If you have an account full of cash after retirement, it has the potential to last you a lifetime.

But in order to develop the savings, you need to put aside substantial money in your retirement account throughout your working years.

Distributions from regular accounts are taxable, but if your distributions are from Roth accounts, they are tax free. Begin with as low as $500 a month, and gradually increase the amount you save every month.

Life settlements: Did you know you could sell the life insurance policy you no longer need or want? Yes, it’s called life settlement:>, and involves selling your life insurance policy to another person for a sum of money. That person then becomes the beneficiary and starts paying the premiums.

After a certain point, you may no longer need a life insurance policy that you had purchased several years ago. Selling it is also a great source of money that you could use to retire comfortably.

Pensions: Various companies offer pensions to retired employees. If you worked for a company longer than 10 years or worked for the same company throughout your career, you could be eligible for a handsome pension amount. Make sure to check if you have m any unclaimed pension, because no matter how small the amount, you wouldn’t want to disregard free money.

Annuity: There are various annuity solutions that allow you to invest a one-time money and get returns for the next several years. It’s like investing in a bank fixed deposit.

Downsizing: Once they retire, many people sell of their large house, buy a smaller place, and invest the proceeds from the sale to secure their future. Plus, a smaller place is easier to maintain and the taxes are also lower.

Savings account, life settlements, pensions and annuity thus remain some of the most popular financial solutions for retirement.