I now carry all my cash, credit cards, travellers' cheques and passport in a money belt.In certain locations you will be asked on the street if you would like to change money at an advantageous rate The simple advice is "don't". Those in between were missing.Thomas Cook in Nairobi was immediately advised of their loss. Upon my return to the capital the sterling cheques, for which I had the numbers, were immediately replaced. No one would leave valuables unattended in a hotel room, but it is easy to overlook travellers' cheques.Three years ago, while on safari in Kenya, my travellers' cheques were concealed in my hand luggage throughout the tour. On the safari drives the bag was with me, but it was left in my room at meal times.

Every couple of days we would move on to another safari lodge. Before leaving, I always made sure that the two folders of cheques were there. It was only when I reached a hotel on the coast before flying to Zanzibar that I realised only the first and last cheques in each folder were in place. Your travel agent or bank will advise you what travellers' cheques to take to a particular destination.For single-centre holidays, security of your cash and travellers' cheques is usually not a problem - all but your immediate needs may be deposited in the hotel safe But when you are touring, this is not always convenient. But US$ cheques are not only exchangeable at banks, they are also accepted as cash in many retail outlets.

It is therefore recommended that you take more smaller denomination cheques than you may think you need. One-dollar bills are also very useful for tips in most countries.In certain long-haul destinations, it is important that even your travellers' cheques are in the "right" currency. In the United States it is virtually impossible to change sterling cheques. In China, Russia and the less frequently visited countries in Asia, people selling their wares in markets will shun their local currency in favour of US dollars. It therefore makes sound sense to take small denomination US dollar bills in addition to your credit cards and travellers' cheques. But if you do not have the spending power you need, you could find that you do not enjoy your break as much as you would wish. While credit cards are accepted in most tourist spots, once you get off the beaten track, or want to make purchases in the local market or bazaar where credit cards are not accepted, you may well find that the US dollar is king. If you are one of the many people planning to use your building society or other windfall for an exotic holiday, you may well be in for a completely new experience.

The new DPP is intended to run parallel with existing schemes, rather than replace them. But after all the false starts in trying to get a proper private pension system that employees will trust, and to which they will contribute freely, this is a positive plan - and it could be up and running within a yearn. There is, of course, no exact figure, but many pension experts say it ought to start at 5 per cent of income early on and rise to 15 per cent when employees are older, and can afford it.There will still be no guarantees, when the time comes to retire, that the pension will provide an adequate standard of living. It also wants employees to be given unbiased advice on how much they ought to be putting into a pension scheme at various stages of their working lives. The only way to solve that problem would be to make pension plans compulsory for all workers, and that is something the OFT would rather leave the Government to decide.The OFT wants the Government to maintain tax concessions on pension contributions. This is another change from the existing system, which allows employers not to contribute if employees join a personal pension plan instead of the company scheme.The new pension plan does not get to grips with the problem of those employers who still do not have a company pension scheme, or the 25 per cent of employees who will rely entirely on the state pension, or the prospect of people paying for their own pension schemes and then paying again, through taxation, to provide for people who were unable or unwilling to join a pension plan of their own.