ARE you aged between 50 and 54 with a personal pension plan? Is early retirement on your agenda?

If the answer to both questions is yes, you need to know there is a window of opportunity that will close on April 6, next year.

Overnight, you will lose access to your pension pot until you reach the age of 55, which means a five-year wait for anyone turning 50 this year.

The Government wants to encourage us to work for longer, but I know that many people still have a strong desire to retire early.

This is an issue that is slipping out the back door relatively unnoticed, and there are a few million of us who should at least be aware of the change so retirement plans can be reviewed before it is too late.

If you are in a company pension scheme, there is unlikely to be any great urgency because few schemes offer members flexibility to take partial benefits and keep working, or to retire as early as 50 with a pension. Those with stakeholder plans, personal pensions and Sipps are the ones with more choices.

Most people are not in a strong enough financial position to put their feet up in their early 50s, but the greater freedom and flexibility we now have with pension plans means that some benefits can be taken while we continue to work and contribute towards eventual retirement.

In some circumstances, unlocking the pension pot this year can make sense.

The main attraction is the potential to take up to 25 per cent of the pension fund as tax-free cash.

You can either take an annuity from the remainder or leave the fund intact.

Leaving the fund invested changes the nature of the arrangement and, as you might expect, this is a step that has implications in terms of risk and the way future benefits are structured.

A cash lump sum could be used to repay debts or perhaps reduce the mortgage.

The saving on the monthly loan repayments can be redirected back to a pension plan, thereby benefiting from tax relief.

The lump sum could be reinvested to rebuild fund value tax efficiently, but the Government has rules to ensure that no more than £17,500 of pension fund cash is recycled in this way, in this tax year.

The pros and cons have to be carefully weighed up.

Accessing a pension fund early erodes the value for the future and increases the pressure to contribute at a higher rate to replace the amount lost.

The sustained falls in most pension fund values means that now is not necessarily a good time to encash part or all of it, and mortgage interest rates are low, making repaying debt less attractive at the moment.

However, the financial world sits on quicksand and we could see both a stock market recovery and mortgage interest rate jump before next April, changing the landscape completely.

Also, those under financial pressure might welcome the opportunity to access some capital now to use in the short term, at the expense of future financial security.

Sometimes fires have to be fought with whatever water is to hand.

As you might expect me to say, it is a good idea for all of us to take stock of our financial affairs regularly, but if you were born between April 6, 1955, and April 5, 1960, it will be worthwhile reviewing your retirement planning this summer, to give you time to take action if it is appropriate for you.

Pension rules and legislation can be tricky to negotiate, so I suggest you seek specialist advice before proceeding with any changes to your current arrangements.