With western governments under enormous financial pressures, it becomes increasingly important to be in control of one's own financial destiny, and unless one is fortunate enough to receive a considerable inheritance, win the lottery or get some other form of windfall, this generally means establishing a regular savings habit.
With the objective of constituting a nest egg for the future or indeed a rainy day, one of the most popular methods is to take out a regular savings plan which is simply a "regular saving discipline" over a set number of years. Upon maturity (or earlier in some circumstances) you will be paid a lump sum.
These plans aim for long term growth, and should be viewed as long term commitments, as it is only once your fund has grown over a number of years that the exponential effects of compound interest start to kick in.