Retirement Help

Achieving a comfortable retirement in the 21st Century requires a new approach to retirement planning.

This is not your father's retirement. The old model of our Golden Years, where at age 65 we went from work to no work, collected a fat corporate pension and spent our time on the back porch or front nine, has become as dated as a gas-guzzling V-8 with tail fins.

In the new millennium, the standard of living we enjoy in retirement hinges not so much on the security of a company pension plan and Social Security, but on how much we take advantage of tax-deferred savings option such as 401 (k) plans and IRAs and how skillfully we invest our money. Americans are also living longer, staying healthier and remaining more active after they retire.

Retirees are also surfing waves and the Web - not to mention launching post-retirement careers. A recent American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) poll shows that 8 out of 10 Baby Boomers plan to work full or part-time after retiring -not out of necessity but because they see work as a way to remain socially engaged and fulfilled. In short, retirement in the next century is a whole new gig that offers more options, but also demands more careful planning on our part to take advantage of those wider vistas.

The first step to retirement is setting goals. Setting your goals serves another purpose: You cannot put a price tag on nothing. With a concrete objective in mind, you can undertake the essential task of estimating what you goal will cost. And if your goal is affording a comfortable retirement, it's not that difficult to arrive at a number.

A good rule of thumb is to figure that you will need 70% to 100% of your pre-retirement income.