Many people hear "retirement" and think— what? 401K? Roth vs.Traditional IRA? Stocks, bonds, mutual funds? Do they?

Or do many people put money away according to the suggestedamount and then simply hope that when comes all willwork out?

One report I read estimated that 66 million Americans have putaway a Whopping $0 towards retirement.

Many people are still thinking there might be a thing calledSocial Security around when they retire. Social Security: as of2004, the average annual Social Security benefit isapproximately $11,000. That is not a lot to live on folks. Plus,we all hear the news periodically that there might not be anySocial Security around when we get older and need it.

And as a further WAKE UP call, I found a calculator whichestimated (without Social Security): * a couple at 40 * bringingin $90k a year (together) * with very modest investments wouldneed to save an additional $2,690,000.00 ( yes 2 million +) inorder to retire at 65-- OR – plan on working an additional 29years!!

Now before you get overwhelmed and click over to anotherarticle—lets put our heads together and simply cover a few veryvery basic start up basics.

1) Standard Of Living: You need to know at what standard ofliving you will want to live during retirement. 2) Basic LivingExpenses: You will need to calculate the cost of basic livingexpenses (at that level) i.e. electric bill now of $200 = whatin 2030? 3) Hobbies and Leisure Activities: Know what type ofhobbies, and leisure activities you will keep busy with and whattheir cost might be then. 4) Family Visiting / Travel: Realizethat more and more children move away when grown. So while theywork out of state—YOU may need to do the traveling to see them.Plan for these costs. 5) Convalescent Care (nursing home costs)provincially run about $100/day

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