Baby Boomer Retirement Planning 1 (a series) by Bill Roberts

This is really the pits. We grew up believing that we would work 'til age 65 and then retire to a life of leisure without financial worries.

I don't know about you but most of us are not going to be able live this "fantasy."

Sure as hell can't retire on social security. And Medicare is a poor substitute for my Blue Cross/Blue Shield.

To be able to maintain an "average" middle-class lifestyle a couple needs a minimum of $1,000,000.00 in their retirement account. With an 8% ROI that will only produce $6,667 per month. Not enough to retire to that island paradise.

Take a look at your IRA and 401(k) accounts. Do you have that Mil? If not, what are you going to do about it?

• Live on Less
• Don't Retire
• Add Money to Retirement Account

All three are valid choices. Most of us will choose all three in various combinations. But wouldn't it be nice if we really could retire in style?

In this series of articles I will attempt to lay out a means of accomplishing this goal.

The very first step is to define what your lifestyle will be AFTER retirement. You need to decide where you are going to live, what activities you want to participate in, how often you will travel, and where you will go. Do you have adequate medical coverage? How about life insurance? Do you have Long-term Care insurance? Where are you going to be buried, and who is going to pay for that? Will you have a car? Don't forget repairs, maintenance, insurance, gasoline, and eventual replacement. It's not going to be cheap to retire.

Some people can live on approximately two-thirds of their pre-retirement income. Some other people find that with all that extra time to fill, they actually need more money than before.

Start with the questions that I posed about your anticipated lifestyle. Write it out. Add in the necessary funds to satisfy those needs. Then think about it for a while. You will probably have to rework this several times. It is better to rework this 10 years before retirement while you can still do something about it than after retirement.

Once you know how much you need each month to live your chosen lifestyle during retirement you need to determine how much you need in your retirement account to "throw off" this much each month.

This series of articles will explore various retirement planning strategies which will enable you to exceed, not just meet, your goals.

Stay tuned.