New Retirement Income Rule

This article talks about the old retirement rule of needing 80% of your pre-retirement income in retirement. It should be a pretty simple concept that this is just a general rule and depending on what you do in retirement that percentage could be off by quite a bit. If you are going to travel the world in your retirement that is going to cost you more that you are currently spending on bills and the grocery store. If you plan to live in the room over your child's garage and play with the grand kids all day then you could possibly need a lot less than that. This article just points out that you need to plan out what your expenses will be in retirement to know what percentage of pre-retirement income you will need. (Ask the Mole: Retirement - How Much You'll Really Need)

Mistakes in Retirement Planning

(Nine Dumbest Retirement Moves) This article has a good list of common mistakes that take place on the way to retiring. It brings out some good points about what people do and what people think about retirement that can change how they exist in retirement. It also mentions several times that miss planning for retirement can turn your dream into a nightmare. When you don't save and plan adequately your dream of life in the beach house can turn in to a place of struggling to make your payments and looking for help from your family. Even when you are young simple things like cashing out of a 401K plan when leaving your job can create a financial hole when you retire. When you are young you should consider how your descisions are going to affect the long term.
The key to this advice is to learn from the problems that are being found commonly in those that have already retired. People struggling from payment to payment due to inflation is a lot more common then you might think.

Saving When Your in Your 20s

(Financial Tips for 20-Somethings) Here is a quick read article talking to a guy with some good insight into personal finance in your 20s.

Retirement is More Than a 401K Plan

(The Five Stages of Retirement) When your saving all your life for your retirement keep in mind what you are going to do for the potentially 35 years after you retire. This article talk about what to expect through retirement. It breaks retirement up into pieces and explains how the people surveyed felt in each of these stages. The article also shows how the average person needs to remember that there is a lot of time in retirement and TV will not produce a happy and healthy person. You need to consider how you will keep your body and maybe even more importantly your mind in good condition.