Increase your retirement contribution while you are working. To do this, pick a fund or group of funds that allow you to stay in the equity markets longer. Although I don’t always agree with how target-dated funds invest, I think you can use them to a better advantage than they were intended. If you have a retirement horizon that is twenty-years out, choose a target-dated fund that is targeted at forty-years. (A target dated fund simply re-allocates your investment from riskier to less risky as time goes by. They were recommended by the administration as a way for un-enrolled employees to get in the game instead of using a default money market fund or worse, nothing at all.)

Second thing is to plan to work - but doing something else. Work, believe it or not can actually be healthier than no work. But look for something you would like to do rather than something you are currently doing.

Third: Make sure your retirement plan does not plan for too quick of a withdrawal of funds. Focus on about 4%. Can you live on that? Most folks draw too much too soon and run out of money. Plan on using less and living longer (and, if there was a fourth suggestion, it would be to take care of your health now rather than later.)

Hope this helps.

Best,

Paul Petillo
Managing Editor/BlueCollarDollar.com
http://bluecollardollar.com