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For most Americans who have not started planning for their retirement,401ks seem like a "good bet". A flaw in this approach is the investor's reliance on employer matching for the plan. This may cause an employee to rely too much on the employer and not contribute enough to savings. Nothing will give you a wake up call like using a retirement calculator. You can find them on the internet from a variety of places. Retirement planning is hard, and it isn't something you just throw together unthinkingly.

Even when you use a professional adviser, the financial planning process can be difficult. There are just so many variable to consider: the age at which you retire, the age at which you start saving money, and the amount you save for retirement are just a few considerations.

Government inflation of the money supply also means you have to account for inflation. That can be hard to do. There are many retirement calculators on the internet to help you though. What most of the calculators will show you, however, is that Social Security - for the most part - will not cover very much of your retirement. You will have to save a lot more money to have even a semi-comfortable retirement.

If the economy is able to grow enough to outpace inflation, your investments must be able to keep up. Even still, with inflation running 3%-5%, your investments are losing value and struggling to keep up.

Years ago our parents and grandparents, grew up in a time when a $50 a week wage was respectable income, and even during mid life that respectable income had quadrupled to $200 a week. But now, more than 50 years later, it would be foolish to expect to be able to live off $200 a week, and the $50 a week income is minor in today's economy.

So, today's wage earners making $500 to $1,000 a week in income can expect similar changes when they reach retirement age. Today's calculations will show wage earners that they should expect to have a retirement nest egg of close to $1 million dollars to retire comfortably in 20 or 30 "Retirement Calculator" years.

One calculator tested online showed that an adult starting with an assets of $100,000 and adding $4,000 year to that nest egg would enter retirement with almost $900,000 but still be bankrupt by 85.

Part of managing your existing income is being able to save money and still having access to it when you need it (sometimes hard to do inside a 401K), and still being able to invest for your retirement (though here, a tax deferral helps). Estimating your retirement income and expenses can be extremely difficult, however, there are many different sources of information and assistance available on the internet to get you started.