Adjusting Retirement Thinking in Tough Times

The notion of a traditional, leisurely retirement is fading fast.

The precipitous drop recently in retirement investment accounts, rising health care costs, a dearth of traditional pension plans, faltering Social Security and Medicare systems and the fact that Americans just are not saving enough have shattered the hopes of millions of Americans who dreamed of spending their days on a golf course or growing a prize-winning garden.

Instead, retirement is more likely to happen later in our lives and may involve working at least part time. Conclusion: Most of us probably will need a well-defined savings strategy if we expect to retire comfortably.

Most of us have some hurdles to overcome. For starters, we don't know how much we need to save for retirement. In Bankrate's retirement poll, 37 percent of Americans admitted they don't know how much they'll need to retire, and another 15 percent said they took a wild guess at a number.