More than half of those approaching retirement fear that they will run out of money. Because of this we have a record number of people in this country working into their 70s. There are also more people than ever before that have cut their expenses to the bone, moved in with their children, or have sold their home and moved into a low-cost apartment just so they are sure they won’t run out of money.

I spend a lot of time helping people understand how much money they will need to meet their retirement goals. Today I want to look at this another way: What will $1 million actually get you in retirement? This is an interesting question because a) Many people believe that $1 million is a comfortable amount to meet their retirement goals and b) We can look at the different ways in which a couple can use this $1 million without running out of money.

Most people have several goals in retirement. They want to retire at a certain age, they want to buy a vacation home, a new car, go to Europe twice a year, etc. It’s great to have goals for the retirement years. But I believe too many people skip over the most important goal of them all: Don’t run out of money!

One of the biggest variables that confront people when planning retirement is their life expectancy. Some folks like to use the life expectancy of their age group or the life expectancy numbers that exist for a person born today. But this can be very misleading and can result in retirees running out of money in retirement.

It’s always an interesting experiment to ask people how much money (in today’s dollars) they think they will need to retire comfortably. I’ve found that a lot of folks like to throw out the nice, round figure of $1 million. It’s a reasonable guess, but usually it’s just that: a guess. I wanted to dig deeper and figure out just what it takes to retire comfortably at age 65.

There is a lot of talk out there about how many of us won’t be able to retire until age 70 or 75. It’s a real downer, so I thought I would take this conversation in a different direction: What do you need in order to retire before age 60?

It is a question on the minds of so many people that are planning for retirement: Will I run out of money? We can take into account all of the income a person expects in retirement as well as their assets and spending needs and give a good idea of how long their funds will last. However, this is a static view of things, and as we all know, investment returns and inflation have been anything but static.

This past week some comments by AIG CEO Robert Benmosche went viral as he said he expects the average retirement age to jump to age 80. This just added fuel to the fire of fear that many in their 50s and 60s already have. A case in point: More than half of all baby boomers fear running out of money in retirement more than they fear death. This is according to a study from Allianz Life. Yet nearly 36% of these same people do not know how long their funds will last once they do retire.

Have you heard the latest news on social security? The social security trust fund will be short on funds three years earlier than last projected. The retirement and disability fund is now projected by the Social Security Board of Trustees to be short on funds starting in 2033. By law this means that all of those who receive benefits will have their benefit payments cut by an amount necessary to restore the fund to solvency. This is across the board for everybody. Currently this amount is right around 25%.

Since 2007 we have been watching one financial crisis after another unfold. Greece has defaulted, Spain is moving that way, the euro is in danger of disintegrating, and the U.S. continues to add on $1.5 trillion deficits to its debt. Meanwhile, the Federal Reserve continues to hold short-term interest rates near 0%, which makes for a terrible situation for those wanting to invest in fixed-income. Times are more than interesting when it comes to investing; they’re downright fraught with danger.

There are so many articles written and so much talk today about how a lot of folks in their 50s and 60s either won’t be able to retire before age 70 or may never be able to retire at all. Instead of rehashing this downer of a scenario, I would like to discuss what a person or a couple needs to have today in order to retire before age 65.

For those over the age of 50 it is starting to get down to crunch time in terms of coming up with a solid retirement plan. The questions so many in this age bracket ask themselves are: 1) How much money do I need to retire comfortably? 2) When will my money run out in retirement? 3) What can I possibly invest in given how low interest rates are today?

There are so many strategies for investors that are tossed around these days that it’s easy to forget one of the most important ideas: Those who are younger should be taking more risk in their retirement portfolios than those who are approaching retirement. There are a few reasons for this. First, those of us who won’t retire for another 25 years simple won’t need the money in our retirement accounts any time soon. So the day to day gyrations in the markets have much less impact on our levels of stress and our decision making. Second, because younger folks are much less concerned about day to day movements in their retirement portfolios, they are much less likely to panic and move in and out of the market. And lastly, it has been proven again and again that given enough time, higher risk means higher returns. The key phrase here is “given enough time”.

It is never too early to start thinking about how you might prepare for your retirement years. Unfortunately, many people don’t really sit down and go through any sort of analysis until they’re in their 50s or even later. For those who would like to plan ahead, there are multiple ways to help set yourself up for a secure retirement later. There are also traps that many fall into: Here are three of them to avoid.

Why does it seem like planning for retirement has become so much more difficult in the past five years? So many folks approaching retirement are scrambling to figure out how much money will be there when they retire, whether or not they actually can retire before they’re 65, and if they’ll run out of money before they leave this earth.

It has been a question for as long as people have thought about retirement: How much can one withdraw from his or her portfolio each year without running out of money in retirement?

According to the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, the Social Security fund will be exhausted in 2036. Because there will still be money coming into the fund via payroll taxes and interest from treasury bonds, this doesn’t mean that all Social Security payments will be stopped in 2036. But it does mean that benefits would have to be cut to keep the fund solvent. Given current forecasts, Social Security payments would have to be cut by 25% across the board in 2036 in order to keep the fund from going bankrupt.