Preparing for retirement bottom line = Save more!

The past two months I have been lucky enough to spend a couple of weekends away with some of my women friends who are in their late 50s to early 70s. Since we are all about the same age, the discussion at times has been about retirement plans and finances. Most of us are married, one a widow and a few single. Most of us have had our own professional careers as well as having husbands with the same. Our stages of retirement planning and saving are quite different though. A couple of us are retired. One will retire soon. The others don't have any date in mind.

The discussion of retirement finances has been rather general although indicative of concerns and various questions. One person seems to have quite a good amount of money and travels a lot. Another has rental property income as well as no mortgage and a husband still working. However, another couple have 10 years left on their mortgage although they are already 63 and 67. We paid off our mortgage a few years ago although we plan to move to a more expensive housing market after retirement and this house is costly to live in until then.  Some of us will have pensions ourselves or through our husband's work. There is a lot of confusion about when it will be best to take Social Security benefits, how long to expect to live, and how spousal benefits work.

In other words, we are just as confused and in various states of preparation as most people our age.

The one thing that is clear though is that saving as much as possible should have been a priority even if quite a bit was saved! This article and its links may help anyone trying to sort this all out for themselves - Bad and Good Retirement News