Are you doing the right things?

You can't simply save and forget. At least once a year, especially when you're within 15 years of your hoped-for retirement date, find out where you stand. That way you can make necessary course corrections, such as cranking up your savings or delaying your planned exit date.

The calculator to the right can give you a rough idea of the milestones that must be hit at various ages if you wish to retire with 80% of your pre-retirement salary (minus what you save now).

For example, if you're 40 years old, make $100,000 a year, are just starting to save and want to retire by 65, you should be saving 21% of your salary a year. But you can deduct 0.4 points for each $10,000 you already have saved.