(FORTUNE Magazine) – You think Moses had a hard time finding the Promised Land? In today's frenzied atmosphere of market spikes, game-show millionaires, and P&G paupers, figuring out when you're going to retire has never been so tough. One minute you're worth $10 million on paper, the next you're wishing you'd never left that cushy job over at GM. Okay, so maybe that's a bit of a stretch, but you know the feeling: uncertainty. In these tenuous times, what will your retirement look like? Will you be pinching pennies at 80 or tending to your Napa Valley vineyard at 43? To give you an idea, we've broken down retirement by the decades. Measure how well you stack up with a retirement reality check, or just indulge in the good-life fantasy (yup, we're talking Gulfstreams and your own Swiss banker). Here, retirement through the ages.

The Road To Retirement Decade By Decade

Your 30s

FANTASY You always knew your idea for streamlining the optical networking "space" would net you heaps of cash, and now it has (in this fantasy you cashed out on March 9). With no more 100-hour workweeks, your only job is to figure out how to blow a $600 million nest egg.

REALITY Let's just say that if software barons still burn the midnight oil, you probably do too. But there's hope: The 69% of you contributing to defined-contribution plans at work are squirreling away an impressive 7% of your salary on average, meaning nearly a fifth have already stockpiled over $100,000, according to the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI). As for the rest of you: A WingspanBank.com study found that more than 20% are in total denial, believing that "someone else" is responsible for planning for your retirement.

Your Nest Egg At 30-39, the average 401(k) account balance is $31,000

Retirement Expenses For DOT-COM Jillionaires

Six-bedroom mansion near Santa Barbara coast $10,000,000 Installation by Korean-born multimedia artist Nam June Paik 52,974 Napa Valley vineyard with cabernet sauvignon vines 14,500,000 Gulfstream V jet 40,000,000 Sony robotic puppy 2,500 Full-time Swiss banker at your disposal 200,000 Services of a Silicon Valley matchmaker 3,500 TOTAL $64,758,974

Lucky S.O.B.s 0.6% of all people in their 30s are retired

31 Average age of a Volkswagen Jetta owner

32 Average age of the six newly minted millionaires on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire: 31.8

By this age the average American worker has had nine full- or part-time jobs

39 Average age of a U.S. homebuyer Average age of people who bowl recreationally: 39.2

40s

FANTASY Maybe you chose the right tech stock, or perhaps you decided to tap the family fortune. And if that means leaving all those suits behind to do the corporate thing, no prob (you've worked long enough to know what you'll be missing). Now you can indulge your passion for amassing useless collectibles (anyone who needs more than a 20-car garage falls into this category). And of course you'll need to plan for the future--you think that cellulite and those bags under your eyes disappear by themselves?

REALITY It's not just fun and games in your 40s. Mortgage payments, child-rearing costs, and "the lifestyle you've become accustomed to" all tend to stack up in this decade. So start by getting in touch with your communicative side: An astounding 44% of people have never discussed with their partner when they'll retire, according to the National Council on the Aging (NCOA). Worse, 17% of workers in their 40s say they haven't begun saving for retirement. But time is on your side. Saving $20 a week (assuming a paltry 5% annual return) will add up to $50,000 in 25 years.

Your Nest Egg At 40-49, the average 401(k) account balance is $61,000

Retirement Expenses For Aggressive Overachievers

One smallish 139-foot yacht (five staterooms) $16,500,000 Vintage Harley collection 270,000 Laser eye surgery to improve golf game (both eyes) 4,352 20 days of golf camp at Arnold Palmer Academy (four sessions) 8,180 Dove-shooting excursion in Uruguay 3,700 Igia CelluLift vacuum massager 100 Private-school tuition (12 years, two kids) 453,600 TOTAL $17,239,932

5.4% of all people in their 40s are retired

40 Average age of people who go RV camping

43 Average age of people who buy long-term-care policies through their employer Median age of people who buy second homes

46 Age at which Nolan Ryan retired

47 Average age of a first-time grandparent Average age of a Golf Channel subscriber

50s

FANTASY You're stuck in the daily grind until one day, while visiting your accountant, it hits you: You've worked like a dog these past several years, and as a reward you get to retire early! Maybe you're not quite mentally prepared, and you'll be sad to leave your executive pals behind, but your backhand is in top form and you have plenty of cash in the bank to retire in style. Enough said.

REALITY You guessed it--most of you are still working stiffs. Not to worry, though. If you're a saver, you're still stashing away 8% of your salary in a retirement plan. That kind of discipline is how more than 11% of people in their late 40s and early 50s have saved $250,000 or more, according to EBRI. As a group, you're still attacking the market fairly aggressively: Fidelity reports your average retirement stash is invested 68% in equities, with 25% of that in company stock.

Your Nest Egg At 50-59, the average 401(k) account balance is $101,000

Retirement Expenses For Early-Stage Boomers

Psychiatrist visits for private-schooled kids $9,600 Psychiatrist visits for self 10,400 Modest condo at the Pointe Royale in Fort Myers, Fla. 269,000 Wilson "Hyper Hammer" oversize tennis racquet 200 Cortisone shots for two tennis elbows, one tennis knee 210 Forehead "lift" 2,526 Donation to local place of worship, inspired by looming mortality 200 TOTAL $292,136

17.7% of all people in their 50s are retired

50 Average age of a Lexus owner By this age the average American has logged 75,000 miles on foot

54 Age at which President Clinton gets constitutionally forced into retirement. Percent of Americans who think his next career should be "Hollywood movie exec": 33%

55 By this age the average American has consumed 688 gallons of Coke products

56 Age of the typical American CEO

59 Average age of a 60 Minutes viewer: 58.7

60s

FANTASY You've planned for this day from the moment you clocked in at age 21, and now it has finally arrived. Your last commute. Your last presentation. Your last deadline. From here on out, it's a finely calibrated balance of golf, travel, and reading. Oh, we almost forgot--you'll also have to squeeze in some beach time, frosty margarita in hand, enjoying what you worked for all those years!

REALITY Believe it or not, retirement may not stick. Among self-described "retirees" over 65, 15% work full- or part-time and 35% do volunteer work, according to the NCOA. Fidelity reports that most of you are successfully shifting risk exposure at this point, to half equities on average (down from 79% when you were in your 20s). And if all goes well, full Social Security benefits kick in at age 67.

Your Nest Egg At 60-69, the average 401(k) account balance is $130,000

Retirement Expenses For Pension Holdouts

Sharper Image ear- and nose-hair groomer $70 Hot-air balloon ride to celebrate ruby (40th) anniversary 260 Red rubberized garden clogs from Smith & Hawken 42 8-hp Swisher "Ride King" mower 1,414 Backyard Money Machine (garage-sale handbook) 10 Harry Potter books (volumes I-IV) for grandkids 65 Private-school tuition for grandkids (12 years, seven kids) 1,587,600 TOTAL $1,589,461

62 Average age of Elks Lodge members Average age of American grandparents

65 By this age the average American has spent nearly nine years in front of the TV

40% of seniors over this age have lived in the same house all their adult lives

49% of Americans ages 65 to 69 say that they're in the best years of their lives

85% of younger Americans think people over 65 "get too little respect"

5% of younger Americans think old people are "greedy geezers"

65.1% of all people in their 60s are retired

70s and beyond

FANTASY You still show up at the office to lend a hand, if only because you want to (let's just say the family biz wouldn't be the same without you). Your workdays start around ten, and if it's sunny out, they don't start at all. Best of all, you spend two months a year at your country house in Provence, inviting your grandkids for short stints (provided the little tots keep their voices down and don't break anything).

REALITY Sounds great, but whether you're working in your 70s by choice or by need depends largely on the decisions you made in your 40s and 50s. Those who have stocked up enough to retire in style are probably more concerned with how to pass their assets down to their heirs (rather than the IRS). Whatever your situation, most of you who have made it to here are pleased with your choices. The NCOA survey shows 88% of you feel quite satisfied looking back on your life. Furthermore, some of you may need another page to this timeline, as 26% of you expect to live to 90 or older.... Strom? Are you listening?

(Eventual) Retirement Expenses For Work-Force Die-Hards

Office rental for continuing work routine (monthly) $1,400 Miracle Ear "Interpreter" digital hearing aid 3,200 "I like Ike" button, bought on eBay 5 Carnival seven-day Alaskan cruise for two (AARP discount) 2,288 Probate lawyer consultation to rejigger will 400 12 antique duck decoys to add to collection 2,500 Insurance deductible for "barely brushing" parked bus 500 TOTAL $10,293

72 Men who smoke can expect to lose 12 teeth by age 72; men who don't will lose 5.4

75 Average age of Leisure World residents

80 The average American over this age has seven grandchildren

90 26% of Americans expect to live to 90 or older

83.5% of all people in their 70s or older are retired

Annual return on stocks and funds expected by: Investors ages 24 to 35: 26% Investors over age 68: 16%

33% of Americans in their 70s consider themselves middle-aged 12% of Americans think they will spend time in a retirement home 50% of Americans actually will

SOURCES: NATIONAL COUNCIL ON THE AGING; VOLKSWAGEN; ABC; U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR; SPORTING GOODS MANUFACTURERS ASSOCIATION; NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS; HEALTH INSURANCE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICA; GOLF CHANNEL; IGRANDPARENTS.COM; LEXUS; AMERICAN PODIATRIC MEDICAL ASSOCIATION; GALLUP POLL; COMPENSATION RESOURCE GROUP; COCA-COLA CO.; CBS; ELKS LODGE, DELRAY BEACH, FLA.; TV-TURNOFF NETWORK; SENIOR ADVANTAGE REAL ESTATE COUNCIL; LEISURE WORLD; SCUDDER KEMPER INVESTMENTS; ACADEMY OF GENERAL DENTISTRY; FIDELITY; 2000 RETIREMENT CONFIDENCE SURVEY (JOINTLY SPONSORED)