No one knows the length of the thread of life.
However, that being said, one must plan for the "best case".
So; I offer the following site for retirement planning:
www.fpanet.org and click on the link to the Journal of Financial Planning on the top righthand corner.
In brief, one must consider the following: The guidelines aim to replace 80 percent of the net-adjusted income in inflation-adjusted dollars, assuming retirement at age 65.
As an example: If youy make $60,000 a year and save $6,000 for retirement, you are living on $54,000. Therefore, you would need $43,200 or 80% of $54,000 in retirement, not the larger 80% of $60,000. In other words, the more you save, the less you need to save.
Timing is everything. If you are, say, 30, make $40,000 a year and have no retirement savings, you need to start saving 10% of your income. But, if you already have $20,000 salted away, 8.4% would be sufficient. If you are 30, making $80,000 and have no savings, 13.6% would be required. But if you are only earning $20,000, 7% is recommended because Social Security is more heavily weighted for lower income earners.
Like I said, timing is everything. If you are 35 and making $60,000 a year with no savings to date, you need to salt away 14.6%. Wait until you are 55 and that jumps to 32%. At that point, delaying retirement may be the only option.
Excerpts from an article by Humberto Cruz; Tribune Media Services