In my case, I began saving for retirement more than 20 years ago. Each week I put money into a special account earmarked just for retirement. At the end of the year, when it was tax time, I shifted that money into either mutual funds or an IRA, which helped offset my tax burden by a significant amount. And, as some of you old timers know, the amount you can contribute increases when you surpass a certain age. When a lot of folks don't know is that you can continue to contribute, even beyond age 70-1/2, which is when you are required to make minimum withdrawals. So, yes, I'm still salting it away. Carol's going to have one Hell of a good time when this old man kicks the bucket.

The secret to success with this is to make payment into the retirement account the same as if you were paying your telephone or electric bill. Pay that amount regularly as clockwork and you'll be absolutely amazed at how quickly those funds will grow. I'm hoping to get another three to five years of work out of this old body, but if for some unknown reason I had to quit tomorrow, I wouldn't have to change my lifestyle and sell the house or the boat. I guess instead of playing, though, I would just spend more time sailing. Hmmmmm! sounds like a good way to spend the rest of my life.

Cheers,

Gary