How much is too little?

Each year, I am seeing my retirement come closer.  I think about how much I will need and how much I have and whether or not I will ever be able to retire.  Just how much money do I need, anyway?  I go to places like CNN website (Retirement Calculator).  There is shows how much I need to save to make my current income when I retire.  For me it came up around $2 million.  Hmmm.  At my age of 56, it isn't likely I am going to come up any where near that much cash.  And, frankly, it seems unlikely that I could if I were 20 years younger.

I wanted to look at that number and see what it really means.  Typically, you want to figure you will take just 5% of your savings each year to allow your remaining money to grow.  There are a few assumptions there.  First, why 5%?  And what kind of return will I be getting on my remainder?  Do I have any protections against sudden drops in the market?  What if I get sick?  What if I run out of money?  What about debt?

The purpose of this blog is to talk about my journey toward retirement in the next ten or so years, what I have done so far, what I am doing now and what I hope to have in the future.  So many people, including myself, see a bleak future ahead and I hope to share some of the good things I have done.  Perhaps you can share your stories, as well, and we can get on with a happy life.