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I was born in 1963 and am looking forward to retiring even though I love my job. I have a bachelor degree and have always put my career second to family, so I’ve had a modest income.

But, I also made sure to always put some into 401K. 5-10% of my income. I did supplement it with a small inheritance a few years ago which did take off some of the pressure.

My employer is one of the few Fortune 500’s with an actual pension in addition to a healthy 401K match.

It seems like “Cathy” believe the lie of higher education that dropping $100,000 for a Master’s Degree will guarantee untold riches.

If I had to do it over, I’d probably look hard at a skilled trade, HVAC or Electrician pays far more than I make now and there are always jobs. Plus that, I’ve found out through years of home ownership that I’m good at that kind of stuff and enjoy doing it.

Our ages and situation are very similar. Over the past 40 years, I've put between 6% and 9% of my income towards a 401k (not including the company match which was typically 3% additional). I turn 62 this year and should have enough in my 401k to retire now if I want to, but I'm going to work a few more years if I can, just to build some cushion into it.

In preparing for retirment and speaking with some financial advisors, I have some sobering news for my fellow Baby Boomers who are feeling smug about accumulating $1m in their 401ks.

Turns out having a million dollars in your 401k is hardly going to give you the kind of luxury lifestyle you were maybe counting on in retirement if all you have other than that is Social Security.

With one million dollars in your retirement account at 62, no financial adviser worth their salt will have you take more than 4% of that in your first year of retirement.

That's just $40,000 a year. Now assuming you have a typical $2,000/mo Social Security benefit at age 62, that totals just $64,000/year.

Now some people can swing that, especially if they are debt free. But you will be clipping coupons and lining up for the early bird specials at your local diner just the same. $64K a year will not fund the typical retirement dream of belonging to a swanky golf club and travelling the world at leisure.

Most of my career, achieving $1m in my retirement plan was a target I worked hard to attain. But if I could do it over again, I would have set the target closer to $3m and maxed out my annual 401k contributions, with some Roth to boot.