Consider these facts as you plan for retirement. At age 65, only 5 out of every 100 retirees are financially independent; 22 must continue working, 28 depend on social security, welfare, or charity, and 45 depend on relatives for some or all of their support.

Those cold hard facts are reason enough to concern yourself with retirement well in advance of your actual retirement date. Planning will allow you to make the adjustments necessary to give you the kind of retirement you want.

If you're a long way from retirement, your planning will give you a rough estimate of the resources you need and what you must do to amass them. As you get closer to retirement, your estimate can be refined.

Money is vital to a pleasant retirement. All too often people ignore their retirement needs until retirement is almost upon them. Retirement will be considerable easier if you plan for it well in advance. In fact, thinking about it from your first job on is not a bad idea.

The funding for more retirements comes from a combination of sources - social security, a company retirement plan, and the individual's own retirement and investment program. Some people never completely retire, but instead continue to work either full-time or part-time after they have reached retirement age.

During retirement, the expenses of buying a home and raising a family are usually gone, so a comfortable retirement can be maintained with fewer dollars than were needed during prime earning years. It's been estimated that most people need from 60% to 80% of their pre-retirement income during their retirement years.

Retirement Planning Points

Sources of income. Generally speaking, your social security benefits will be somewhere in the range of 20% to 40% of your working salary or earnings covered by social security. If you earned a wage toward the lower end of the scale, your benefits will be closer to 40%; if you earned wages at the maximum, your benefits will be nearer 20% of your earnings.

You can find out from your employer the amount of your company's pension benefits and the requirements you must meet to get them.

Then, determine how much you must set aside on your own to have the total retirement income you feel is necessary.