Having made it to a happy retirement, I think I may have some insight which will help others get there. Even during my working days, colleagues frequently asked me about investments and other personal finance issues and I enjoyed the discussions. So, I embark on a blog to help those who are interested in planning for retirement, but don't feel comfortable that they have a clear roadmap

So, how do you get to retirement? By maxing out your retirement accounts and managing them well, of course. Ok, ok, I know that seems a bit simplistic, but in reality it is not much more complex than that. Here's the roadmap.

Step 1: Start early. I know when you are young, finances are tight and it seems that the contributions you can make are so small they are insignificant when compared to the retirement goal and the goal seems so far away. Even so, it is important that you begin as early as possible. The dollars you contribute at that stage are much bigger than those you'll contribute later, due to the power of compounding. In addition, it is important that you establish the behavior of regularly contributing before other spending starts to shrink your disposable income. It is true that spending tends to expand to match your income, so paying yourself first, early and often works to your advantage on both the saving and spending side.

Step 2: Keep your hands off the retirement accounts. It is easy to see the retirement accounts as money you can use for other purposes, but tapping them establishes them as a crutch that keeps you from living within your means and therefore cripples your retirement efforts down the road. I know there are circumstances dire enough that you have no choice, but tapping the retirement accounts should be an absolute last resort.

Step 3: Minimize your debt. Debt is another crutch that can contribute to crippling your retirement plan. Debt can easily become addicting and both eliminate your ability to contribute toward your retirement and increase your cash requirements in retirement. If you don't have the cash to buy something after your retirement contributions and other operating expenses, put off the purchase until you do have the cash.

Step 4: Manage your accounts. Here are the critical points in this process.
Keep costs low. For me, that means investing in index funds. I know, some will insist that costs are not significant if the investment performs better than average. True, but numerous studies have shown the odds of picking

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