THE "SILVER LINING"

The EBRI survey results make for pretty grim reading, but there is a bright spot in this otherwise gloomy picture. As Dallas Salisbury, president of the EBRI put it, "If there is a silver lining, it's that Americans finally may be waking up to the realities of being able to afford retirement."

Nearly half of the workers responding (47 percent) said that they and/or their spouse have tried to calculate how much money they'll need to retire comfortably, up from a low of 29 percent in 1996. And when people actually estimate their future needs, they typically take some kind of action: 44 percent who calculated a retirement goal changed their retirement planning; 59 percent started saving or investing more. Those are two positive trends, but more people need to learn about the importance of retirement investing and start putting money away.

The bottom line? The lack of confidence about retirement Americans displayed this year may be intensified by the current economic picture; however, the survey demonstrates two critical realities - most Americans aren't doing enough in the way of planning for retirement and many aren't saving enough.

So what can you do? Start by answering some questions and making some estimates. When do you plan to leave the work force? What do you think your living expenses might be? What's your life expectancy? What sources of income (like Social Security and pension) can you can count on? Then you can begin to make some educated guesses about the capital you'll need to create your own retirement paycheck, and you can get started on the challenge of saving and investing to meet your goals.

If you have a retirement plan at work, like a 401(k) plan, start participating in it, or increase the level of your participation. If your company doesn't have such a plan, look into traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs. A financially comfortable retirement may seem like an impossibly steep mountain to climb, but there really is no alternative.

Take that first step - today.