Feathering your nest egg.

• Author: Copeland, Beth
• Position: Retirement planning - Personal Investment

Start early, set a plan and work toward your goal

Retirement, once considered a time to enjoy a restful reward for many years of hard work, now is tainted with financial uncertainty.

Those institutions we once trusted to care for us during retirement are suddenly not so trustworthy. Traditional employee pension plans are becoming smaller and more rare. The future of Social Security poses a question mark. Stuck somewhere in the middle are people who must seize their own fate or face a bleak future.

Most retirement plans revolve around Social Security, a company pension and/or personal investments.

For years, experts have warned Baby Boomers that, because of their large numbers, Social Security is not necessarily secure. In the 1940s, 3.3 people were employed for each person on Social Security. By the time the Baby Boomer generation reaches retirement age, that ratio will have dropped to 2:1. While the government continues to wrestle with this issue, the prevalent thought among Baby Boomers is that "Social Security won't be there when we get there."

What about company pension plans? Says Archie Spangler of American National Trust & Investment Management in Muncie, "Employers are moving away from picking up the entire bill for retirement and shifting more of the responsibility to the employees." This shifting of emphasis makes it more important for people to look toward their own retirement.

Which leaves personal investments. Steve Jenkins of American United Life Insurance Co. in Indianapolis echoes what most financial planners say - personal investments offer the best control you have for your retirement. "You can't control Social Security. You can't control the company pension, but you can control your personal investment," he says. Most experts tell people to look within this realm of personal investment for their retirement security.

Says Spangler, "If a person wants an active retirement, it will be based on individual planning and how well he or she is informed."

Most financial planners say to start by defining your retirement expectations. Evan Barnard at American Express Financial Advisers in Evansville suggests pinpointing how much you're able to save currently and what you want to do in retirement. "Compare the two and see how you get from point A to point B," says Barnard.

At Robert W. Baird & Co. in Valparaiso, investment officer Don Brown leads his clients through a questionnaire that defines what is needed to build a plan. The...