A free online retirement planning guide

(MoneyWatch) For the last four months, I've been writing a series of posts that help you plan for a healthy, secure and happy retirement. Planning for a period of your life that can last 20, 30 or even 40 years is a complex and significant task.

To help you manage your retirement planning efforts, over the last 16 weeks I've written weekly posts that describe retirement planning steps you can take each week. Each post contains links to additional articles for further reading, so you can control how much detail you want to read.

You don't need to finish in 16 weeks; you can pace yourself to take the time you need and fit the steps into your schedule. When you're ready for each week's steps, the posts will still be there. And you don't need to follow the weeks in order; you have the flexibility to pick and choose the topics that are most relevant for you.

In effect, the entire series is a free, online retirement planning book, written by an actuary with 35+ years of experience working with retirement plans. I don't sell insurance or investments; rather, I just prepare retirement education and research. I write this blog column, publish books, conduct research at the Stanford Center on Longevity and deliver workshops on retirement planning topics. This enables me to use my skills and experience to help you, without being influenced by how I'm compensated.

This post contains links to the entire series. Before the 16-week series started, I wrote a series of posts describing the trends that affect retirement planning in today's environment; in effect, these first posts act as an introduction.

Introduction: Trends, strategies and a new vision for retirement

• Why traditional retirement is dead
• Create a better vision for your retirement
• Planning for the lean and mean retirement

Week 1: Plan for a long life

• How long will you live?
• Estimate your life expectancy -- change your life

Week 2: What kind of retirement do you want?

• The 6 most important retirement planning questions

Week 3: Get the right help that you need

• Retirement planning: Get the right professional help
• Retirement planning: Get non-financial help
• 6 questions to ask about Social Security

Week 4: Invest in your health

• Retirement planning: Invest in your health

Week 5: Take inventory

• Planning for retirement: Take inventory
• Retirement planning: Nonfinancial inventory checklist

Week 6: Will you work in retirement?

• A guide to the working retirement
• How to find work (after retirement)
• How to find work you enjoy in retirement

Week 7: Social Security basics

• What you need to know about Social Security
• Social Security spouse benefits - the rules of the road
• Can you work while collecting Social Security benefits?

• Boost your Social Security payout by $100,000
• How married couples can earn more Social Security benefits
• Boost your spouse's Social Security payout by $90,000

Week 9: Turn your savings into income

• Planning your retirement: The best ways to generate lifetime income

Week 10: Investing strategies for retirement

• The best investments for generating retirement income
• The best way to buy annuities for retirement
• How much risk can you take with your retirement savings?

Week 11: Manage your living expenses

• The secret that will make - or break - your retirement

Week 12: Where will you live?

• Planning your retirement: 10 ways to reduce housing costs

Week 13: Manage your medical costs

• 9 ways to find health insurance before Medicare
• Planning your retirement: Medicare basics
• Should you buy Medicare Parts B and D?
• Should you buy a Medigap or Medicare Advantage plan?
• Budgeting for medical expenses with Medicare

Week 14: Addressing the long-term care threat

• Long-term care: Ignore it at your own peril

Week 15: Putting it all together

• When can you afford to retire?
• How to estimate your Social Security benefits
• How to estimate your lifetime retirement paycheck

Week 16: Make the numbers work

• How to get the most from your pension plan
• Planning your retirement: Manage your living expenses
• Planning for retirement: Making the numbers work

As you can see, you'll have to do a lot of homework to properly plan your retirement. Some people find it helpful to form small study groups, so they can share the legwork and kick around ideas. Don't forget to include your spouse or partner in your planning. It always helps to discuss things with people who care about you and are in the same boat.

And don't be surprised if it takes you longer than 16 weeks to complete all the steps. Even if it takes you six months, remember that you're planning the most important part of your life: your rest-of-life! Take the time to put good plans in place for a healthy and secure retirement so you can relax and focus on the things that are really important to you.

Good luck!

P.S. If you want to learn more about retirement planning topics, check out my latest books.

• Money for Life: Turn Your IRA and 401(k) Into a Lifetime Retirement Paycheck.
• Recession-Proof Your Retirement Years

Steve Vernon

View all articles by Steve Vernon on CBS MoneyWatch»
Steve Vernon helped large employers design and manage their retirement programs for more than 35 years as a consulting actuary. Now he's a research scholar for the Stanford Center on Longevity, where he helps collect, direct and disseminate research that will improve the financial security of seniors. He's also president of Rest-of-Life Communications, delivers retirement planning workshops and authored Retirement Game-Changers: Strategies for a Healthy, Financially Secure and Fulfilling Long Life and Money for Life: Turn Your IRA and 401(k) Into a Lifetime Retirement Paycheck.

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