It used to be that you could sort of tell when it was time to get professional help in managing your investments. You knew, for example, that in your 30s and making a decent salary and socking away a fair amount of money, you probably did not have enough in assets for it to make sense to have professional help--the costs would just be too high. But at some point, with a mortgage and a kid and maybe another one on the way, you might start paying closer attention to those financial planner advertisements on TV or in the local paper, and even give one a call.

Do you really want to ask "Will I outlive my money in retirement or not?" You can ask that, but what you also need to be asking is "What is the probability that I do not outlive my money in retirement?" For this you need an accurate Monte Carlo Retirement Calculator.

Planning for retirement starts with saving for retirement; you won't be able to retire if you don't have any money. (Relying on Social Security alone won't cut it.)

When it comes to figuring out if you will outlive your money in retirement, most people make only a best guess. But why guess? You can use good calculators to help figure out if your retirement income will support your expenses and if you need to dip into your investments. A good calculator will also include inflation for your expenses.

You may have read stories about people who have retired early. There really is no magic to it. Lots of articles, lots of books, entire careers devoted to helping other people end their careers early, but no magic.