Even with the stock market continuing to go up (and break records) so many still cannot retire when they thought they could. Many investors reduced their equity exposure, or left the stock market completely, and have been sitting in cash or low yielding bonds. This, combined with losses from the crash of 2008 and 2009, has left many people struggling to figure out how they might retire before they’re 65 or even 70 years old.

Many of those thinking about their retirement like to ask if their money will see them through their retirement years and how much they might be able to pass on to their heirs. Unfortunately many people (and some financial advisors) look at investment returns through time as something that is static. They plug in some annual return assumptions and look at the results from there.

For those of us not fortunate enough to receive a large pension for life after retiring, there is a real question of whether or not many of us can retire comfortably or securely, even at age 65. I have consulted with many clients who had this simple question: Can I retire by age 65? I’ve even had a few people ask me if they can ever retire. They simply had no idea if they had enough money invested and enough future income to cover all that they wanted to do in retirement.

We’ve heard the problems again and again: Interest rates are too low, savings aren’t enough, and too many people lost too much wealth over the past five years to be able to retire before they’re 70.

Since the lows of 2009 the S&P 500 index is up nearly 120%. Before this rally there were those who had been talking about low stock market returns for years to come. With the stock market having rallied so far so quickly, the odds of lower returns going forward might even be higher now.