From 50,000 feet, your retirement doesn't look so good. Bearish financial markets, gloomy long-term projections for stocks, a sputtering economy - and that's just the big picture.
Down at eye level - where you actually have some control over your finances - things aren't much better with milk and gasoline at $4 a gallon.
But making the most of what you can control about your retirement finances can make a substantial impact, experts say.
"Investors have at least four levers: how much they withdraw, how they allocate their portfolio, when they actually begin retirement and when they start taking Social Security," said Christine Fahlund, senior financial planner for T. Rowe Price Group. "The combination of those and understanding how to use those dials makes a tremendous difference in what type of retirement lifestyle they can enjoy."
Fahlund has begun to quantify the impact those strategies can have.
If a 62-year-old waited three more years to retire, for example, socking away 25 percent of salary in those years, she could boost retirement income by 28 percent, the T. Rowe Price research found.
But even saving nothing in those last few years would boost annual retirement income by 12 percent, simply due to delaying withdrawals by working longer.
Working longer and delaying Social Security had the most significant impact on retiree income, followed by limiting withdrawals. Asset allocation - the process of balancing a portfolio with a mix of stocks, bonds and other investments - was a distant fourth.
Price is working on a free Internet tool (to be available later this summer) that will let retirement savers model combinations of these strategies.
Out in the real world, meanwhile, retirees are already experimenting with the strategies.
When Diana and Richard Emerson retired three years ago they left with an enviable package: Traditional pensions, other savings and retiree health coverage through former employer Principal Financial Group.
The Des Moines, Iowa, residents still have a comfortable lifestyle, but rising prices on everyday items have meant some spending changes. They are consolidating errands to cut gasoline costs and eating more leftovers.
Diana Emerson, 62, started back to work on a project through Principal's "Happy Returns" program that matches retirees with temporary assignments. The program is administered by Manpower Inc., allowing retirees to work without jeopardizing pension benefits.
