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As you work through filling in your Cash Flow and Net Worth Statements, what have you found the most difficult to estimate? Healthcare costs? Housing costs? Travel expenses? What have you found easiest to estimate?

You may have noticed that including Social Security income in retirement radically changes the retirement calculator's results. Many younger Fools in particular may not wish to include the receipt of Social Security in their retirement plans. Be aware that shortfalls in retirement plans may be rectified in other ways. We could, among other actions, decrease current spending to increase savings, decrease retirement expenses, increase investment rates of return, work longer before retiring, earn more while working in retirement, or any combination of such actions.

If you're from the U.S., take a minute to weigh in on Social Security. Are you including it in your retirement plan?

As you start thinking of ways to increase investment rates of return -- and how they might impact the level of risk associated with investing, you might want to check out some of the strategies this Roadmap to Retirement Seminar Alum used. After you read the post, you can get back to the lesson by hitting the back button in your browser, or use the boards to list some of your own thoughts in response to these questions:

• How can current expenses be reduced to enable an increase in retirement savings?

• Is it reasonable to assume we may get by in retirement with an income that's less than 80% of today's income? If not, why? If so, why?

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