With home prices and their 401(k) accounts falling, Baby Boomers can forget about retiring to the beach in Florida and playing golf all day. Instead, they're worrying about paying the bills.

The top financial concern for people 45 and older is now paying for food, shelter and other basic needs, according to a global survey by the Hartford Financial Services Group published on RedwoodAge.com, a Web site targeted to people older than 45.

About a third of the average retirement nest egg has been lost in the financial markets, according to the report. Hartford's data shows that half of Americans over 45 are worried about getting by on a daily basis in retirement, and the numbers are higher overseas, where many European countries have guaranteed pensions.

The study also found that 43% of Americans said they're concerned they won't have enough money to enjoy life, 27% said they're worried about running out of money before they die, and 16% of Americans said they may not be able to afford health care. With an average stay at a nursing home costing $80,000 per year, not having enough money in retirement is a scary thought.

While retiring to Florida or other sunbelt locations may be difficult, some Boomers are looking at retiring in Mexico, where home prices can be half as much as they are in the United States, according to a developer in Mexico. Maybe that's one way to solve the problem of paying bills -- convert them to pesos.

Aaron Crowe is an unemployed journalist in the San Francisco Bay Area. Read about his job hunt at www.talesofanunemployeddad.blogspot.com

My husband has a great job in a stable industry, but he's 63. Two years ago, we thought by this year he'd be officially retired -- doing a little consulting, but taking the winter off so we could spend the cold months somewhere warm. I have a home-based business that has always offered flexibility. Together, we were looking forward to a more leisurely life.

The economic slowdown has made us rethink our plans. My husband continues to work at his old job -- usually 50 or 60 hours a week -- and I'm not slowing down either because we and those who depend on us need what we earn.

We're not alone in this. A survey conducted for AARP found that nearly 20 percent of the people in our age group have postponed retirement. In most ways we're lucky. Overall, 66 percent of people older than 55 are having trouble paying for essential items such as food, gas and medicine. Fortunately, we don't have those troubles.

But we do worry about our grown children who have found this tough economy a drag on independence. Our two oldest children are economically solid citizens. They got their careers off the ground before the economy soured. But our younger ones face bigger challenges.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's First Family of Personal Finance, answer your money questions every Friday.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question.

The financial crisis is taking on a new victim: retirement. Planning and saving is hard enough, let alone trying to do it in the midst of a market meltdown! These are unprecedented times, folks, and your nest egg could get hit hard if you aren't careful.

We have heard from many of you wondering where to put your retirement money without the risk of losing it all. Here's our answer designed to keep you on the right savings path and protect your money in our shaky economy.

Dear Ken and Daria,

I am 20 years away from retirement and have been re-considering my portfolio allocation. What is the right mix in this economy?

-Gary

Not sure how to allocate your retirement funds? Visit Dolans.com for our complete library of 401k calculators and worksheets to determine what's best for you.

I once asked Walter Jon Williams, the science fiction writer, for advice about becoming a professional fiction writer. His first suggestion? Marry a civil service employee. Every writer needs a stable foundation. Luckily, I have that covered.

My supposed retirement funds are spread across multiple 401Ks, IRAs, and pension funds. Following the commonly held wisdom that the market will, in the long run, outpace more staid investments, I've stayed in, watching my mutual funds dwindle and my retirement drift further into the future. Frankly, I don't mind all that much, since I like to work and plan to do so for many years to come.

I do, however, mind on my wife's behalf. She's been a social worker for her entire career, never earning much, but providing us with the insurance umbrella that has allowed me to take on chancy career options. If health care weren't so expensive, she could well anticipate retiring in a couple of years. As it stands now, however, she'll have to work until she's eligible for Medicare; even then, since she's a year older, we'll have to deal with a year when I'm not covered.

In the short run, the impact of the meltdown won't hamstring us. However, if the market continues to bleed, much of our flexibility will disappear, including the option of early retirement. If it bleeds enough, tax revenue shortfalls on the local, state and national level could threaten funding for social welfare programs such as the one for which my wife works.

When civil servants start to lose their jobs, we'll all be crying in our Metamucil.

Read how the financial crisis is affecting other WalletPop bloggers.

We are doing a terrible job saving for retirement. The median 401(k) plan balance is a paltry $18, 986!

While there is raging debate over how much you need to save in order to retire with dignity, everyone would agree that most Americans are falling far short of achieving this goal.

So how much do you need to save?

Ideally, you need to figure out how much your expenses will be when you retire for the rest of your life (and, if you are married, the life of your spouse or partner). This is not easy to do, given the ravages of inflation and a tax code that is subject to change.

Most financial planners simply assume that you will need a percentage of your pre-retirement salary.

Don't miss the rest of our series on 15 Ways to Ruin Your Financial Future!

One comprehensive study by Baclays Global Investors determined that 75% of pre-retirement income is a benchmark for a successful retirement. The study also found that, given the typical 401(k) plan savings rate, most Americans could count on replacing only 41% of their pre-retirement income.

Ken and Daria Dolan, America's First Family of Personal Finance, answer your money questions every Friday.

Click here to ask Ken and Daria your question.

Here's a little trick when it comes to saving for retirement: every little bit helps. That's why we're thrilled when we hear about folks contributing any amount to their retirement plans because it all adds up over time to a very rich future! But we also want your investments to work hard for you, which means choosing the right savings vehicle.

When deciding between a traditional and Roth IRA account, there is one major rule of thumb to live by. Find out what it is in our video response below.

Dear Ken and Daria,

I've been told I should invest in a traditional IRA instead of a Roth IRA because of my low income. Which is the right choice for me?

-Jill

Confused about where to begin your retirement planning? Learn how to start saving for your future and get answers to all your questions about Roth IRA rules, rollovers and more at Dolans.com.

Who is making it? Who is not? We've concocted retirement scorecards for some showcase retirees in entertainment, politics and sports. See the full list here.

Winner: Meg Tilly
Former occupation/notable position held: Academy Award-Nominated Actress
Activities during retirement: full-time mom; author
Retirement Report Card Grade: B+

A strikingly intense and dynamic screen presence, Meg Tilly's fade from acting came as a disappointment to fans of her work in films like 1983's The Big Chill and Agnes of God, for which she earned an Oscar nomination in 1986.

Tilly quit film in 1995 to raise her children, a decision quite possibly owing to the theme of her book Singing Songs, focusing on a sexually abusive stepfather, and that Tilly later confirmed was autobiographical.

The instinct to protect our children, from threats real or imagined, is primal and palpable. It transforms Tilly's choice to walk away from the craft at which she so excelled from confounding, to entirely logical and courageous.

That Tilly chose to write in retirement is healthy not just in helping her come to terms with a traumatic past, but in providing a new avenue for her creativity. Her second novel, Gemma, came out in 2006, was followed by Porcupine, a finalist for a major children's literature prize.

Tilly's just-short-of-"A" retirement grade perhaps owes to wishful thinking: that she may one day choose to un-retire from acting and delight her fans once again. Somehow you know if Tilly makes that choice, it will be a well-thought out and heartfelt one.

Michael Burnham is CEO of My Next Phase, a consulting firm offering non-financial retirement planning products and services (www.mynextphase.com).

Who is making it? Who is not? We've concocted retirement scorecards for some showcase retirees in entertainment, politics and sports. See the full list here.

Loser: Sumner Redstone
Former occupation/notable position held: Controlling Owner (still active), CBS Corporation; Viacom (includes Paramount, MTV Networks, etc.)
Activities during retirement: Not applicable
Retirement Report Card Grade: D-

What keeps Sumner running? Why won't (can't) he just stop?

One of the great things about being a mogul: no mandatory retirement age. That's not a bad thing, as long as said aging mogul is still operating in the best interests of all of his stakeholders: himself, his family, his friends, employees, and public shareholders.

Much of this doesn't seem the case for Redstone, 85. His latter-day career highlights include a publicly waged battle with his daughter Shari, long named his heir apparent, over corporate governance and strategic issues. The battle has played out in the press, sometimes in brutally personal detail.

His refusal to cede control has cost him other dear relationships, like that with longtime confidant Tom Freston, widely credited as the architect of the modern MTV. Redstone ousted Freston as head of Viacom for reasons few in the know understood. And Redstone's public kneecapping of Paramount money machine Tom Cruise made Cruise's own infamous Oprah couch-stomp seem downright sane.

Redstone stays just a hair shy of a retirement "F" for one, purely semantic reason: he hasn't retired. His is a cautionary tale that, regardless of its super-sized scale, has much to teach. Only Redstone may know why he keeps on, even at the expense of his most precious relationships.

For one, Redstone gives a window into how close friendships and familial relationships diverge in (what should be) retirement. You choose your friends and associates, but your family, not so much. So while Freston and Cruise have likely moved on, Shari doesn't have that option. That's unhealthy all around, and saddest for Redstone himself.

A guy like Redstone, who built a fortune estimated at $9 billion, may have made one hell of a mentor during his transition into retirement, and perhaps in retirement itself. There are so many options left unplumbed.

Work can and should continue to be part of life for retirees for whom it balances a healthy portfolio of interests and activities, and serves as a prime source of mental challenge, a feeling of social connectedness and other vital things. There's just no glory seemingly vowing to die in your head-of-the-boardroom chair, simply because you can.

Michael Burnham is CEO of My Next Phase, a consulting firm offering non-financial retirement planning products and services (www.mynextphase.com).

Who is making it? Who is not? We've concocted retirement scorecards for some showcase retirees in entertainment, politics and sports. See the full list here.

Winner: Billie Jean King
Former occupation/notable position held: Multi Grand Slam-Winning Pro Tennis Player
Activities during retirement: Gender equality advocate; Olympic Coach; Goodwill Ambassador
Retirement Report Card Grade: A

Billie Jean King Multi Grand Slam-Winning Pro Tennis Player Gender equality advocate; Olympic Coach; Goodwill Ambassador A

One of the toughest things about retirement is the initial transition. It's a disruptive life change that many don't realize ranks with the likes of childbirth and divorce until they're right in the middle of it themselves.

Transition wasn't a problem for 39-time Grand Slam champion Billie Jean King. She was transitioning "on the fly" even at the peak of her career by semi-retiring, one step at a time. She immersed herself in issues like gender equality, prize money parity for athletes, and the rights of female athletes to unionize. Her legendary "Battle of the Sexes" victory against Bobby Riggs, televised in primetime by ABC, was more than women's rights-era spectacle: It ushered in the modern era of women's pro sports.

King's leadership among players in supporting the Virginia Slims tour, which brought real money to women's tennis for the first time, is more typical of someone with over-the-hill status in a sport, not a player in her prime. The same goes for King's role in helping found (and later, leading) World Team Tennis, an arena-sized attempt to capitalize on tennis's huge popularity in the '70s.

King seems to have carefully calibrated her career to remain vital to, and in, the sport she loves for as long as there is mutual benefit. That's a taut tight rope walked by precious few.

After tackling gender and pay activism – and coming to grips with eroded skills – King successfully transitioned to coaching. In the mid-1990s, King became the captain of the United States Fed Cup team and coach of its women's Olympic tennis squad. She guided the U.S. to the Fed Cup championship in 1996 and helped three players capture Olympic gold. She came to grips with her sexuality, now speaking about it publicly and inspirationally, after long resenting having been "outed" years ago.

In 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center in New York City was rededicated as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. The center is the largest sports facility in the world to be named after a woman. An honor rather befitting this Grade A retiree.

Who is making it? Who is not? We've concocted retirement scorecards for some showcase retirees in entertainment, politics and sports. See the full list here.

Winner: Phoebe Cates
Former occupation/notable position held: Actress
Activities during retirement: full-time mom; part-time actress; boutique owner
Retirement Report Card Grade: B+

The scene is etched in the heads of many of a certain generation. Pool. Red bikini. Slow-motion walk, to the Cars' pulsating "Moving in Stereo." Judge Reinhold clandestinely gazing on, from not-so-afar at a young beauty named Phoebe Cates in Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

Who would have guessed some 25 years later the word "retired" -- and successfully, at that -- would be attached to Cates, especially after audiences realized her looks were just part of her appeal. (Turned out, she could really act.)

Cates constructively called her acting career quits after the birth of her son in 1991 (with husband Kevin Kline, who has not stopped working), appearing in just three films since. A daughter arrived in 1994. Cates rates a retirement "B+" because of her clear commitment to the choice of full-time parenting over what may have been an A-list Hollywood career. Planning and passion are two retirement success cornerstones and her path speaks of both. .

By returning to the screen sporadically, Cates keeps her options open – an ideal way for most any retiree, particularly those early-on, to operate. Leading-edge Boomer retirees, for example, are discovering that a modified version of work – one with more flexibility and less day-to-day responsibility -- to be an important part of their first phase of "retirement."

That Cates's most recent film, The Anniversary Party, cast her as a former full-time actress who retired to motherhood, winks and nods to her feeling comfortable with her choice. She opened a New York City boutique in 2005, and has been nurturing her own children's acting careers.

It's still early in the game for Cates, thus the B+ grade for now. Apparently healthy marriage, committed parent and varied interests are all the stuff of an eventual A.

Who is making it? Who is not? We've concocted retirement scorecards for some showcase retirees in entertainment, politics and sports. See the full list here.

Loser: William Jefferson "Bill" Clinton
Former occupation/notable position held: 42nd President, United States of America
Activities during retirement: Philanthropist, foundation head; public speaker; best-selling author; political albatross
Retirement Report Card Grade: D

In the heat of the Presidential primary battle, now presumptive Democratic nominee Barack Obama publicly mused that he sometimes didn't know which Clinton he was running against.

America agreed. It wound up hurting Hillary, badly.

The damage the former president was doing to his wife's campaign went high-profile at perhaps the worst popular time, following her unexpected, comeback victory in New Hampshire. His thinly-veiled invocation of race on the South Carolina stump turned a campaign just catching the wind into listing sloop.

No one would ever confuse Bill Clinton with a political or media trainee. So what's to explain his well-documented campaign travails?

It does wash if you look at Bill as a guy finding his way into a new phase of life – not traditional retirement, but a period that requires sublimating a Presidential-sized ego, and finding a new identity.

It can be tough work establishing a new persona when you turn the page. For many traditional retirees, the cocktail party icebreaker "what do you do" becomes loathed if the best they can conjure is, "I'm retired." Bill was in uncharted waters for someone used to having the spotlight trained solely on him.

Look at Bill's public-facing activities since leaving the White House, and you see a similar pattern: worthwhile pursuits, starring Bill Clinton as, well, Bill Clinton.

Bill Clinton as a brand is a good thing if it means getting desperately needed dollars to Africa, or delivering what Homeland Security could not to New Orleans. But Brand Bill didn't fly on someone else's Presidential campaign trail. Maybe it did early on, but not during the campaign's latter, critical phase.

The former president gets a "D" for this marking period, with big potential to return to his former, higher-scoring self.

A smart guy once said (paraphrasing) when you're President, they play music every time you enter the room. When you're not, the music stops. Bill would have done well by his wife by remembering these, his own words.

Who is making it? Who is not? We've concocted retirement scorecards for some showcase retirees in entertainment, politics and sports. See the full list here.

Loser: Bill Parcells
Former occupation/notable position held: Coach & executive, multiple NFL Teams (Current: Miami Dolphins, EVP)
Activities during retirement: TV analyst; un-retiring
Retirement Report Card Grade: D

Two of the subheads in Bill Parcells' Wikipedia entry give away his retirement story: "First Retirement" and "Second Retirement."

This two-time Super Bowl-winning gridiron guru didn't invent the concept of returning to the sidelines. The difference is that the likes of Pat Riley and Phil Jackson (and others of their ilk) don't serially leave jobs under the pretense of "retiring." They tend not to use the word, biding their time as TV analysts, waiting for the next good gig to come along. Not so Parcells, who famously and publicly vowed not to coach again after leaving the Jets' sidelines in 1999.

Parcells chooses to call his leavings "retirements," because retiring is probably what he really wants to do -- if only he could. Said Parcells to The Dallas Morning News, upon agreeing to un-retire a second time and coach the Cowboys in 2003: "How can you resist this? Going into this, I knew that this could be it for me. My last stop. You can either do this or pass this by and know that it's over."

Turns out, it wasn't his last stop. For Parcells and football, it may never be over. Until it's really over.

Parcells stands as a prime example of what sometimes binds talented professionals of all stripes: a singular focus on an all-consuming passion, at the unhealthy exclusion of other worthwhile pursuits, interests, and often, people. It's a personality-fueled straight jacket that makes retirement all but moot.

Parcells thrives on the mental challenges of sideline X's and O's, and in returning formerly celebrated franchises to glory. That's his new quest as top executive of the Miami Dolphins. He's looking to repeat his successes with the New York Giants and New York Jets. The problem is, that kind of thing doesn't happen very often.

The same kind of consumption that precludes serious thought about other life and career options takes a serious and sad toll on relationships. Parcells has openly admitted to his gridiron obsession's role in severing his 39-year marriage in 2002. On the professional side, Parcells left the Tampa Bay Buccaneers -- and just last year, the Atlanta Falcons -- standing at the altar, opting for sexier gigs in a less-than-above-board manner.

Parcells gets a retirement "D" with the hope that his eventual third retirement will be a charm. He'll need some good help to get there.

Michael Burnham is CEO of My Next Phase, a consulting firm offering non-financial retirement planning products and services (www.mynextphase.com).

Who is making it? Who is not? We've concocted retirement scorecards for some showcase retirees in entertainment, politics and sports. See the full list here.

Winner: Earvin "Magic" Johnson, Jr.
Former occupation/notable position held: Hall of Fame Guard, Los Angeles Lakers and member of 5 NBA championship teams
Activities during retirement: businessman; philanthropist; HIV/AIDS prevention advocate; NBA TV analyst
Retirement Report Card Grade: A

Magic Johnson's stat sheet goes well beyond his colossal assists, points and steals numbers. Along with longtime rival Larry Bird, Johnson's talent, charisma and statesmanship helped restore America's love for a game badly tarnished by a drug-addled, late-1970's dark period.

Johnson's many and major post-hardwood achievements – as broadcaster, as inner-city-minded businessman, as philanthropist -- easily earn him a retirement "A." His greatest feat may well be his role helping usher in today's understanding of HIV and AIDS.

It's a retirement story few may have foreseen in November 1991, when Johnson disclosed that he was HIV-positive and would immediately retire stunned the world. Although he attempted comebacks as a player, his retirement planning did begin in earnest with that announcement. He vowed to fight for his health as aggressively as he did for rebounds. And when he did return, it was not with the expectation to return to his former playing self, but to leave the court on his own terms.

"On his own terms" is indeed Johnson's retirement lesson. When he went into business, it wasn't the typical post-jock "name slap" on a car dealership. Rather, Johnson leveraged his already well-developed brand to bring modern movie theatres to inner cities where there were none.

Johnson shows us that in retirement -- as with any worthwhile pursuit -- you can't fear failure, rather, you should expect to adjust. When his late-night FOX talk show failed badly (and quickly), Johnson didn't disappear from the public eye for career rehab; he kept pushing forward. He diversified his Magic Johnson Foundation's philanthropy to reach beyond HIV and AIDS, and was the main speaker for the UN World AIDS Day Conference in 1999.

In retirement, as in his career, Johnson keeps moving the ball up court.

Who is making it? Who is not? We've concocted retirement scorecards for some showcase retirees in entertainment, politics and sports. See the full list here.

Winner: Paul Newman
Former occupation/notable position held: Academy Award-Winning Actor
Activities during retirement: Food company founder/executive; philanthropist; race car driver/team owner
Retirement Report Card Grade: A

Recent unconfirmed reports have Paul Newman, now 83, battling lung cancer. If that's the case, you can bet on Newman to keep it a private affair. It's how he's lived his life, both as hot-commodity actor and as longtime, semi-retiree involved in far-ranging pursuits like Le Mans-caliber race car driving, food company leadership and philanthropy. Newman merits a hard-earned "A" as retiree.

Can you think of an actor who literally announced a retirement from stage and screen? In doing just that last year, Newman mused to BBC News, "You start to lose your memory, you start to lose your confidence, you start to lose your invention. So I think that's pretty much a closed book for me."

The commentary shows how in touch Newman is with himself. It's the kind of self-awareness that anyone contemplating retirement would be well-served by, in setting goals, evaluating abilities and considering what can continue to bring fulfillment.

Newman started his food company, Newman's Own, in the early 1980's, when it can be argued he was still near the peak of his acting powers. Having more money than he needed (not because the world needed another bag of microwave popcorn), he pledged all proceeds after taxes to charity. Tops on that list is the Hole in the Wall Gang camp, a live-in summer refuge for seriously ill children he founded just a few years after debuting Newman's Own.

In a way, Newman seemed to always possess a retiree's mindset: He made lifestyle choices meant to please none other than himself and those closest to him.

He shunned Hollywood living from the get-go, opting to set up house in his beloved Connectitcut. He openly (and without compensation) professed his love for Budweiser. He chose his work carefully, from iconic fare like Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, to downright rowdy turns like Slap Shot.

If retirement is personal (it is), Newman may well have made the mold. His last big-ticket acting gig came in 2006 as the voice of Doc Hudson in Disney-Pixar's Cars, where his love of all things racing came through, as they used to say, in Technicolor.

Who is making it? Who is not? We've concocted retirement scorecards for some showcase retirees in entertainment, politics and sports. See the full list here.

Loser: Daniel (Dan) Irvin Rather, Jr.
Former occupation/notable position held: Anchor, CBS Evening News
Activities during retirement: HDNet Personality; litigant
Retirement Report Card Grade: D

Don't feel bad if you've never heard of HDNet, a high-def cable network bankrolled by Internet mogul Mark Cuban. But you are sure to know one of its hosts, Dan Rather.

Channel 798 (give or take) is certainly not where the 76-year old journalist envisioned spending his career's sunset, and it may seem sad or justified depending on your feelings about the often polarizing newsman. His original script may well have called for a king-making hand-off to a new occupant of his CBS anchor chair, occasional contributions to 60 Minutes and maybe a few healthy book advances, which is the kind of retirement fun Tom Brokaw is having.

Nowhere to be found in that script was very publicly suing his longtime employer for violating his contract. CBS forced Rather to step down as anchor in 2005 as part of the fallout from a disputed report on President Bush's military service aired during the run-up to the 2004 election.

While Rather's circumstances are extreme in both nature and profile, retirement is packed with altered expectations and changes of plans. The question becomes how prepared you are to accept those changes and to make adjustments. That starts with the right kind of introspection, and getting a handle on how you've handled stress and transition in the past. The quality of your social network, and your ability to take good advice from those you trust matters a great deal too.

Rather's retirement grade of D owes not to his diminished media stature, but to the quite surprisingly undignified way he's handled the whole affair. He did anything but adjust positively to new circumstances.

You have to figure a concept like legacy means something to an out-sized personality such as Rather. But most every action he's taken since parting from CBS runs counter to being remembered for a career populated by some extraordinary journalism, particularly covering the JFK assassination, Vietnam and Watergate.

But hey, the media is famous for bringing back its own to get a much-needed ratings fix. (See "Albert, Marv") In the wake of Katie Couric's abysmal viewership, perhaps CBS head Les Moonves need look no further than her chair's former occupant. Now that's what you'd call creative lawsuit settlement.