The Social Security administration rolled out a new version of its online benefits calculator today. The new version of the benefits calculator requires less input from the user by making use of the Social Security database to determine past wages. The new incarnation also enables users to factor in higher future earnings when calculating benefits, making for a more realistic outcome. The new "Retirement Estimator" is available right now on the Social Security website.

I was excited to learn that the SSA has taken at least half of the guesswork out of the benefit calculator by accessing the past data they have on you; unfortunately you're still left to determine what you will make for the rest of your working years.

Even if you have to make an educated guess in order to complete the process, the benefit calculator is still way more useful than the bleak annual mailing I've gotten for several years now, informing me of my current benefits, which suggest that I will be lucky to collect 78 cents on the dollar in my retirement.

A few years back, my buddy Chris taught me about bluegrass music. Because we lived in southwest Virginia, it was easy to go to bluegrass concerts and festivals, and it seemed like half the bars in my area hosted a bluegrass night with live music.

In 2000 and 2001, one of the themes of my education was the great John Hartford. As Hartford fought non-Hodgkins lymphoma, he continued to tour the country, playing an impressive schedule of concert dates and leaving a final legacy of amazing music. I was lucky enough to see him a few times over those two years, and I was left with a bottomless admiration for his skill and dedication. I realized that, like John Hartford, I never wanted to retire. I wanted to love something so much that I would be happy to continue doing it up until the moment of my death.

This was a fantastic revelation, as I also realized that, things being what they are, I would probably never be able to stop working. While my parents' jobs in the military and the government carried hefty pensions, my work in academia was only going to leave me with a small monthly stipend. While my grandparents' generation could look forward to fairly hefty social security checks and private pensions, it was pretty clear that I couldn't count on living off the government teat. Assuming that Social Security still exists in 30 years, I am willing to bet that my monthly checks will cover a few packets of ramen and some cat food, with enough left over for a box of Tic-Tacs.

If you worry a lot about retirement, and if you'll have enough money to cover your cost of living in 2015 or 2036 or whenever you expect to be starting your golden years, have I got a web site for you.

Try an easy-to-use retirement calculator. It determines how much money you need to put away every year if you hope to retire at age 65 with 80% of your pre-retirement income.

• You type in your current age.
• Then in another box, you put in your current salary.
• Finally, you plug in the numbers as to how much you've already saved.
• Click "submit" and after several seconds of waiting, you have your numbers.

What's especially eye-opening is that the older you get, and the lower your savings, the more money you have to save. Sure, you're thinking: Duh. But I'm just saying that to actually have those specific numbers in front of you -- it's educational.

Ever since the explosion of IndyMac, we've been getting lots of e-mails from our readers, wondering, "just how safe is my money?" As someone who doesn't hold even five figures in her bank account, I'm not at much risk of losing my (ahem) life's savings. But you're frightened, so let me answer some common questions about FDIC insurance for you:

• What kind of accounts are insured? Checking, savings, money market deposit and certificate of deposit accounts; also, some kinds of retirement accounts, including IRAs and Keogh accounts.
• How does the $100,000 limit work? If you hold any combination of accounts at one bank -- checking, savings, CDs, whatever -- your accounts are added together for insurance purposes. The only way to get past the $100,000 limit is if you have an IRA or certain other kinds of retirement accounts; these accounts are insured up to $250,000.

Cohousing, the current incarnation of what we Baby Boomers used to call communal living, turns out to be a growing senior living trend. Both in Denmark, where co-housing originated in the 1970's, and in the United States where the model has been gaining ground, senior interest is on the rise.

Boomers have only begun to retire. At its peak this retirement wave will reach as many as 10,000/day and will continue for more than a decade. Not only will there be more of us retiring but we will be "retired" for longer. The phrase that has already reached the popular lingo - aging in place - will be the theme song. Managing the phenomena, especially managing it financially, is going to require major changes. There is reason to think this change may be for the better. Certainly, the current model - from home to assisted living to nursing home - is anything but user-friendly.

In co-housing, self-sufficient units are owned or rented by the individual -- similar to a condominium -- but in addition there is communal space and shared amenities. These may include a large kitchen, dining area, media room, workshop, laundry facilities, even rooms for guests.

There are six commonly accepted characteristics of co-housing. The model is participatory -- usually from its origin - community centered with a shared decision making process, resident management and common facilities but income is individual rather than shared. Co-housing has been a leader in being environmentally friendly, a trend which will certainly continue.

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.

Loser: Geraldine Ferraro
Former occupation/notable position held: First female candidate for U.S. Vice President; Member, U.S. House of Representatives
Activities during retirement: high-level consultant; political commentator
Retirement Report Card Grade: C-

The last thing Hillary needed at her campaign's crossroads was an honorary fundraising committee member making headlines, invoking race and openly attacking her media-darling opponent. But that is precisely and famously what Geraldine Ferraro did, and why she rates a retirement "C-". The grade goes deeper than knee-jerk, current events-fueled cynicism.

What could the former Congresswoman and groundbreaking Vice Presidential candidate have been thinking? Most likely, it was the bitter taste of two failed bids for the U.S. Senate in 1992 and 1998. Her behavior suggests that her many (and lucrative) activities since leaving public office – media commentator, management consultant, corporate board member among them – were time-markers, not true callings. She may have felt badly wronged by the electorate, and never got past it.

If Ferraro's retirement from politics reveals a person stuck in neutral, she's far from alone among retirees. Far too many leave their careers feeling like they never quite achieved what they should have, and wind up hamstringing what should be a great and fulfilling next chapter. While reinvention may be radical for most, some of the most satisfied retirees are those who worked hard, experimented, and found new passions and pursuits – and got over whatever it was that left a sour taste from work.

For Ferraro in retirement, it's not about the money, as it won't be for many fortunate members of the most asset-rich generation we may see for some time. It's about time, and what choose you do with it.

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: Victoria Principal
Former occupation/notable position held: TV actress (Pam Ewing on CBS's Dallas)
Activities during retirement: Cosmetics entrepreneur; part-time actress; civilian astronaut (upcoming)
Retirement Report Card Grade: B

Tabloids and 90210-zoned plastic surgery offices are jam-packed with once breathtaking actresses seeking to stretch the soup just a little further. (See "Dunaway, Faye"; "Ryan, Meg"and too many others to name.) Otherwise known as deferred retirement, it's not a pretty sight.

Not Victoria Principal, who showed big-picture acumen and a proclivity to plan early on – essential seeds to sow for healthy retirement and overall life planning. Disappointed with her career's early course, Principal was on her way to law school, with the intent of becoming a studio executive. Then legendary producer Aaron Spelling found her and offered her a year's tuition to take a role in his pilot for Fantasy Island. She accepted, and her Dallas opportunity soon followed.

Her Principal Secret line of skin care products, set in motion while she was still riding high as Dallas mainstay Pam Ewing, broke new ground. Instead of endorsing a product (and scooping up the quick dollars that come with), she was the product, opting to build an eponymous brand with potentially serious, long-term value.

Her skin care line may owe in part to her omitting a clause in her Dallas contract that would have granted CBS the right to consent on, and participate financially in, her outside projects. (She was the only cast member to hold firm on the language.) She also started a production company soon after leaving the series. "I retained the control and ownership of my image," she said. "No one owns me."

Evidence of solid, early and long-range planning rates Principal a healthy "B." She's kept a relatively low profile the past few years, opting for a few acting jobs, and divorcing from her husband of 21 years in 2006. Living privately in semi-retirement is, of course, her prerogative, and perhaps reason enough to upgrade her upon later examination.

Principal may, indeed, have a career re-launch in mind, but one of a quite different kind. She is reportedly training to be one of the first female civilian astronauts on one of Sir Richard Branson's upcoming commercial space flights. Stay tuned.

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.