I'm 46 years old and for the past 22 years I've put 6% of my paycheck into my 401(k). Will I have enough to live on when I retire at 67 -- Diana B., Va.

Getting an early start on saving and sticking with it is by far the best way to gain the inside track to a secure retirement.

So the simple fact that you've contributed to your 401(k) every year since the beginning of your career leaves you in a much better position than if you had procrastinated or not saved at all.

But without knowing how much you've actually accumulated in your 401(k), I can't really say whether you're on track to retire at 67.

Fortunately, you can gauge that pretty easily yourself. Just go to a good online retirement calculator and enter such information as your salary, the current balances of your 401(k) and any other retirement accounts, a breakdown of how your savings are invested and the percentage of pay you plan to set aside annually over the next 20 years.

Once you've plugged in those figures, the calculator will estimate the probability that your projected savings plus Social Security will be able to generate enough income to support you throughout retirement

Ideally, you'd find that chances are good that you'll be able to retire on schedule at something close to your pre-retirement standard of living if you continue your current regimen.

But unless your employer has been supplementing your savings with generous employer matching funds over the years, I doubt that will be the case. Typically most people need to save between 10% and 15% of their annual income throughout their career to have a realistic shot at a secure and comfortable retirement. I suspect that a 6% annual savings rate will leave you a bit short of where you should be.

Still, even if you find that you're not as prepared for retirement at this point as you'd like, there's no reason to panic. You've still got several options for improving your prospects, and plenty of time to turn things around.

The single most effective move you can make (which I'm sure will come as no surprise) is to boost the percentage of pay that you sock away each year.

Link:
Retirement savings: Am I on track to retire at 67?