A report issued by the National Summit on Retirement Savings in June of 1998 says: "Americans must save more today if they are to realize the dream of a financially secure retirement tomorrow." Section two states: "Many Americans are not planning or saving enough to be able to afford to retire."

Two major problems that were outlined at the conference was the need to educate the public about the necessity of saving and the related confusion about how to go about it. As old age approaches, many people become increasingly suspicious of anything and everything that they might consider as a scam. As you get older, it's harder to salt away enough to last you through your retirement years. And even more difficult when the economy is on a shaky footing.

With the rising cost of living, taxes, mortgages, credit card debt and low wages, the average American has very little incentive to save at all. Today's financial worries take precedence over retirement financial stability. And to top this off, the income derived from pensions and social security benefits don't meet the needs of a retirement lifestyle. Unfortunately, today's recessionary times have eaten away life savings and investments.

Some people have taken steps to plan ahead. Many of the standard investment avenues are useful, in today's uncertain times you cannot rely totally on your investment savings to insure your comfortable future. Investments in stocks, bonds, Mutual funds and real estate do help add money to the retirement pool, but this assumes you know something about investing in these avenues and in the current financial climate, the chance of making any money at all is risky.

One of the best methods to plan for retirement is not to retire at all! While retirement may be the best time for leisure and luxury, eventually life gets boring with so much unproductive time on your hands. That's where running your own business comes in.

You should be looking ahead to waht you'd like to do after age 65. The best way is to look carefully at your hobbies, your talents and skills that can be put to financial gain.

You don't need to grow your retirement business into a multi-national corporation. All it needs to do is give you something that excites you and motivates you to get out of bed every morning.

Retirement should be an exciting time in your life and requires as much planning and foresight that it does in planning a wedding or travel to an exotic location. In today's environment, a working retirement is the best way to produce a modest income, yet still have the time to enjoy what life can bring. It insures that no matter what the climate is, you will stay comfortable with something to fall back on when things get rough.

And the best way is to start while you're still working. So take a close look at what you'd like to do during your retirement years and ask advisers on how you can start. There are hundreds of businesses on the Internet, many of which can produce a good income. Whether you like to sell or produce something like ebooks and software, there's a good chance you'll be able to sell it.

Your current retirement savings won't be enough when you reach 65 so plan now to insure you will have some added income.