Many financial advisers tell clients to make long-term savings estimates for retirement. In theory, this encourages workers to save and invest on a consistent basis. But a new series of studies found that you should focus on saving for next month instead of the distant future.

Working adults asked to estimate how much they would bank in a specific month in the future said $946 but ended up saving only $123, according to research by Paul Dholakia, an associate professor at Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Management, and Leona Tam, an assistant professor of marketing at Old Dominion University. Saving over a shorter time frame produced much better results. Workers asked to estimate how much they would tuck away next month said $287 but actually saved $440.

Sudden illness or a layoff can instantly change your retirement plans. I've been writing about how some retirees and older workers coped with health problems, job loss, and care-giving responsibilities. Here's a recap of the stories told so far:

• Forced Into Early Retirement From Corporate America
• Cutting Back on Work to Take Care of Mom
• Second-Career Plans Scuttled by Illness
• Retiring Into an Uncertain Job Market
• Keeping Busy to Ward Off Alzheimer's Disease
• Picking Out a Job for the Pension
• When Illness Ambushes Retirement Plans

If you'd like the story of your unplanned retirement featured in an upcoming post, please write me at retire@usnews.com. Include your phone number. Or you can discuss your story in the comments section.

Target-date retirement funds are designed to automatically shift investors' portfolios to less risky assets as they age. You name your retirement year, and the fund managers change the stock and bond allocation inside the fund to an appropriate risk level for your age, in theory getting a bit more conservative as you approach your ideal retirement date.

Almost 80 percent of large U.S. plan sponsors offered target funds as an investment option through their 401(k) plans in 2007, up from 60 percent in 2006, according to research by consulting firm Greenwich Associates. And even if you don't sign up, you could find yourself automatically enrolled in them unless you specifically opt out. "About 40 percent of funds that have adopted automatic enrollment use target retirement date funds as their default, compared with about a third using money market funds," says Greenwich Associates consultant Rodger Smith.

Dear Alpha Consumer,

Do you know if my biweekly 401(k) contribution (on my paydays) is invested based on the market price of mutual funds at the beginning of the day or the end of the day?   I know that normally one shouldn't be concerned about such things, but when the market swings up or down by 7 percent on a given day, it can make a difference.

When the market ends up 9 percent one day and down 5 percent the next, it's hard not to be concerned about the timing of investments. I asked Fidelity, the country's largest retirement plan administrator, when, exactly, 401(k) money from paychecks gets put into the market.

Tons of self-employed people aren't saving for their retirement as they could be because they don't think they're able to start a 401(k). But solo 401(k)'s are quite possible, as I have written about. They just got more advantageous:

From the AP:

For self-employed individuals with a simplified employee pension—a SEP plan—or a solo 401(k) designed for independent contractors such as consultants or real estate agents and sole proprietors, the contribution limit increases from $46,000 to $49,000.

I wrote in my previous article about how the annual $46,000 allowed for a solo 401(k) could drop someone a tax bracket. It's now an even better tax shelter thanks to this limit increase.

Of course, 401(k)'s have gotten a bad rap in the media recently after so many lost value because of the drops in the market. But really, despite the ups and downs of the market, over a long period of time, your 401(k) will very likely benefit.

Referring to herself as a "Joe six-pack American," Sarah Palin estimated that her family has lost $20,000 in the stock market in the past week.

According to state financial disclosure forms filed in March (reported in the Boston Globe), the Palins had about $164,699 in a private investment account and $198,102 in a separate retirement account. For more on Palin's finances, check out this Washington Times story, which mentions the Palins' combined income (nearly a quarter-million dollars), the reported value of their home ($552,100), and other assets (a single-engine plane, two boats, and two personal watercraft).

Stock market losses can be heartbreaking. But sharing your stories of nest egg decline can be cathartic. Here are a few personal finance bloggers to commiserate with or pick up some money tips from.

• 2 Million's 401(k) is down 33 percent.
• AllFinancialMatters says his wife's 401(k) is down 39 percent this year.
• My Money Blog lost nearly $12,000 in retirement and brokerage accounts.
• Get Rich Slowly offers tips for investing in a bear market.
• Consumerism Commentary is buying while the market is down.
• Five Cent Nickel discusses recovering from a stock market decline.
• I Will Teach You to Be Rich shares his take on the financial crisis.
• ShAARP Session compares 401(k)'s to fried eggs.

Venture capitalist-blogger John Ellis offers up an original fiscal stimulus plan:

Well, it's not mine, actually. It's the brainchild of one Leonard Yablon, my neighbor and friend and the former CFO of Forbes. And it goes like this:

1. Allow individual 401K withdrawals of $12,000 for the next 100 days.

2. Individual withdrawals up to $12,000 will be tax free.

3. The result should be an immediate infusion of $120-$180 billion into the economy.

4. Which should stabilize the markets. There are other plans out there. But the Yablon Plan seems the easiest to get done fast.

DUBLIN, Ireland----Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "The Changing Face of the UK At-Retirement Market" report to their offering.

Gibraltar Industries has stopped making matching contributions to its workers' 401(k) accounts as the Hamburgbased building products and steel processing firm grapples with deep slumps in its key housing and automotive markets.