The Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies has some scary news for single women: Many aren't saving enough to fund the kind of retirement they might want.

On average, the center estimates that a single woman needs to have saved $500,000 by the time she reaches retirement. But according to its annual survey, most are on track to store up far less than that. One-third of single female respondents had saved less than $25,000 and only 1 in 10 had saved more than $100,000. Only 6 percent had calculated how much they will need to fund themselves once they stop working.

A debt-free education is probably one of the greatest gifts you can give your child. But a fully financed nest egg will certainly make it easier to sleep at night in the decade leading up to retirement. Ideally, diligent savers are able to fund both college and retirement. But when times are tight, sometimes it feels as if you have to prioritize your savings goals.

It's a question many parents struggle to answer: Should savings—if there are any—go toward retirement or the kids' college expenses?

The economic slowdown is making that choice even harder, as many parents are forced to scale back on both financial goals. According to a new study from TD Ameritrade, 36 percent of parents have cut back or stopped saving altogether for their children's education because of the current financial climate. That's despite the fact that most parents estimate it takes 11 or more years to save enough money to cover children's college costs. Meanwhile, TD Ameritrade also found that 1 in 3 adults lacks a financial plan for retirement.

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.

Americans who have been paying into the Social Security system their entire working lives have definitely earned their due. But with an average benefit of about $13,000 a year, retirement may not be especially comfortable if it's not topped off with other savings or a pension.

In a column that seems designed to incite baby boomers who are dreaming of—but woefully unprepared for—retirement, former financial adviser Robert Brokamp argues that Americans who haven't been looking out for themselves don't deserve a retirement. He writes:

Some workers this year have managed to tuck away slightly more into their retirement accounts than last year, according to new analysis. But that doesn't mean tax-deferred account balances are increasing.

The average pretax amount employees contributed to retirement plans was $3,187 in the first half of 2008, up 1.4 percent from $3,142 in the first half of 2007, according to an analysis of Fidelity's 16,723 corporate defined contribution plans representing 11.5 million participants. But the typical account balance is over $5,000 lower than last year.

No one is quite sure how much of their current salary employees should aim to replace in retirement. Recent estimates have ranged from 65 to 85 percent of preretirement income (Government Accountability Office) to an astonishing 126 percent of final pay (Hewitt Associates).

The latest study entering the fray calculates that most people should aim to replace 77 to 94 percent of their preretirement income, according to Georgia State University and Aon Consulting Worldwide, an arm of the insurance giant Aon. The numbers are less than 100 percent of income because expenses often drop in retirement. "This is primarily due to the following factors: Income taxes go down after retirement; Social Security taxes end completely; Social Security benefits are partially or fully tax free; and saving for retirement is no longer needed," says Cecil Hemingway, U.S. retirement practice leader with Aon Consulting.

People who live in U.S. News's hometown of Washington have the best shot at retirement security, according to a new study. Yes, the cost of living is among the highest in the country. But workers in the District of Columbia are much more likely to have federal government pension plans and retiree health insurance that make retirement planning much easier.

The study by Ernst & Young and Americans for Secure Retirement is the latest in a series of studies predicting that Americans will be woefully unprepared for retirement. While almost 60 percent of new middle-class retirees can expect to outlive their financial assets if they attempt to maintain their preretirement standard of living, Ernst & Young calculated, the probability of outliving one's assets ranges from 39 percent in the District of Columbia to 72 percent in Montana.

Almost everyone aims to attain financial security in retirement. But each succeeding generation expects to be more self-reliant than the preceding one, according to a new online survey by Charles Schwab, Age Wave, and Harris Interactive. Americans are depending more on personal savings and investments and less on the government or their employer.

Current retirees depend on the traditional three-legged stool: Social Security, pensions, and personal savings and investments. Each leg supports their retirement to a substantial degree. But generations X and Y expect to rely largely on their own investments, the survey shows.

You'd think rising gas and grocery prices might cause workers to skimp on their 401(k) contributions. But that's only half correct. The faltering economy has some Americans saving less and others tucking away more for retirement. At least that's the confounding result of a new survey.

While it's unsurprising that 15 percent of people in IRAs and workplace retirement plans have lowered their contributions and 73 percent kept theirs the same, a surprising 16 percent say they have actually increased the amount they're saving as a result of the current economic downturn, found a Bankrate.com survey of 1,004 adults done by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media.