Retirement

Low interest rates have made life a lot easier for many borrowers struggling to make monthly payments. But for retirees, who have to live off their portfolios, low rates have caused huge problems.

Target-date funds are probably better than defaulting to a money market fund or throwing darts to pick your 401(k) options. But like any heavily hyped investment, these things are flawed. Extremely flawed. Let me count the ways:

Many economists view underfunded pensions as one of the biggest threats to the nation's fiscal health. Two votes in California Tuesday show how public sentiment is leaning toward cutting costs, even if it means taking away promised benefits.

Saving for retirement using your company's 401(k) plan has perks that make most advisers recommend it unconditionally. But your 401(k) plan may be ripping you off in ways you don't even recognize.

A lot of ordinary investors lost money in the Facebook IPO. But the true tragedy relates to the crazy expectations that many people had about the IPO in the first place, and how it may impact their retirement planning.

Using the Social Security Administration's online system, you can run tailor-made scenarios showing how much you'll get from the government benefit when you retire. And from there, you can plot out your master retirement plan.

It's easy to assume that building up a luxurious retirement nest egg is something only the wealthy can do. Well, here are four tales of ordinary people that disprove that idea. (And you could easily do better than they did.)