Let’s focus on money and happiness/health off the bat. There has been a lot of research on the two together over the years, but as the Baby Boomers retire, we’re learning that having a paycheck that lasts the rest of your life – what financial professionals call “guaranteed lifetime income” and what I call a Forever Paycheck – leads to both increased happiness and health. It’s tied to lower stress because you know that your needs and likely some of your wants are taken care of no matter how long you live. Lower stress typically leads to a happiness bump. And, more recently a big study published by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that the decision to turn some of your savings into a lifetime paycheck not only leads people to use more of their money to invest in their own health but it leads to a longer life – it actually reduces mortality.

So, with all that in mind, I’d say: Start thinking of the money that you’re putting away for your own retirement not just as the big sum you’re accumulating in your 401(k) but actually as a stream of income for your future. Then, by your 50s at the latest, start exploring the ways to turn a chunk of that money – typically about 1/3 – into income by buying or building a paycheck. You buy one with insurance i.e. and annuity. You build one with investments like bonds or dividend paying stocks. Both ways work but have their pros and cons. I lay out the way forward in my new book The Forever Paycheck.