The mission of this website is financial life cycle planning with a special focus on retirement. Over the past several months, the mission has been sidetracked by the economic meltdown, and our focus has been diverted to the astonishing behavior of the market.

But the 2009 Retirement Confidence Survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) reminds us of our original purpose. The press release announcing the publication sets the tone:

The recession has cast a pall over the retirement expectations of the vast majority of Americans, leaving a record-low 13 percent this year able to say they are very confident of having enough money to live comfortably in retirement, according to the 19th Annual Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS) released today by the nonpartisan Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). Among workers, those feeling very confident about retirement has tumbled by one-half in the last two years.

Here's a link to the Executive Summary, which contains a link to the survey in PDF format and links to fact sheets on key topics:

• Retirement Expectations
• Reactions to the Slow-Down
• Saving for Retirement
• Age Comparisons
• Gender Comparisons
• Health Care Costs in Retirement
• Social Security/Medicare Attitudes