The path to retirement has changed over the years. There was a time when we could count on our pensions to provide a comfortable living in retirement. Supplemented with Social Security benefits, you could say retirees felt downright wealthy.

Now, exploding health care costs, tenuous Social Security and Medicare programs, and failing pension systems are putting retirement as we know it at risk. Nobody wants to burden their children with taking care of them. And everybody knows that they can't count on the government.

So what can you do about it? How can you ensure that you get the retirement that you've always dreamed of? No, ABC isn't going to send in Ty Pennington to makeover your retirement nest egg.

It's up to you to repair your retirement.

This report will show you the six most common mistakes people make when planning for retirement and how to correct them.

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Mistake #1: Under-estimating the amount of money you'll need to save for retirement and how long it will take to get there.

The fact is people are living longer these days. In 1901, the average lifespan of an American was 49 years. Today, it's 77.6 years. The average woman will live to close to 80, while the average male will live to almost age 75.

If you want to retire at 65, you'll need to have enough income to last at least 15 years or longer.

For example, say you're an elementary school teacher making the national median salary of $46,608. You're 45 years old and looking to retire at 65. To maintain your current income until age 80, you'll need to save $643,210 in the next 20 years, assuming Social Security still exists.

But, if you're like the majority of Americans, you're not saving enough. A recent survey by Employee Benefit Research Institute found that 58% of workers between ages 45 and 54, and 56% of those age 55 and older had less than $50,000 in savings.

There are tons of free online retirement calculators out there that can help you determine how much you'll need for retirement. The only information you'll need to supply: your current income, the age at which you'd like to retire, how long you think you'll live, and your current age. CNN Money, Kiplinger's, and MSN Money all have nifty calculators.

Mistake #2: Not contributing the majority to your pre-tax savings vehicles before turning to after-tax savings vehicles. I'm talking about 401(k)s, IRAs, and tax-deferred annuities.

When you retire, you'll likely be in a lower tax bracket than when you are working. Doesn't it make sense to invest as much as you can in pre-tax vehicles now and pay the piper later?

In 2006, the maximum contribution you can make to you company's 401(k) under federal regulations is $15,000 in 2006 and workers 50 and older can make additional "catch-up" contributions totaling $5,000 per year. If you absolutely can't scrimp enough to make the maximum contribution, at least make sure you get the maximum match that your employer offers. It's free money just sitting there for you.

And never, never take out a loan on your 401(k). Undoubtedly, you can secure a loan from a bank at a more favorable interest rate. That's because any loan you take must be repaid with after-tax money, plus interest. That's a double-whammy to your retirement. It wipes out any tax benefit you had, plus you're paying interest on the loan!

Mistake #3: Cashing out your 401(k) when you switch jobs. It maybe enticing to grab the cash rather than to bother rolling your money into an IRA or your new 401(k), but that can set back your retirement by years. Studies prove that if you start saving early, you'll be able to retire earlier. If you cash out that 401(k), it's like starting from square one.

Plus, you'll pay a huge tax penalty if you cash out your 401(k) before it's time. In most cases, if you withdraw money before age 59-1/2, you must pay income taxes plus a 10 percent penalty. What's more, lost time for compounding will substantially shrink your nest egg. Why bother? You earmarked that money for retirement, make sure you keep it that way.

Mistake #4: Failure to diversify. Diversification is key to an investment portfolio. You don't want to blow your entire retirement nest egg by putting everything into one investment. I've heard story after story from people lamenting the fact that they had most of their retirement portfolio in tech stocks when the Nasdaq crashed in 2000.

Not only should you diversify your stocks by industry (ie. not investing everything in tech), you should also diversify stocks by type (ie. value, growth, and income stocks). In addition, you should diversify by having a percentage of your portfolio in stocks, bonds, cash, and other investments.

Also rebalance your portfolio regularly. When the tech wreck happened in 2000, it's not that everybody meant to have all of their money in techs, it's just that techs had appreciated so much over the past years that, when the stocks corrected, they lost much of those gains. If you're overweighted in a particular industry or investment, it's time to rebalance your portfolio.

Mistake #5: Relying on your broker for advice. Learn the lesson from the Sarbanes-Oxley bill of 2002 and take advantage of the independent research on stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, and bonds that is available through your broker. Unfortunately, brokers work on commission, and they tend to push investments that they're getting paid to sell.

Hiring a financial planner or an independent adviser to help you with your retirement goals is a good idea. Getting investment advice from a number of different sources and drawing your own conclusion about what to put your hard-earned cash in is the best way to control your retirement.

Mistake #6: Ignoring the impact of inflation. Inflation can eat away at your investment portfolio. When prices of goods rise, the value of paper assets falls. In other words, it takes more cash to buy the same amount of goods.

Remember, you won't be receiving regular "cost-of-living" raises during retirement like most workers do to make up for rising inflation. So, you may need even more in savings to keep up with inflation during your retirement.

Our recommendation: It's always a good idea to have a contra-dollar investment, such as gold or commodities. These investments have been a great way to boost your portfolio's return in recent years, but they should always be part of an inflation-protected portfolio.

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