7 secrets to a richer retirement #4 Think in bite-size pieces

Use a checklist of retirement each year. For one adapted to their age group.

Your 401 (k), training likely do you think about the construction of a single tranche. But even experienced investors tend to overestimate how long that amount will last.

When you look at a dollar figure, says psychology professor Eldar Shafir of Princeton, you're inclined to focus on their nominal value, instead of its total purchasing power, which will be eroded by inflation.

Experts call this phenomenon "the illusion of money." And they come with a technique to correct this, known as reframing. Instead of focusing on the total amount, focus on the monthly incomes that will create the sum for their retirement years.

"People understand how they need money each month, so it makes the process of saving more relevant," says the professor of behavioral finance Shlomo Benartzi UCLA.

The idea is catching. financial services firm Putnam, for example, recently revamped the website and the statements for the 401 (k) plans that manages the display prominently projected monthly income instead of total balances.

Now put these findings into action:

Run the Numbers
Estimate your monthly income on retirement by using the calculator on troweprice.com. Compare that figure to what you'd like to spend. Behind? Ramp savings, cut spending or postpone retirement (or three).

Tweak your mix of investment
Inflation tame now, could increase dramatically over the years, warns Marilyn Dimitroff, a financial adviser in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan One way to limit the damage is to increase the amount of money you have in dividend-paying stocks.