What would you do if you had a million dollars? Digs?

George Kinder and Susan Galvan -- founders of the Kinder Institute of Life Planning, a California-based firm that trains financial planners -- believe the decline in savings, and by extension, a lack of long-term planning in American society, is symptomatic of a broader insecurity.
"You have to look at what the source of the problem is," Kinder said. "Why save if there is nothing to save for? What is it that people should be saving for? Traditionally, we've been saving for retirement and that sort of thing, but those are just buzzwords, they don't mean much to people.
"As a consequence, many Americans are skeptical that they are being sold something by financial advisers."
The key is finding the "enthusiasm to save" by focusing on deeper and more meaningful life goals, Kinder said.
"We found that most people do not even talk about their most profoundly important goals, even with their spouses, because they can't see how they would be able to implement them or they're afraid of having them ridiculed, dismissed or discouraged. They keep them kind of buried inside," Galvan said.
The institute's planners try to unlock those answers, Galvan said, by asking their clients three questions:
-- If money was no longer an obstacle, what would they do with their life?
-- If a doctor informs them that they have a terminal illness and have only five to 10 years left to live, what would they do within that time?
-- If the doctor then informs them, they only have 24 hours left to live, what would they regret? What did they miss in life?
Whatever the reason, the lack of savings and long-term planning is troubling at a time when so many Americans will soon retire, Wyss said. Some 78 million Americans will enter retirement during the next 20 years, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
"A lot of us are approaching retirement and a lot of us are approaching it with much too little saved up," Wyss said. "They're either going to depend on Social Security, which is hardly a good bet given the state of the federal government's finances, or they're going to be taking early retirement at the age of 75."

From CNN's Do Americans Plan For the Long Haul

I for one do contribute to a retirement savings plan, although I must admit I do find it ridiculously far away.