Saving for retirement is the most important investing goal for most of us.  In order to successfully achieve a comfortable retirement, it is important to establish and implement a proper plan.

Retirement planning can be broken into two phases:

1) The accumulation phase, where the goal is to grow the retirement assets to the point of being able to sustain a comfortable retirement lifestyle 

2) The distribution phase, where the goal is to draw a retirement income from the accumulated assets in a manner that will allow the nest egg to last as long as you do. 

To have a successful retirement, it is imperative to take the proper steps during both of these phases.