Many estate planning failures aren't dramatic. There's no missing will, no family feud, no document anyone forgot to sign. The plan is right there in the drawer. The folder is labeled. The signatures are in place. It just doesn't do what the family thought it would do. That's the version of estate planning that catches people off guard — not the absence of a plan, but the presence of one that quietly stopped working somewhere...

One hears and reads about "retirement number" quite often. But what exactly is it, how does one calculate it, and why is it important? We provide answers to all these questions and more in the piece below.