"You may need to save more," I was told by the retirement planner on the Globefund.com and Globeinvestor.com Retirement Centre. This is an amusing understatement -- according to the graph I was shown, my savings would probably last all of 10 years or so if I quit work at 55.

On-line calculators are an incredibly useful tool for keeping your retirement savings strategy on track. You can see whether you're saving enough to retire the way you'd like, whether your investments are properly diversified, whether you'd benefit from an RRSP catch-up loan and other things as well.

For a good overview, start with the Globe's retirement planner (http://www.globefund.com, http://www.globeinvestor.com). Just plug in a few particulars -- for example, the amount of your current RRSP savings, your expected rate of return, your projected age of retirement -- and the planner will draw a graph showing how your savings will grow and then deplete after you finish working.

Think of this tool as providing a clear indication of whether you're headed for a fully funded retirement, or if you'll use up your savings too soon.

If things don't look good, you can change some of the variables and see how this alters the outlook. I found out that my retirement savings regime will work fine if I stop working at age 65.

An insight I gained here that isn't often talked about is how you can benefit if you work a few years beyond age 65. Even two extra years in the work force can leave you with substantially more savings.

The amount you contribute to your RRSP is obviously a key factor in determining how much money you end up with in retirement. No less important is the way you invest, or in other words the amount of your portfolio that you allocate to stocks, bonds and cash.

You absolutely must have an asset allocation plan. If you don't have one, or if you want to double-check the one you're using, then head to RetirementAdvisor.ca (http://www.retirementadvisor.ca). There's a good selection of calculators offered on this site -- just click where it says "tools" -- but one that really stands out is titled "Portfolio Rates of Return."

The beauty of this tool is that you can play around with different asset mixes and see how they affect the growth of your portfolio. Projected rates of return are based on average returns for cash, bonds and Canadian, U.S. and global equities over the past 15 years.

I got a projected average annual return of 11.8 per cent using an allocation of 5-per-cent cash, 25-per-cent fixed income, 30-per-cent Canadian equities, 30-per-cent U.S. equities and 10-per-cent global (the 30-per-cent foreign content limit for RRSPs means you'd have to use one of those foreign mutual or exchange-traded funds that qualify as domestic RRSP content.)

What's the price of going more conservative? By taking 10 per cent away from U.S. equities and putting it in fixed income, the average projected return falls to 11.2 per cent.

Want to know how this lower return might affect the ultimate value of your RRSP? Then go back to the Globe retirement planner and crunch the numbers.

A retirement planning tool that combines some of the functions of the Globe and RetirementAdvisor calculators is available on the Finactive Web site (http://www.finactive.com) operated by insurer Desjardins Financial Security.

The Finactive calculator is worth trying because it looks at the risks associated with investing and how they affect your returns. Be ready to spend several minutes playing with this on-line tool -- it's a fair bit more involved than most.

If you're thinking about borrowing money to catch up on any unused RRSP contribution room you might have, take a look at a calculator offered on the Web site of accounting firm Ernst & Young (www.ey.com/global/gcr.nsf/Canada/Tax--welcome--Calculators).

You'll also find a calculator here that will show you how much tax savings your RRSP contribution would generate in all provinces and territories. Someone making $75,000 who invests the maximum $13,500 in an RRSP would receive tax breaks ranging from $6,239 in Quebec to $4,860 in Alberta.

An important question in your retirement planning is the number of years you're going to live after retirement. For some answers, try the Web site of a U.S. insurer called Northwestern Mutual (http://www.northwesternmutual.com). Click where it says "Calculators," and then where it says "The Longevity Game."

Answer a few questions about your habits and background and the calculator will tell you how many years you've got.

Who knows, a good long life span may just take the sting out of your thwarted plans for early retirement.
rcarrick@globeandmail.ca