"As a sheer accumulation approach, saving a percentage of your income (or take-home pay) every year is not a bad way to go, and leads to a steadily rising contribution to savings. The problem ... is that it also inherently directs the individual to spend the other 90% of his/her income as well, which increases the standard of living so much that there's little progress ever made towards retirement goals.... By contrast, an alternative approach is to focus more significantly on spending instead, in an effort to control the rising standard of living."  MORE >>