Attention boomers: You need a way to pay for that comfy retirement you envision

My late parents, careful savers all their lives, enjoyed a pleasant if modest and brief retirement. (My father, the last to die, passed away at age 73.)

Among the many things I learned from them were the values of discipline and thrift. I regret I wasn't good at teaching them about investments or getting them to go outside their comfort zone.

Although they read and clipped my columns, my parents never dared to venture beyond government-insured but low-yielding certificates of deposit. Had they lived longer, inflation would have eaten away at their savings and put a dent in their lifestyle, just as it has done to many retirees.

That's why I - and most Americans in my 45-65 age group - want a higher standard of living in retirement and are willing to try new approaches and, if necessary, take on more investment risk.

"The generation approaching retirement would not be as satisfied with their parents' lifestyle as they think their parents are," concludes a study by Mathew Greenwald and Associates.

This doesn't surprise me, considering baby boomers have always seemed to want it all. But it raises the question of how exactly boomers expect to achieve this goal, given their general lack of financial preparation for retirement.

"Boomers are more financially educated, more sophisticated, and have higher lifestyle expectations," said Mathew Greenwald, head of the research firm. But in terms of saving and avoiding debt, boomers have not done as good a job as their parents did, he said.

The study was conducted for the industry group NAVA-The Association for Insured Retirement Solutions.

Most middle-age adults saw their retired parents as doing well financially and being basically content in retirement. But more than a third said their parents have had to cut back since they retired. The parents' view of their own retirement was not much different, though fewer said they have had to cut back.

As to the coming generation of retirees, "there is hope they will be better managers of money as they get close to retirement," Greenwald said. His advice: