Financial planning, an outcropping of the services typically provided by a stock broker or account executive, include investment advice, insurance sales, retirement planning, and various other assessments and planning to meet financial goals.
The old rule of thumb was that you need to say 10% of your income for retirement. However, a number of recent studies conclude that 15% is the appropriate amount. This percent includes an employer's contribution but half of Americans workers get no help from their employer and the self-employed are on their own. Of course you can't wait until you are 40 to start investing 15% of income for retirement. So young workers need to increase their contributions to retirement by 1% (or more) a year to reach the ideal 15%; older workers have few options other than to work longer (which isn't always possible) while reducing current and future consumption expenditures. Bottom line: start saving early and plan to work longer. This info is based on a recent study by the Center for Retirement Resarch at Boston College; check it out at: http://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/IB_14-111.pdf