by Steve Vernon, FSA

While you're making resolutions for 2013, why not add in a few that will help you improve the odds that you'll live long and prosper in your retirement years? In this first post, I've listed six suggestions that will put boomers on the right track. Get started by choosing just one of these steps right now. Then, each month, select and implement another step. Continue through the list, and by mid-year, you'll be well on your way to significantly improving your retirement years.

A note to my faithful readers: Thanks for sticking with me after a two-month absence of newsletters due to my recent surgery. I'm happy to say it was a success, and I'm back in the saddle again, although sobered by my experience and hopefully a little wiser about aging (see "Lessons Learned From My Surgery" below). Please keep reading for this month's selections of helpful blog posts and articles.

When I give retirement planning workshops to boomers, audience members often express one of these two thoughts:

• I wish I'd heard you 20 years ago.
• My kids need to hear your message.

If you're a member of Gen X or Gen Y, why not get 2013 started off right by taking steps to increase the odds that you'll be able to enjoy your retirement years without the stress of worrying about your finances? It's never too early to start planning for a long and prosperous life. But don't try to do everything at once -- you're more likely to succeed by taking just one step at a time. So act on just one of the ideas in this post each month, and before you know it, you'll be well on your way to financial freedom in your later years.

2012 Market Recap: Bulls Continue Charge  

Despite painfully slow economic growth and dysfunctional partisan politics, U.S. stocks closed up 16.12 percent this year measured by the Wilshire 5000 Total Return, the broadest measure of the U.S. stock market. Read here for an excellent summary of the 2012 stock market by fellow CBS MoneyWatch blogger Allan Roth.

The debate about which strategy -- using actively managed or passively managed funds -- is the most likely to allow you to achieve your financial goals should have ended long ago. Yet the debate continues, and it will probably continue for a very long time, despite evidence such as the Standard & Poor's "Indices Versus Active" scorecards. The latest one, measuring persistence in fund performance, provides further evidence that passive investing is the winning strategy. Read here for an excellent analysis of these investing strategies by fellow CBS MoneyWatch blogger Larry Swedroe.

I was at a holiday party last month when a friend started talking to me about her retirement plans, hoping to get some free advice. I'm always glad to help out my friends, but my advice wasn't exactly what she was expecting to hear. Read here to learn more about the stark reality of surviving in your retirement years if you're relying on 401(k), 403(b), or IRA accounts for most of your retirement income.

The story I mentioned immediately above is just one example of a serious lack of knowledge people have about how to generate retirement income from their savings. Here's a post I wrote about a study that illustrates how widespread this problem is among boomers who are approaching their retirement years.

How to Best Work With Financial Advisors

Your retirement planning decisions get more complex as you approach retirement and in the years following your departure from the workplace. It's entirely understandable that you might seek the advice of a financial planner. But many planners don't have the specialized training that's needed to help people in their retirement years. The following post describes the credentials you should look for when hiring a financial planner.

Another challenge with financial advisors is that they're often compensated in a way that conflicts with your best interests. Read here for some thoughts on finding an advisor who has your best interests at heart.

Finally, here's a helpful list of 10 questions to ask a potential financial advisor to weed out the good from the not-so-good, provided by CBS MoneyWatch Editor-at-Large Jill Schlesinger.

On Election Day last year, I had major surgery to remove a noncancerous mass that was attached to my liver. The experience, including getting a first-hand look at the wonders of modern medicine and learning what what life could be like in your 80s and 90s, has been quite sobering. As a result, I'm not afraid of getting older, but to maintain this confidence, I'll need to plan appropriately for my later years, as I've summarized in the following post. 

Perhaps the most powerful lesson I learned, however, significantly dialed up my motivation to improve my health. Read here for details.