How do I know if I'm saving enough money for retirement in my fifties?

I've learned from a lifetime of thinking about what we owe ourselves and each other: there's no magic number, only honest mathematics and honest self-knowledge. Start by writing down what you actually spend each year now—not what you think you spend. Then ask: what will change? Healthcare costs rise. Travel may increase or decrease. Some expenses vanish. A financial advisor can show you projections, but you're the expert on your own life. The real question isn't whether you've hit some benchmark. It's whether you've made a deliberate choice about the life you want, and whether your current savings trajectory supports it. If the math shows a gap, you have options: work a few years longer, adjust your vision of retirement, or find new income streams. None of these are failures. They're corrections made with time still available to make them. The dignity lies in choosing consciously, not in hitting someone else's target.