The retirement ideal has undergone more facelifts than an aging baby boomer. Not so long ago, your grandfather worked to 65, collected a gold watch, and split for Florida with a fat pension and health benefits. Millions of people followed the same path.

Yet that model has been decaying for years, driven by the new realities of human longevity, the deep-seated desire of millions of retiring boomers to make a difference, and, more recently, financial pressures that surfaced during and after the Great Recession.  Emerging now is a highly personalized vision of later life—a vision dictated by your passions, health, desire to remain engaged, and of course the ability to pay for it all.

So the new vision of retirement must account for our ability to pay. For most, that means working longer. After all, the average worker between 55 and 64 has saved only $65,000, according to the Employee Benefit Research Institute. Still, there are some common threads to the ideal retirement:

• Financial freedom This is a big one, and it has been redefined. Financial freedom is no longer about having enough money in the bank to quit work for good and do whatever you like; it’s about having enough income and free time to do the things that matter most to you. It’s less about material things and more about personal experiences. You may need to work longer to achieve financial freedom. But if you step back from your grinding career and do something you love, on your terms, you may get the income and flexibility you need to travel, spend time with family, or pursue a passion like painting or writing. A key element of financial freedom is guaranteed monthly income through an annuity, traditional pension, or passive income like stock dividends, interest from bonds, or rent from investment properties.

Time Magazine:  Redefining The "Ideal" Retirement