Most employees put saving for a vacation above saving for retirement—and lots of them spend alot more time and effort planning for that vacation, too, than theydo for making sure that their retirement days will be happyones.

But to spend their golden years in the best possible way, theyshould take more time to plan for it than they did those two weeksin Hawaii last year.

After all, if luck holds, they could spend 20–30 years in retirement.

And to that end, there are some pretty important elements thatought to factor into that plan.

A report on Kiplinger highlights some of thosevital points to cover well in advance of actual retirement—in fact,the earlier the better.

The sooner employees identify potential gaps in planning,problems or expenses, the sooner they can take steps to correctcourse and improve the likelihood of a pleasant and secureretirement instead of years of pennypinching and making do.

Here are some suggestions for that plan:

10. Figure out expenses before retirement.

If employees have no idea how much they spend, they'll be in fora rude awakening once that regular weekly paycheck ends and they'refaced with a Social Security check and a pension or 401(k)distribution.

All of a sudden there’s a whole lot of month left at the end ofthe money—and that’s not a good realization to have, especially iffacing a fixed income with no room to maneuver.

Instead, the report suggests that people look at last fullyear’s expenses, month by month and category by category.

Add them all together and divide by 12 to get an average year’sspending for each regular expense: not just taxes, mortgage and carpayments, home and car maintenance and utility bills, but also sucheasily overlooked categories as ATM fees, vacations, holiday andbirthday gifts, dining out and any hobbies.

And for those planning on doing a lot of traveling duringretirement, or pursuing a degree or certification, they shouldn'tforget to add that in too; travel and tuition aren’t cheap.

9. Look at options for health care.

Do employees know how much they'll be spending for Medicare,including Part B and D premiums? Do they plan to buy a supplementalplan? And do they have any idea how the distribution of incomecould affect those Medicare Part B and D premiums?

Maybe they don’t know that the IRS looks at income from twoyears back when it determines the Income Related Monthly AdjustmentAmount (IRMAA).

If current income is less than it was two years ago, they canappeal that with the Social Security Administration, which couldresult in reducing the IRMAA.

But when they're retired, employees are still going to have tobe able to pay health care expenses, so they should look at suchthings as tax planning and using tax-efficient strategies to helpminimize income tax exposure.

8. Can consolidating accounts make life easier?

Required minimum distributions (RMDs) at 70½ may be easier tomanage and calculate if there aren't so many accounts to drawfrom.

Some people “collect” accounts over the years, from job-hoppingor for other reasons, such as opening an account to collect on ahigher interest rate that no longer exists, or to collect a “freegift” given at the time of account opening.

If there’s no longer a good reason to have a particular account,a potential retiree might want to close it and move the money intoanother existing account; it could make life easier not having tosort through a bunch of statements from different institutions.

And remember, retirement should be all about easy.

7. Make sure to understand all the options for SocialSecurity.

Considering the expected number of years people will spend inretirement, thanks to longer lifespans, they need to look intodifferent scenarios for collecting Social Security benefits.

They might collect them for more years if they claim early atage 62, but they'll pay for it in the long run with smaller benefitchecks—for the rest of their life.

If, on the other hand, they postpone claiming till 70, benefitswill be higher—but if they're in ill health, they might not livelong enough to make that delay financially worthwhile. They shouldmake sure to consider all the options—including spousal benefits,and when or whether those should be claimed—before making adecision.

And they need to remember that, if a spouse will be depending onthem during retirement, they should keep in mind their needs—andtry to maximize the income they’ll get upon the employee'sdemise.

6. Track down all potential sources of income duringretirement.

There’s Social Security, of course, but employees should checkif they have a pension from an earlier job or an IRA or twolanguishing forgotten. Or multiple 401(k)s.

Even forgotten bank accounts that were overlooked in arelocation might be out there.

They should list all annuities, retirement accounts,investments, rental income, Roths, REITs and bonds—savings andotherwise.

And they need to pay attention to their own risk tolerance, andfigure out the most efficient ways to turn them all into incomeduring retirement.

5. What will they do about long-term care?

If an employee retires and they or their spouse developAlzheimer’s or some other debilitating disorder that requires notjust care, but long-term care, will they have a LTC policy?

The older they are when they buy it, the more it will costthem—but the LTC market has seen lots of major rate hikes, as wellas the exit of many companies that decided not to sell suchcoverage any more. So those options may not even be affordable.

But LTC policies aren’t the only choice out there; some types oflife insurance offer limited coverage for such care, such asannuities with enhanced benefit riders or living benefits.

They should be careful what they buy—and be sure they understandhow it will work should the need arise.

4. Make a survivor assessment.

Remember, it’s not just Social Security a future retiree has toconsider for a spouse in case of their death or disability (andvice versa).

What kind of income will be available for the survivor? Are anyfunds going to become unavailable—such as a pension that terminateson the death of the worker, instead of paying benefits to thesurvivor?

Employees need to make sure both are covered as well as possiblewith the resources they have.

3. If using a financial advisor, go for a fiduciary.

Regardless of the political storm over the Department of Labor’sfiduciary rule, no one who approaches retirement with an advisorshould have any doubt that that advisor has the client’s bestinterest at heart—and that means going with a fiduciary.

Otherwise your employee could end up spending a lot ofretirement money on fees that are higher than they need to be andproducts that really don’t serve their needs as well as somethingelse might.

2. Get all legal documentation together and make sureeverything is current and updated.

Both regular and living wills, legal and medical powers ofattorney, beneficiary designations on insurance policies, pensions,and other forms of income, as well as deeds and other documentssuch as trusts—even pet trusts to care for four-legged (orfeathered) friends—need to be current if they’re going to do anygood.

Employees should review everything and keep documents in oneplace, and then make sure that family or friends know where it canbe found in the event something happens to them.

1. Have a talk with family members about end-of-life decisionsand where important papers can be found in case the worsthappens.

Yes, it’s retirement and not the prelude to one's demise, butit’s better if next-of-kin know a future retiree's wishes in theevent they pass away and leave pets or dependents at home who mustbe cared for.

And if an employee has never told anyone he or she plans tovanish into the Himalayas in search of enlightenment, how will theyknow not to consider the enlightenment-seeker lost andstart the paperwork on their estate?

Employees need to make sure they've covered as many bases asthey can -- then they'll be set to better enjoy retirement when itarrives.