RECEIVED a letter from a reader as follows: "I was surprised that a few weeks ago you used the hoary old chestnut that in retirement one's income needs to be 65 percent of one's income at the date of retirement."Surely this is such a generalisation that you should not be frightening innocent people by using it. My thought is that you could possibly say that one's retirement income should be equivalent to 65 percent of one's expenditure at retirement. That does not take any account of the explosive effect of inflation.

"Surely if one person is earning $x per month and uses it all to survive, that is not the same situation as someone who earns $x per month at retirement but is saving two thirds of it.

"I really think another formula/calculation should be thought out and supplied about what one's recommended, retirement base income should be — taking into account inflation, whether you own your house, health care etc.

"It is probably hard for the average person to generate enough income from pension plans, dividends, rents, interest etc. to live on in retirement, so significant savings are necessary. These assets probably will need to be realised on a well-planned, regular, but increasing basis year by year.

"People's needs are so different that no simple formula can apply — so don't scare people by using one!"

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MY correspondent is right in every respect except one: I don't remember saying it. My search engine can't find it either. But I'm willing to offer an unreserved apology, because I might have said it. At any given moment, I might have said anything.There are a few universal economic rules for retirement. One is: you won't have enough money to do everything you want to do — but when did you ever have enough?

In retirement, the trick is to cut your cloth according to your circumstances. Everything will become more expensive, and unless you're very well prepared, many items will gradually become less likely to be ticked off on your to-do list. Many people find they want to do less as time goes by, so this need not be as disappointing as that sounds.

One ought to save as big a percentage of one's final year's income, or expenses, as one possibly can. Is there a magic number that suits everyone? Of course not.

Life after retirement is a different game. You stop paying travel costs to get to work and start paying travel costs to get to Istanbul. My brother and I, for example, are close. He has essentially retired at 53 on an amount I would consider low at my age, a number I hope to surpass by not retiring. He's married; I'm not.

Our needs and fears are completely different, and so our goals are completely different, as are our spending habits.

If you work and save, you should be thinking in terms of making your retirement income bear some relationship to your former working income. The bigger the number, the better. But when you retire, whatever you have will be whatever you have. How you live will then be dictated by your income.

That's kind of the best you can do. If you end up with 65 percent of your former income, good luck. If you have 65 percent of your former expenses, that can work, too. But we're all different. If you forsake all material possessions and join a monastery, zero percent will work.

Where we are all the same is that however much it is, it just won't seem like enough to allay your fears entirely, nor to enable you to bathe in asses' milk, or whatever your dream extravagance is.

But, and here's the uplifting conclusion, whatever it is, you'll be fine. Only a very few of us are utterly alone, and our circle of friends and relatives will be there when we need them, whether or not you can serve them 100-year-old Scotch whiskey on a yacht. If you doubt that, get new friends.

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Having shared some personal things with you as examples of how finances work, I thought I'd bring you up to date on developments. The Steely Dan concert in London for which I spent a fortune on two front row tickets took place last Saturday. It was extraordinary. I wrote a review for friends. If you'd like a copy, e-mail me at crombie@northrock.bm.Two days later, still in a daze from the show, I agreed terms to buy the apartment in London that I mentioned last week. I won't take possession for some months, due to legal hooha, and the current owners are allowed to cancel the deal, having given their word, at any time in the next few weeks. I hope to stay in Bermuda and have no plans to live in the apartment, but will visit it from time to time.

Becoming a man of property is an intoxicating experience, or might be, once I can wrap my brain around the whole affair and the economic responsibilities I have taken on. I'll share every ugly moment with you, I promise.