When I was working in the financial services industry, I used one of those retirement calculators to determine how much money I would need to finance my retirement starting at the age of 65. At the time, I had about 30 years to go.

I was shocked to find out that, even if I reduced my monthly expenses by 50% in retirement, I would still need $10 million in order not to run out of money during my expected lifetime.

I couldn't imagine in my wildest dreams how I could ever save that much money with my take home pay.

With stock market returns as paltry as they were at the time (and are today as well), I just couldn't see how my investment returns were ever going to get me to $1 million in savings, let alone $10 million.

This was one of the factors that made me consider whether I was going to continue to settle for the life of a highly taxed employee, paying into social security but not guaranteed to get anything back, not thinking for myself and failing to look for alternate income streams.

Yes - over the course of my career, I would expect to get raises. But inflation would rise as well. Would things ever change sufficiently for me to be guaranteed a shot at true wealth creation?

I know that I'm not alone.

With concerns over Social Security running out within a generation (80 million "Baby Boomers" will need $1.5 Million to $2 Million to retire within the next 10 years), and with companies eliminating their pension plans left and right, many people like me are scared about the prospect of an underfunded retirement with no generous income streams available to us.

We are spending too much of our precious time thinking about possibly running out of money, not being able to afford our post-retirement medical expenses and, if our money dwindles, possibly being forced to rejoin a workforce that discriminates against the aged.

Unthinkable fears about the future are damping our enjoyment of everyday life.

Churning over how to get my hands on $10 million started to make my head hurt, until a thought occurred to me that put my fears on hold:

What if I could work now to set up income streams that would replace my current paycheck, so that I in retirement I would receive money as if I was still working. What if I could retire still enjoying an income based on my previous work in the form of residual income?

That way, I would never need to build that ridiculously large nest egg that the financial services calculator said I needed.

What if I could set up these income streams so that they would last in perpetuity and even be willed to my children? Was that kind of income possible, and if so, how could I generate it?

You may have heard of residual income like this in the context of stock market investing: the income that a hefty 401(k) might be able to bring into your life.

The difference though with small business income streams is that, unlike with the securities in a 401(k), the investor adds some of his/her own work to create business residual income.

With 401(k) income, the typical investor constantly relies solely on the efforts of others. You can see where the vulnerability is in this, depending on who these other people are.

So how could I blend the idea of relying on others to make profit for me and maintaining creative control over this income?

Eventually, I was introduced to the subject of online businesses.

I had my reservations about making money online when I heard about all of the "get rich quick" schemes proliferating the Web.

But I also read that financial wizards like Robert Kiyosaki and Donald Trump were standing behind the potential of legitimate online businesses. That made me think the prospect of an online income was worth an extra look.

I brainstormed the idea a little more and eventually saw myself creating a niche business on the Web that no one had thought of, at least as far as I could tell with my research. This became my ticket to financial freedom.

I have built an Online Business Center to pass along free information for investors interested in how to use the power of the Internet to supplement or even replace their original retirement savings strategies.

Access the Online Business Center at www.powerwealthcreation.com/how-to-become-an-entrepreneur.html