So what do financial planning and retirement planning have to do with each other? The answer is everything. Simply, you cannot conduct your financial planning responsibly and effectively without also knowing where you want to be upon retiring. Your financial planning should merely be an exercise to help you get there. Most people lose sight of their retirement, especially when it seems like a long way off; instead, they focus only on being able to acquire enough assets for the here and the now. Once they reach retirement, they realize they don't have enough money to retire on. cnn money