My late parents, careful savers all their lives, enjoyed a pleasant if modest and brief retirement (my father, the last to die, passed away at age 73).

Among the many things I learned from them were the values of discipline and thrift. I regret I wasn't good at teaching them about investments or getting them to go outside their comfort zone.

Despite my encouragement and explanations, and although they read and clipped my columns, my parents never dared to venture beyond government-insured but low-yielding certificates of deposit. Had they lived longer, inflation would have eaten away at their savings and put a dent on their lifestyle, just as it has done to many retirees.

That's why I -- and most Americans in my 45-65 age group -- want a higher standard of living in retirement and are willing to try new approaches and, if necessary, take on more investment risk.

"The generation approaching retirement would not be as satisfied with their parents' lifestyle as they think their parents are," concludes a study by Mathew Greenwald and Associates, a research firm that specializes in retirement issues.

This doesn't surprise me, considering the baby boom generation has always seemed to want it all, including now a different -- and better -- retirement lifestyle.

But it also raises the question of how exactly boomers expect to achieve this goal, given their stereotypical profligate ways and general lack of financial preparation for retirement.

"Boomers are more financially educated, more sophisticated and have higher lifestyle expectations," said Mathew Greenwald, the head of the research firm. But in terms of saving and avoiding debt, boomers have not done as good a job as their parents did in preparing for retirement. "I think many (of the boomers) are not doing the right preparation but still expecting more," Greenwald said.

The study, conducted for the industry group NAVA, the Association for Insured Retirement Solutions, was based on telephone interviews with more than 1,000 adults age 45 to 65 with one or both retired parents alive, or at least one retired parent-in-law alive, and with 100 retired parents age 70 to 80.

The survey found most middle-age adults see their retired parents as doing well financially and being basically content in retirement, just as my parents were.

But more than a third say their parents have had to cut back on their lifestyle since they retired, as I'm afraid my parents would have had to do had they lived into their late 70s. The parents' view of their own retirement is not that much different, although fewer said they have had to cut back. Continued...