I've been through this paper -- Uncertain Lifetime, Life Insurance, and the Theory of the Consumer, Menahem E. Yaari 1965 -- maybe 10 times now. I've done this because it was a seminal paper and and it frames the lifecycle dynamics of the retirement problem well in quantitative terms and it is a good read with some sly comments here and there. Most decent finance papers that go beyond simple finance and into econ and actuarial topics either do or should reference it. Here are some stray thoughts on my 10th (or so) read.
< with some corrections 2/8 >