Those of us who use financial advisors or take the time to use online calculators aren’t wasting our time when it comes to retirement planning.

A new survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) found people who set savings goals with the help of a financial advisor reduced the risk of running short of money in retirement by 9 t0 almost 13 percentage points.

 And those who used online calculators fared even better. They decreased the likelihood of running out of money by 14 to more than 18 percent.

Unfortunately, about 45 percent of those surveyed said they guessed at what they needed to save for retirement, and they were less likely to save enough.

Jack Van Derhei, research director of the EBRI 2013 Retirement Confidence Survey points out that planning is really essential: “As American workers bear a growing responsibility for accumulating retirement income and managing the drawdown of those savings during retirement, it is more important than ever that households be able to set adequate targets for their retirement savings.”