Got an e-mail last week about a new retirement tool from Nationwide Insurance and thought I'd give it a try and pass it along if you're interested.

The tool is called the RetirAbility Check and, according to the e-mail I received from Nationwide's PR agency, it "differs from other retirement calculators and is a unique tool that provides individuals with peer level comparisons (similar to the way consumers currently compare their credit scores with one another). The data is sourced from the National Retirement Risk Index, research conducted by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College and funded by Nationwide."

Not knowing quite what to make of that description, I gave it a whirl.

It's clear from the start that Nationwide has spent some real money on this. Instead of simply having a form to fill out that spits back a score, the tool uses human guides that take you through the process. After an intro to the process, you tell your age and marital status and then the tool hooks you up with a guide who is similar to you. I got a guy in his 30s or so who wasn't nearly as good-looking as me, but otherwise seemed like someone I'd identify with. While I at first thought this human guide talking to me from my computer slowed things down, it also made me more likely to continue on filling things out.

One of the smart functions of the tool is that for each 4 or 5 questions,your guide says a little something based on your answers, like "yeah, I won't be getting a pension either. They're kind of a thing of the past." Again, this keeps you interested and drives you forward to want to continue.

In the end, I got a very good score and my retirement planning seems to be paying off. However, if you don't do as well as you might hope, the tool offers some suggestions on how you can change the path you're on.

It's worth a look.