Saturday, December 22, 2012

How Much Money Will You Need to Retire?

**Note: There is a newer version of this post here. **

This post uses the 4% withdrawal approach to calculate savings needed to retire at age 65 for those who earn from $10,000 to $250,000 or more and will be eligible to receive full, or nearly-full, Social Security benefits.

Previous posts established retirement savings benchmarks/targets from age 25 to 65 for a typical average income worker and a typical high-income worker. This post only calculates the target at age 65, and, as a result, is appropriate for all salary levels.


How Much Will You Need to Retire?


Retirement savings needed on retirement date at age 65
How Much Money Will You Need to Retire?


With an Average Salary, You'll Need Around 9 Times Your Salary to Retire

If you follow the 4% withdrawal guidelines, it's easy to calculate how much money you will need in order to retire at age 65. Basically, you will need (100%/4%=) 25 times the amount you expect to withdraw from your savings in your first year of retirement. To facilitate the computation, I have assumed that your total yearly spending in retirement will equal 75% of your current salary, adjusted for inflation.

However,

Saturday, December 15, 2012

How Much Should You Have in Retirement Savings? - average incomes

This post uses the "4% withdrawal" approach to retirement savings to estimate how much most people should have in savings -- by age.  And, given how much you actually have, what percent you should save going forward.

This post is designed for those earning approximately $40,000/year who are eligible for Social Security. Earn more? See higher income, or not eligible for Social Security.

Retirement Savings Targets for Those Eligible for Social Security


How much need in savings age 35, 40, 50, 60. 5-30 years before retirement
Retirement Savings Targets, by age


Have I saved enough for my retirement? Am I on track? Here's an easy-to-use graph to help those with earnings around $40,000/year plan for retirement. An earlier post calculated the percent of your salary you should save each year, depending upon when you start your retirement savings plan. This one provides some benchmarks to monitor your progress along the way.

Sunday, December 9, 2012

How Much Should You Have in Retirement Savings? - higher incomes

This post uses the "4% withdrawal" approach to retirement savings to estimate how much high-income earners should have in savings -- by age.  And, given how much you actually have, what percent you should save going forward.

Those With Higher-Salaries Need to Save More Than The Average

Have I saved enough for my retirement? Am I on track? Here's an easy-to-use graph to help those earning $100,000 or more plan for retirement; they need to save more than the average. An earlier post calculated the percent of salary that high-income earners should save each year, depending upon when they start their retirement savings plan. This one provides some benchmarks to monitor your progress along the way.

Retirement Savings Targets for Those With Higher Salaries


How much should I have in retirement savings at age 30, 35, 40, 45, 50, 55, 60 ...
Retirement Savings Targets for Higher Salaries

This post is designed for those earning $100k or more who are eligible for Social Security. Earn more? See targets for those not eligible for Social Security. Earn less? See typical Social Security recipients. Ending targets for all salary levels are covered in How Much Will You Need to Retire?

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Personal Strategic Planning Development - Optional tasks




Following are some additional thoughts relevant to developing your personal strategic plan. For the most part, these address special situations, or are optional enhancements to Creating Your Personal Strategic Plan.


Create SMART Goals and Strategies

Make your goals and strategies SMART: Stretching (challenging), Measurable (so that you know whether or not they have been achieved), Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound (i.e., set target dates/deadlines). (Note: There are many variations of what SMART means, but all are similar. See, e.g., Wikipedia).

Avoid Analysis Paralysis

Monday, December 3, 2012

Personal Strategic Planning Schematic


index to personal strategic planning posts
Personal Strategic Planning Schematic


Intros/Overviews

Do You Need a Personal Strategic Plan? A process for establishing life priorities
A Personal Strategic Plan Example: An introduction to & overview of the planning process, including examples and sample formats.