Are Your Retirement Savings on Target?

RETIREMENT INCOME

ALOT OF US HAVE A SOURCE OF RETIREMENT INCOME ALREADY IN PLACE;IE: A MILITARY RETIREMENT CHECK. AS I ALREADY HAVE THIS COMING IN,WITH A COLA EVERY YEAR, AND I DO SAVE FOR RETIREMENT IN A 401K, HOW DO I PUT THIS IN CALCLATORS AS SO I CAN MAKE SURE I SAVE ENOUGH? IT SEAMS THAT THEY ASSUME THAT THEY DON'T ACCOUNT FOR THIS. AS OF NOW, BY MY CALCULATIONS, I WILL HAVE MORE THEN ENOUGH, AND WILL GET A INCREASE IN PAY WHEN I RETIRE AT AGE 62 OR SO.BY HAVING MORE THAN ONE RETIRMENT SOURCE SEAMS TO BE THE BEST WAY TO INSURE FULLY FUNDED POST WORK LIFE. AS WE PUT IN IN THE MILITARY, IT IS A TRIAD SYSTEM, BY HAVING A 401K, SOCIAL SECURITY AND A THIRD RETIRMENT, I INSURE A PACKAGE THAT WILL ENDURE MOST MARKETS.

JC HOLLINGER of FL @ Jan 05, 2009 18:51:22 PM

Are Your Retirement Savings on Target?

I totally agree with Joe. I recently retired at age 47 on that very premise. I still live in the same home I did pre-retirement, own the same car, etc. I have cut back a little on travel, and I am less fashion-conscious. When the kids are out, (mine are not) a smaller home and other minor adjustments are made, it's amazing how much cheaper one can live. The 75-80 percent rule is based on investment bankers getting rich, not effective retirement planning. That is not to say that having 75-80 percent would not be nice...but so is being born in a family where each child has its own trust fund! Determine what you want your lifestyle to be, assure you have enough for that lifestyle, then retire. You can always go back to work (or start your own business) if your calculation is a little off.

Ted of OK @ Dec 15, 2008 07:42:24 AM

Retirement

I was a saver for all my life, I'll be 50 in 2009. Now government will find a way to tax my property, my earnings to bailout those who lived large. If I were young now I'd save less and spend more to live better. I'm becoming very cynical because there are fewer people who plan to take care of themselves and more that plan to have someone else pay. I'm the someone else.

Sharon of MN @ Dec 12, 2008 12:34:42 PM

retirement savings

Right now I have government pension coming to me. If I stay at work another 6.5 years I will get 75% of my base pay . My employer has given colas and health care for retirees and spouses. Due to the high level of overtime I have work over my lifetime my social security and wifes would be about 35000 dollars a year. I will shortly be 56 years old. I have saved in a 457 plan for 19 years.I have lost all of my gain, the money is in stock funds. I have about 45,000 left in it and am putting in 7300 dollars in a year. Thank God I have a define benefit retirement plan. I have done every thing recommended in investing and all I have to show for it after 19 years is 45,000 dollars. 401Ks type plans are a train wreck.They are not providing working people a way to prepare for retirement. I work in a very technical field and am fairly intelligent. If I have trouble what about other folks. If something is not done the government will have to bail out a bunch of seniors form starvation. There is talk of a study in the USA House of Representatives to allow people to convert their 401K plan to a government run pension plan. This allows large groups to share risks such as outliving your money reducing the amount you have to save and protection from inflation. I stated my particular case to show that a government pension is a better deal than 401Ks and we should support this idea.

Stephen of FL @ Dec 12, 2008 11:52:05 AM

Re:Are Your Retirement Savings on Target?

In short, I do think T. Rowe Price's Target Retirement Funds are good. The total expense ratio for the 2040 one is 0.84% which is very good. The Vanguard Target Retirement 2040 (VFORX) has an expense ratio of only 0.26%. While it's a minimal difference from the T. Rowe Price offering, I'd stick with Vanguard.

http://retiredebtfreeandhappy.com/

retiredebtfree01 of TX @ Oct 10, 2008 05:13:48 AM

retirement

does this study take into account

1.) if you are saving 10-25% of your income now you are living on 75-90% of what you make now.....

2.) does your nestegg earn zero after you retire? many of these articles say only draw 4% of your nestegg, well if your retirement money is earnig 7-8% why would you not be able to draw 6% of that earned money the following year and not have your nestegg retirement money go down by zero.

why would people not look at their lifestyle, like Joe commented, and decide this is what I want to have as far as a house, car, travel, food, gas, healthcare and whatever else is important to them. Have enough put away to cover those expenses and then live within those saved means. I know my family has all the children's college expense paid for, we will sell our current home and move to a smaller less expensive home. And ensure we have put away enough to cover the costs we feel -we

want to -have in retirement------- I mean it should be simple, obviously you cannot plan or account for everything, i am sure my mother who is retired never thought gas would be $ 4 per gal, but she has not changed her lifestyle ........ if not people who do not think this through or over extend will just have to work for the rest of their life.

jeff of FL @ Jul 16, 2008 13:38:26 PM