How much for retirement

[sweetdana]

How much do you feel you need for retirment by

Age 30 Age 40 Age 50 Age 60 +

I have been maxing out what me and DH could since we both got "real" jobs. About 25 ish. I am just wondering if it will be enough, or if not. I do not feel our #s will be exactly what the calcs online imply we " need". Most calcs online seem to think we will need like a million $.. and well. I am not sure we could save that. I do not want to screw up my retirment and I am not sure I have an extra 5K more a yr (or 20K more for that matter) to put in, without really changing our lifestyle.. but maybe I will regret that.

Any thoughts for others? .. Retired people who maybe regret? Someone who set them selves up nicely?

I was thinking ideal and realistic #s would be having a home free and clear and 1/2 a million plus social secur saved.


30 -- 50K
40 -- 200K
50 -- 350K
and
60 -- 500K

 

[Hercules10]

Ya ain't heard? Rapture and zombie armies are due tomorrow so send me everything you've saved.

 

[sweetdana]

 

[mickeyboat]

The company which manages your 401k should have a calculator on their website for how much you will need. That is a good place to start.

 

[Hercules10]

Seriously...Kudos for starting a retirement fund while in your 20's. Lot of people wait until they're in their 40s or hope to win the lottery.

No one here will be able to tell how much to save as no one (probably you included) will know your lifestyle at retirement.

My only recommendation is to not put all your eggs in one basket. 401Ks are good but you may want to consider other options like Roth IRAs, long term muni's or other "safe" bets for your nest egg.

Good luck!

 

[golfgal]

There really is no right or wrong answer to this question because everyone is going to need different amounts. Figure out what you WANT to live off and plan accordingly. If you have your health insurance paid during retirement, that saves you a ton of money and you don't need as much, but if you want to take a weeklong trip to Disney every month, you need to factor that into your wants. For a person that is 30 now, 1,000,000 is probably about right. A good rule of thumb is you want to live off about 5%/year of your investment accounts to keep them sustained through retirement. At a million, that gives you about $50,000/year--keeping in mind that this is in 30 years, not today's money.

If you are maxing out your options-you should be pretty well off in retirement-maxing out meaning contributing the full contribution to your 401K and to your IRA's, plus having your emergency fund funded for 12+ months.

The other thing to consider is taxes--you should have a good balance of pre/post tax investment vehicles-401K is a pre-tax, Roth IRA is a post-tax. That way you can lessen your tax burden in retirement by drawing from each type of account. If all of your money is in pre-tax vehicles, you will need MORE than you think to cover taxes.

 

[FINFAN]

my IL's had just shy of a 1/2 million when they retired 12 years ago. Home was paid off, no real debt, took one trip that was basically paid for as a gift. No new car, just simple living. They are out of money now due to medical/in home care. I would add 30-40% to whatever you think is enough.

 

[sweetdana]

my IL's had just shy of a 1/2 million when they retired 12 years ago. Home was paid off, no real debt, took one trip that was basically paid for as a gift. No new car, just simple living. They are out of money now due to medical/in home care. I would add 30-40% to whatever you think is enough.

AWE that stinks.. but i guess it happens.

TY.

 

[golfgal]

my IL's had just shy of a 1/2 million when they retired 12 years ago. Home was paid off, no real debt, took one trip that was basically paid for as a gift. No new car, just simple living. They are out of money now due to medical/in home care. I would add 30-40% to whatever you think is enough.

Or get long term care insurance to cover that eventuality.

 

[FINFAN]

yeah, but with medicare changes,and rising cost of in home care...even long term care may not be enough. If someone wants to travel or get that nifty car, whatever, keep in mind medical is likely to be a huge portion of your $$$.

 

[FINFAN]

AWE that stinks.. but i guess it happens.

TY.

thanks, yes, yes it does happen. People are living longer, COL is rising at a crazy rate, medicare coverage is changing...it DOES stink.

 

[golfgal]

yeah, but with medicare changes,and rising cost of in home care...even long term care may not be enough. If someone wants to travel or get that nifty car, whatever, keep in mind medical is likely to be a huge portion of your $$$.

This is where the planning part comes it, Medicare changes are happening but you can also plan for that by getting a good supplement policy, working that into an employment contract, etc. Planning to have a medical policy expense in your retirement years is just good planning. As far as long term care policies go, get an inflation rider on that policy and you should have all or most of your costs covered if need be. Even if you have to pay 20% of the home care costs, that won't wipe you out like paying 100% will.

 

[tvguy]

Lifestyle and health can also be factors. My mom retired 26 years ago, and her social security more than covers all her expenses. Her small pension, an annuity she bought in 1948, and the mandatory IRA withdrawals....after taxes...go entirely into the bank. She's had good health, and only had 2 major expenses in all the years since she retired, $13,000 for a new roof last year, and $15,000 for a new car 8 years ago. The $6,000 mandatory IRA withdrawals she started making 16 years, even after taxes, more than covered that.

 

[tvguy]

30 -- 50K
40 -- 200K
50 -- 350K
and
60 -- 500K

The financial planning documents our 401k provider puts out puts $1 million as the goal for someone at age 60, FYI.

 

[marybet]

We are closer to retirement, about 8 years, we just upped our contributions. My DH consulted with a financial planner, told him what we wanted to make each month and they went from there.

As you start to earn more money increase your investments. Investment advice will change as you get older. At a certain point you want to have less risky investments. We have recovered what we lost in the last Wall St. crash but it took several years, we don't want that to happen when we are close to retiring.

 

[ilovemk76]

my IL's had just shy of a 1/2 million when they retired 12 years ago. Home was paid off, no real debt, took one trip that was basically paid for as a gift. No new car, just simple living. They are out of money now due to medical/in home care. I would add 30-40% to whatever you think is enough.

This is why long-term care insurance is a must.

 

[ilovemk76]

yeah, but with medicare changes,and rising cost of in home care...even long term care may not be enough. If someone wants to travel or get that nifty car, whatever, keep in mind medical is likely to be a huge portion of your $$$.

You buy the inflation rider to help offset increases. Many pay 100% of the payment for in home care. Nobody can be 100% sure they got everything right but putting more tools in your basket gives you better odds when you get old.

Medicare - you need to be able to afford a good supplemental insurance. I would not want to let Medicare decide what nursing home I should be in.

 

[low-key]

I wont need much, I just plan on eating crackers

 

[bdcp]

How much do you feel you need for retirment by

Age 30 Age 40 Age 50 Age 60 +

I have been maxing out what me and DH could since we both got "real" jobs. About 25 ish. I am just wondering if it will be enough, or if not. I do not feel our #s will be exactly what the calcs online imply we " need". Most calcs online seem to think we will need like a million $.. and well. I am not sure we could save that. I do not want to screw up my retirment and I am not sure I have an extra 5K more a yr (or 20K more for that matter) to put in, without really changing our lifestyle.. but maybe I will regret that.

Any thoughts for others? .. Retired people who maybe regret? Someone who set them selves up nicely?

I was thinking ideal and realistic #s would be having a home free and clear and 1/2 a million plus social secur saved.


30 -- 50K
40 -- 200K
50 -- 350K
and
60 -- 500K

It depends on your income before you retire. DH and I are in our early 50's and we have almost 3 times as much as you show at 50 and we are still saving. No way would 350K even begin to support us in retirement. Rule of thumb used to be 50% of pre-retirement income. Now it's closer to 100% as people live differently than they used to. We figure we need at least 2.5 million. We will be working for about 15 more years so we'll be saving a lot more and we'll have DH's navy reserve retirement (30 yrs svc) too. We do not count on SS. We act like it doesn't even exist. We'll probably have too much saved to ever see it anyway. Odds are eligibility will be based on how much we have saved by the time we retire.

 

[sweetdana]

I wont need much, I just plan on eating crackers

maybe that is a better plan.