How much money should I be saving for retirement

[AmigaMan]

So I'm saving in my 401k ~$300/month with a 50% company match (which I'm not counting on for the purpose of this post). I also have an ING savings account that gets an additional $400/month for short term savings/play money.

Should I be putting more into retirement and if so how much? How much do I need for retirement anyways? What kind of average return rate should I expect? I doubt I'll retire at 65 since I can't fathom not working but who knows, maybe I'll change my mind. Should I have additional retirement accounts such as a Roth IRA?

 

[MrChad]

Do yourself a favor and pick up The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need. It helped me out quite a bit with some fundamental savings, retirement and investment questions.

 

[axelfox]

At least 4K a year for your Roth IRA.

 

[tfinch2]

Can you afford to save more? Are you currently in debt? How long does that "play money" last? Wife and kids?

This is a good question, but not easily answerable without more info.

 

[AmigaMan]

Originally posted by: tfinch2
Can you afford to save more? Are you currently in debt? How long does that "play money" last? Wife and kids?

This is a good question, but not easily answerable without more info.

yes. yes. Play money is usually for our annual Hawaii trip. Wife. No kids yet.

I have a house payment, a $400/month car payment, and about $3000 in CC debt from the last trip to Hawaii. We'll have that $3000 paid off by June. We usually put anywhere from $500 to $1000 a month on any accumulated CC debts that we racked up.

But in all honesty, that doesn't have any bearing on how much we need to save. Yes, I can save more, but I'm not sure how much more or more importantly how much we'll need when we retire. My current expenses really won't matter when I'm retired. I plan on having a house paid off, no CC debt and no car debts.

 

[tfinch2]

Originally posted by: AmigaMan

Originally posted by: tfinch2
Can you afford to save more? Are you currently in debt? How long does that "play money" last? Wife and kids?

This is a good question, but not easily answerable without more info.

yes. yes. Play money is usually for our annual Hawaii trip. Wife. No kids yet.

I have a house payment, a $400/month car payment, and about $3000 in CC debt from the last trip to Hawaii. We'll have that $3000 paid off by June. We usually put anywhere from $500 to $1000 a month on any accumulated CC debts that we racked up.

But in all honesty, that doesn't have any bearing on how much we need to save. Yes, I can save more, but I'm not sure how much more or more importantly how much we'll need when we retire. My current expenses really won't matter when I'm retired. I plan on having a house paid off, no CC debt and no car debts.

Of course it has bearing on how much you need to save. You plan for that, but will it really happen? Are you sure you are going to stay in the same house for the rest of your life?

I think I'm going to drop out of this thread. I don't want to evaluate the way you spend your money and turn this into a flame war.

 

[Taggart]

how many years do you have until retirement?

this is important for asset allocation.