Will you have enough to retire?

[KIAman]

Apparently I need 4.6m to retire and at my current rate, i'll be 1.2m short. DAMNIT, NEED TO SAVE MOAR MONIES!!!!

 

[Platypus]

probably, but I really don't care. I enjoy my life now while it's there. There's a balance of saving money for some day that might not even come and enjoying life now.

 

[Exterous]

Quit with the paranoia.

No - redirect it from SS to health care costs

 

[nageov3t]

according to that calculator, I'm on track.

I'd like to be saving more, but presumably down the line I'll be living with a significant other, and at that point I'll have someone to help bear home/utility costs so we can have more disposable income to save.

 

[Juddog]

Oh man... retirement is gonna suck for me (if I ever can even retire at all)!

 

[Fingolfin269]

The Vanguard averages worry me. My savings are more than fine relative to the averages is but I'm more concerned with what it will mean when 95% of retirees are dirt poor and living on the street.

 

[Juddog]

The Vanguard averages worry me. My savings are more than fine relative to the averages is but I'm more concerned with what it will mean when 95% of retirees are dirt poor and living on the street.

It means you should stock up on weapons and ammo.

 

[DrPizza]

Retire? I enjoy my job too much to retire. Maybe I'll feel differently at the earliest age I can retire at. In that case, then there are some serious financial considerations. It's possible that I could "retire", start collecting my pension, leave my 403b to continue accruing interest, start teaching in another state (taking a "pay cut," but actually increasing my total income via the pension plus lower salary) and put in another 15 years toward the retirement system there, at which point I could retire with 1 full pension and a partial pension.

Currently, my fixed expenses each month are quite small. And, at the time I retire, will be even smaller, since I'll have long since paid off my house. I can't figure out that "retirement calculators" - heck, at this point, my expected social security pretty much pays all of my projected monthly required expenses (property tax, food, utilities), outside of whatever healthcare is needed. Pension & investment income is simply the icing on the cake.

 

[monkeydelmagico]

- heck, at this point, my expected social security pretty much pays all of my projected monthly required expenses (property tax, food, utilities), outside of whatever healthcare is needed. Pension & investment income is simply the icing on the cake.

I also hope social security is able to pay as promised. Same with the pension. I would be poverty stricken if two legs of my investment tripod got hacked. My deferred compensation plan will be the smallest income source of the three.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I am really hoping to be able to retire ~50-55. It's a time when you are still fully capable to do shit like spend a month in every country.

I'm < 30 and tossing into retirement pretty decently, but not heavily enough methinks. Especially since I plan on poppin' out kids. Ahhh well, I'll just do what others do - pop out kids and pray they will hold me up!

 

[rh71]

I am really hoping to be able to retire ~50-55. It's a time when you are still fully capable to do shit like spend a month in every country.

If you sacrifice free time and work too hard during your younger years, you'd miss out on more than you would at 55.

At 55 I would be able to afford a nicer car (to go nowhere) and have no mortgage (more money to travel with just 1 person).

And I think traveling is overrated. Even during the 2nd week of our Maui honeymoon I missed being home with the familiars. Same goes for 7-day cruises. You can only live out of a hotel or out at sea for so long. Have you actually spent a week in other countries so much that you'd want to spend a month? How many vacations can you really take in 1 year, let alone 30? You'd be sitting at home most of the time doing nothing.

Put away enough while spending now is better than to stress yourself so you can retire early - doesn't seem worth it to me.

 

[JEDI]

Retire? I enjoy my job too much to retire. Maybe I'll feel differently at the earliest age I can retire at. In that case, then there are some serious financial considerations. It's possible that I could "retire", start collecting my pension, leave my 403b to continue accruing interest, start teaching in another state (taking a "pay cut," but actually increasing my total income via the pension plus lower salary) and put in another 15 years toward the retirement system there, at which point I could retire with 1 full pension and a partial pension.

Currently, my fixed expenses each month are quite small. And, at the time I retire, will be even smaller, since I'll have long since paid off my house. I can't figure out that "retirement calculators" - heck, at this point, my expected social security pretty much pays all of my projected monthly required expenses (property tax, food, utilities), outside of whatever healthcare is needed. Pension & investment income is simply the icing on the cake.

you have to teach in another state?!?

In northern VA, teachers work for the county. so retire at one county school system then start teaching at the next county over, which is only a few miles away.

 

[shortylickens]

No way in hell. I've already done the math. Even if I had saved every dollar I've made up to this point, got a great job next year, and lived like a pauper while raking in cash for 30 years, theres no way. The cost of everything is shooting up and wont stop just so I can retire. I will probably work myself to death just like my parents.

 

[JM Aggie08]

If you sacrifice free time and work too hard during your younger years, you'd miss out on more than you would at 55.

At 55 I would be able to afford a nicer car (to go nowhere) and have no mortgage (more money to travel with just 1 person).

And I think traveling is overrated. Even during the 2nd week of our Maui honeymoon I missed being home with the familiars. Same goes for 7-day cruises. You can only live out of a hotel or out at sea for so long. Have you actually spent a week in other countries so much that you'd want to spend a month? How many vacations can you really take in 1 year, let alone 30? You'd be sitting at home most of the time doing nothing.

Put away enough while spending now is better than to stress yourself so you can retire early - doesn't seem worth it to me.

A-fucking-men. It took me about a year of being out of school to realize this.

 

[mmntech]

Back when my parents were saving for retirement, Freedom 55 was a legitimate plan. If you managed to get $1 million by the time you retired, you were set for life. Until the interest rates plummeted.

I've read that there's a large chunk of people in their 50s that haven't even saved up $10,000 in their retirement fund. So I'm already ahead of them. Though 30 years from now I have no idea what's going to happen. With the prices of necessities (housing, food, heat, transportation, electricity) going up significantly, and wages are stagnating. The amount a lot of people can afford put away is shrinking. Gov't pension plan doesn't pay much unless you work in the public service.

 

[nageov3t]

If you sacrifice free time and work too hard during your younger years, you'd miss out on more than you would at 55.

At 55 I would be able to afford a nicer car (to go nowhere) and have no mortgage (more money to travel with just 1 person).

And I think traveling is overrated. Even during the 2nd week of our Maui honeymoon I missed being home with the familiars. Same goes for 7-day cruises. You can only live out of a hotel or out at sea for so long. Have you actually spent a week in other countries so much that you'd want to spend a month? How many vacations can you really take in 1 year, let alone 30? You'd be sitting at home most of the time doing nothing.

Put away enough while spending now is better than to stress yourself so you can retire early - doesn't seem worth it to me.

I think that's a great point.

I mean, it's different for everyone, but even though I genuinely love travelling, once I've put down roots and made a home for myself, I start to miss sleeping in my own bed after a couple weeks.

 

[xanis]

Doubtful. By time time I'd want to retire, I'm betting that SS will be a thing of the past and inflation will make what I have worthless.

 

[Engineer]

....No 401k?

No, company is too small. Simple IRA with up to 3% match (on 3%). I'm putting more money into my and my wife's IRA's because they have much lower fees than the fund choice in the Simple IRA. I upped the Simple from 3% to 6% to get more and because they lowered the fees from 3.5% to 2.5% (yes, that's huge to pay up front).

I had 401k's at my last two jobs though - now in a regular IRA.

 

[Blackjack200]

Doubtful. By time time I'd want to retire, I'm betting that SS will be a thing of the past and inflation will make what I have worthless.

I'm sorry you feel that way. I'd just point out that I've never heard a convincing argument that SS will simply go away. It's true that the Trust Fund is projected to run out in 2033, and at that point payroll taxes will only cover 75% of obligations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Trust_Fund but that doesn't mean that adjustments can't be made in the next 20 years.

As for inflation, it's impossible to predict the next 30 odd years, but right now it's very, very low.

 

[nageov3t]

I'm sorry you feel that way. I'd just point out that I've never heard a convincing argument that SS will simply go away. It's true that the Trust Fund is projected to run out in 2033, and at that point payroll taxes will only cover 75% of obligations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Trust_Fund but that doesn't mean that adjustments can't be made in the next 20 years.

As for inflation, it's impossible to predict the next 30 odd years, but right now it's very, very low.

at the very minimum, at this point I'd expect means testing for Social Security to be in place long before I retire.

I'm not entirely opposed to it... I view Social Security as a safety net for people who are unable to save for their own retirement, not as something you should be relying on and basing your retirement strategy on unless you have absolutely no choice (or something you'd collect as an entitlement even if you don't need the money)

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I'm sorry you feel that way. I'd just point out that I've never heard a convincing argument that SS will simply go away. It's true that the Trust Fund is projected to run out in 2033, and at that point payroll taxes will only cover 75% of obligations. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_Security_Trust_Fund but that doesn't mean that adjustments can't be made in the next 20 years.

As for inflation, it's impossible to predict the next 30 odd years, but right now it's very, very low.

So what you're expecting is.....

1) Expect the demise of SS - leaving the last people who paid into it fucked (Getting nothing from paying into it)

2) Expect taxes to dramatically rise to continue the pyramid scheme (known as social security).


In other words - ROTH IRA's / ROTH 401k's are looking better eh?

 

[kranky]

Calculators which do not allow you to specify how much you plan on spending in retirement (either in absolute $ or as a % of income) are useless. If you're a big saver in the 25% bracket, you might only need 50-70% of your working income in retirement to live exactly the same way you did when working. You won't be saving any more, your taxes will be much lower, you might not have a mortgage payment... on and on.

Also, when you are decently far from retirement (> 10 years), your projections will vary wildly with just tiny changes in your assumptions for inflation and investment returns. If I project inflation of 3.5% and investment returns of 4%, I am broke in 20 years. If I project inflation of 2.5% and investment returns of 5%, I have a crapton of money left even at age 90. Both sets of assumptions are reasonable if not typical.

Firecalc was mentioned previously, and it is a very good calculator but you need to make a lot of assumptions and that's very difficult to do accurately so many years out.

Another flaw in calculators is most assume your spending in retirement will go up year after year based on inflation, when in fact most retirees reduce their spending after around age 80.

If you can save 15%-20% of your income in your working years, maximize tax-deferred contributions, and invest soundly, the odds are overwhelming that you will have "enough" in retirement.

 

[7window]

says by the time I retire at age 67 i will have 3.9 million. wonder if htat is good.

 

[Deeko]

That calculator thinks I will need a curiously high amount of money at retirement.

 

[IronWing]

This calculator is mo better.