RETIREMENT
Updated: Jun 23, 2021
Where will your retirement money come from? If you’re like most people, qualified-retirement plans, Social Security, and personal savings and investments are expected to play a role. Once you have estimated the amount of money you may need for retirement, a sound approach involves taking a close look at your potential retirement-income sources.
Determining a Target Retirement Saving Rate
A secure retirement is one of your goals, right? The worksheet in this video can help you get there.
When setting up your budget, it is important to include retirement savings. You can save through a retirement plan at work, on your own, or both. The target retirement savings rate tool will help you determine how much you need to save each year. The sooner you start saving, the longer your savings have to grow.
The worksheet will help you estimate what percentage of your current annual salary you should be saving. While it does not take into account your unique circumstances, it will help you plan for your retirement goals.
The worksheet asks for four pieces of information:
Number of years until retirement (your planned retirement age minus your current age)
Current annual salary
Number of years you expect to spend in retirement
Current savings
The worksheet assumes that you’ll need to replace about 80 percent of your pre-retirement income. Social Security retirement benefits should replace about 40 percent of an average wage earner’s income after retiring. This leaves approximately 40 percent to be replaced by retirement savings. Keep in mind, this is an estimate and you may need more or less depending on your individual circumstances.
How many years do you have left until retirement?
The more years you have until retirement, the less you will have to save each month to reach your g