Most Americans rely on 401ks for the bulk of their retirement. A serious problem with 401K plans is the investor's reliance on employer matching for the plan. This may cause an employee to rely too much on the employer and not contribute enough to savings. But, if you have not taken a serious look at retirement planning yet, nothing will give you a wake up call like using one of the many retirement calculators available on the internet. Retirement planning, which is essential for every adult, certainly is a difficult task and shouldn't be taken lightly.
Even when you use a professional adviser, the financial planning process can be difficult. There are just so many variable to consider: the age at which you retire, the age at which you start saving money, and the amount you save for retirement are just a few considerations.
Perhaps the most difficult thing to plan for is inflation. Inflation is caused by Government printing currency. Because that changes from administration to administration, it's hard to predict what policy will be 20 or 30 years from now. On the internet there are dozens of retirement calculators available, and there is a lot of information and ideas on how to plan for this. Some of them seem more plausible than others. In as far as retirement calculators go, what most of them will show you is that you simply cannot rely on Social Security. Even if you do, you will still need to save a substantial amount of money just to maintain something resembling a pre-retirement standard of living.
The economy will probably recover, and continue to grow. However with inflation at anywhere between three and five percent, you are going to be gaining and losing value in your investments based on how much your savings is being eroded.
$50 a week used to be a "normal" wage. Even during mid-life that level of income had increased to $200 a week. Now, however, you would not even think of trying to live off of $200 a week, let along $50/week.
If you make $500 or $1,000 a week, you can expect a similar phenomenon when you retire. A retirement calculator will show that you should have a retirement nest egg close to $1 million dollars to retire comfortably in 20 or 30 years.
One of the calculators tested showed shocking results: an adult starting with $100,000 adding $4,000 year to that would retire with nearly $900,000 but would end up broke by the time they were 85 years old!
An essential part of managing your existing income is setting aside and investing funds for your retirement. Despite the difficulty of estimating your retirement income and expenditures, there is a wealth of assistance available on the internet to get you started, and professional advisors ready to help when needed. - 16036
Even when you use a professional adviser, the financial planning process can be difficult. There are just so many variable to consider: the age at which you retire, the age at which you start saving money, and the amount you save for retirement are just a few considerations.
Perhaps the most difficult thing to plan for is inflation. Inflation is caused by Government printing currency. Because that changes from administration to administration, it's hard to predict what policy will be 20 or 30 years from now. On the internet there are dozens of retirement calculators available, and there is a lot of information and ideas on how to plan for this. Some of them seem more plausible than others. In as far as retirement calculators go, what most of them will show you is that you simply cannot rely on Social Security. Even if you do, you will still need to save a substantial amount of money just to maintain something resembling a pre-retirement standard of living.
The economy will probably recover, and continue to grow. However with inflation at anywhere between three and five percent, you are going to be gaining and losing value in your investments based on how much your savings is being eroded.
$50 a week used to be a "normal" wage. Even during mid-life that level of income had increased to $200 a week. Now, however, you would not even think of trying to live off of $200 a week, let along $50/week.
If you make $500 or $1,000 a week, you can expect a similar phenomenon when you retire. A retirement calculator will show that you should have a retirement nest egg close to $1 million dollars to retire comfortably in 20 or 30 years.
One of the calculators tested showed shocking results: an adult starting with $100,000 adding $4,000 year to that would retire with nearly $900,000 but would end up broke by the time they were 85 years old!
An essential part of managing your existing income is setting aside and investing funds for your retirement. Despite the difficulty of estimating your retirement income and expenditures, there is a wealth of assistance available on the internet to get you started, and professional advisors ready to help when needed. - 16036
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