So how much do you need to retire? There are several things you can do to assess what you will need to get you through your golden years but first of all, there’s one very important point you need to know.
That is, people are living longer these days in fact, over the past couple of years, the life expectancy of a person has virtually doubled. And it’s increasing all the time. Now, say you retire at age 65, you might be expected to continue on in life for at least another 25 years, that’s assuming you are in good health and have no issues in that area.
How Much Do You Need To Retire Comfortably?
There is a rule of thumb in the world of retirement planning that whatever you are making now and living comfortably on, in retirement, you should work on a figure of 75-80% of your current income. So if you are making $80,000 a year, work around a $60,000 a year income from your retirement plan to live comfortably on.
So when you ask the question again…how much does one need to retire then think of the 75-80 per cent rule of your current income.
Retirement Calculator
Retirement calculators are handy little tools that allow you to get a reasonable estimate of what your retirement savings might look like when you retire.
Now let’s make one thing clear, they are not the be all and end all of what you’ll need. They are really only designed to give you a “ball park figure” of what you can expect to have in your retirement investment accounts when you call working quits. And the estimate you’re given is based on your current path of projection taking into account your current age, retirement age, current earnings and other investments.
They don’t take into account things like inflation and life expectancy issues such as health or even worse, if you’ll actually die before your retirement age. They are not a crystal ball. They are really designed to get you motivated into taking action when you see the figure on paper and most react in a way that suggests they are going to fall well short of the mark.
Here’s a reliable retirement calculator that will give you an overview of what you might be worth at retirement. Click here.
Life Expectancy Retirement Calculator
No one can predict what’s going to happen to you in the future and only you can determine what’s the likely path you are going to take. Life expectancy is now a big issue in retirement planning strategies as we are living longer.
How long will you live after you retire? We don’t know but there are tools out there that claim to be able to give you some sort of idea. Here’s a life expectancy retirement calculator that is reliable and should give you some kind of guide.