Retirement - Its Sooner Than You Think!! (Honestly)


Many people hear "retirement" and think- what? 401K? Roth vs. Traditional IRA? Stocks, bonds, mutual funds? Do they?

Or do many people put money away according to the suggested amount and then simply hope that when retirement comes all will work out?

One report I read estimated that 66 million Americans have put away a Whopping $0 towards retirement.

Many people are still thinking there might be a thing called Social Security around when they retire. Social Security: as of 2004, the average annual Social Security retirement benefit is approximately $11,000. That is not a lot to live on folks. Plus, we all hear the news periodically that there might not be any Social Security around when we get older and need it.

And as a further WAKE UP call, I found a calculator which estimated (without Social Security):

  • a couple at 40

  • bringing in $90k a year (together)

  • with very modest investments

would need to save an additional $2,690,000.00 ( yes 2 million +) in order to retire at 65-- OR - plan on working an additional 29 years!!

Now before you get overwhelmed and click over to another article-lets put our heads together and simply cover a few very very basic start up basics.

1) Standard Of Living: You need to know at what standard of living you will want to live during retirement.

2) Basic Living Expenses: You will need to calculate the cost of basic living expenses (at that level) i.e. electric bill now of $200 = what in 2030?

3) Hobbies and Leisure Activities: Know what type of hobbies, and leisure activities you will keep busy with and what their cost might be then.

4) Family Visiting / Travel: Realize that more and more children move away when grown. So while they work out of state-YOU may need to do the traveling to see them. Plan for these costs.

5) Convalescent Care (nursing home costs) provincially run about $100/day median. You will need to multiply that times the same 4% inflation rate. Then multiply that times the number of years before you may need it-to approximate how much you may need to afford for your housing when you need assistance. Truth be known-WE need to plan to handle that cost ourselves, rather than think our children will be able to take on that kind of additional cost.

You will need to total yearly amounts. You will need the approximate yearly cost to live (at your desired level) during regular healthy retirement. And, you will need the total yearly amount of costs to live in assisted or full care living facilities ( for each - you and mate).

Multiply each yearly amount by the number of years you might be living in that circumstance. Example: Retire at 65. Live healthy retirement- 15 years (so 15 x yearly cost of healthy living) . Live assisted - 8 years ( so 8 x yearly cost of living in care).

You now have two totals that when added together equal your estimation of the total dollar amount you will need to draw from in order to live after retiring. NOW you are ready to begin planning your investments in such a way that you can achieve that TOTAL number by the time you retire.

Here are some tools to help you now that you are ready to take that first step:

USA Today retirement cost calculator: http://www.calcbuilder.com/cgi-bin/calcs/RET2.cgi/usatoday

Motley Fool's retirement area: http://www.fool.com/retirement.htm?source=PFinAg

Metlife's retirement area: http://www.metlife.com/Applications/Corporate/WPS/CDA/PageGenerator/0,1674,P1946,00.html

About.com's HUGE retirement resource area: http://www.retireplan.about.com/

Until next time-all the best,

Kate

About The Author

Kate Hufstetler is a well established Personal Life Coach. Her clients come from both the United States and overseas. She offers coaching services via email and phone consultations. For more information and current highlights please visit: http://www.comedreamwithme.com/start_today.html

Kate@comedreamwithme.com


MORE RESOURCES:

The 3 Investing Rules of a Billionaire Family
Motley Fool - 13 hours ago
By Alex Dumortier, CFA During the second half of the 20th century, Larry Tisch and his brother, Bob, turned an investment in a New Jersey resort hotel into ...


A Letter to Barack Obama
Motley Fool - 13 hours ago
This is still investing, but again, it is not gambling. A low-cost choice such as Vanguard Total Market (FUND: VTSMX) will currently provide an investor ...
Bracing for a Double Dip Motley Fool
all 2 news articles


Ski resorts investing more than $100M in improvements
Washington Business Journal, DC - 15 hours ago
Colorado ski areas that belong to the Colorado Ski Country USA trade group are putting more than $100 million into capital improvements for the upcoming ...


Sify

The fine art of contrarian investing
Sify, India - Aug 28, 2008
Contrarian investing is a proven way of finding multi-baggers and generating great wealth in the long run. Simply put, a contrarian investment strategy ...


Raw Story

'Investing in Iran now like investing in Krups in 1938'
Jerusalem Post, Israel - 23 hours ago
"Investing in Iran in 2008," Sneh told his Austrian hosts, "is like investing in Krups Steelworks in 1938, it's a high risk investment. ...
Israel Has Decided: Iran Will Not Have Nukes Arutz Sheva
all 22 news articles


Investing by the Numbers
Seeking Alpha, NY - 3 hours ago
I’m going to be reviewing a few books on quantitative investing. Many of these will not be suitable for everyone, and as I do these reviews, ...


Economist

New US rules aimed at helping investing in foreign markets
Forbes, NY - Aug 27, 2008
United States - WASHINGTON (Reuters) - US investors are expected to have an easier time assessing and accessing foreign markets under rules adopted by the ...
Stockwire.com: Force Protection, Inc. (NASDAQ:FRPT) just released ... Trading Markets (press release)
Standards Deviations: US Financial Accounting Heads for Change Knowledge@W. P. Carey (subscription)
Far-reaching changes for US Financial Times
all 322 news articles


UPDATE 1-Templeton's Mobius likes Russia despite Georgia
Reuters - 12 hours ago
By Herbert Lash and Dan Burns NEW YORK, Aug 29 (Reuters) - One of the pioneers of emerging market investing on Friday said he had not backed off his bets on ...
Russia's foreign exchange reserves rise by $400 million MarketWatch
all 6 news articles


When History Majors Invest
Motley Fool - 13 hours ago
Like many people without investing experience, I knew little about the stock market. Working as a Motley Fool copy editor, I encounter a language barrier, ...
Are You Ignoring the World's Next Great Growth Story? Motley Fool
all 2 news articles


Investing on a different ‘scale’
FT Alphaville, UK - 17 hours ago
The site, backed by investment from music manufacturing and distribution company The Vinyl Factory and four years in development, has launched with two ...

Investing - Google News

home | site map
© BullMarketData.com 2008