Saturday, July 30, 2011

How Much to Save for Retirement?

I am lucky enough to have a pension as a teacher, which I pay into each month. I also have a 403(b) that I put about $220/month into right now. I am starting a Roth IRA, which I plan to max out each year, as long as I can. (Though the Roth may end up going toward a home down payment).

Here's my question: How much do I need to save for retirement? I know there are calculators, but since I will have a pension I have a hard time figuring out how much extra I should save. Anyone know a good calculator that can account for this? Or a formula? A rule of thumb? Your two cents?

3 comments:

  1. I'm thinking about 750K is the minimum I'll need to retire comfortably. I'm making my plans for retirement as if my pension and social security won't be there, although I think they both probably will. I just don't want to depend on either.

    I've calculated that if I start maxing out my Roth at age 29 until 65, I should have enough to be in semi-retirement by 65, full retirement by 75.

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  2. Consider 15% of your income spread over your 403B & roth IRA. Start by filling up your roth and then put whats left in your 403b. Do this on a per paycheck basis and you should be fine.

    I agree with TeacHer, don't depend on pension.

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  3. Have you talked with a financial advisor? They have access to all sorts of software that allows you to calculate best & worst case scenarios and spits out a number. Without that, we'd probably have no real "direction"... :)

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