How Much Money is Enough for a Comfortable Retirement?

Watch Ron DeLegge and myself cover the following topics in this 7 minute video titled How Much Money is Enough for a Comfortable Retirement?

44% of retirees are at risk of running out of money. What can they do?

In a nutshell, it may be too late for those who are currently retired. The key is to save enough and not lose it. The Department of Labor provides a free tool, the Lifetime Income Calculator that tells you how much income you’ll have to live on in retirement, given what you are saving. As a rule of thumb, you’ll need 22 times your annual spending need, so for example, you’ll need $2.2 million if you want to spend $100,000 per year. For most people the required savings are 10-15% of salary.

Has the risk of investment been mis-calculated?

Not really. The young can, and probably should, take more risk because they can recover from losses. Older people are less fortunate, so the only reaction to losses is a reduced standard of living. They should be more conservative.

The decumulation phase is getting a lot of attention. Comment.

Retirement is the end game. We save so we can spend later on in life. There are some spending rules, but we’re all unique so no one rule works for everyone. The popular 4% rule works in normal markets, but not in this market where interest rates are being artificially suppressed. This is a very bad time to be a retiree. The solutions for the wealthy are much simpler; “pockets of money” work well for them.

This video has been very popular, with more than 20,000 views.  Please add to the discussions on the video.

To learn more about Ron Surz, visit him at www.PPCA-Inc.com.

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