How do you decide on a goal amount to have saved by the time you retire?

Discussion in '401k, IRA and Retirement' started by Penny, Jul 3, 2015.

  1. Corzhens

    Corzhens Senior Investor

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    I don't think it is wise to set an amount for your retirement because it is not easy to predict inflation. When our neighbor retired, he was getting 1,500 pesos monthly pension. That's still good money then. But after 10 years, that 1,500 pesos cannot even feed one person. So that's the cost of money I am talking about. If you get a retirement of 2 million today, you can buy a small house and that may be the best to protect the value of your money. After 5 years, that 2 million can only buy a lot with no house.
     
  2. baudwalk

    baudwalk Senior Investor

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    I never bothered trying to calculate a number nor have I read of any reliable methodology. I just took advantage of every employer's pension, payroll savings, employee profit sharing, US savings bonds and other things that were available. Over time I maxed out contributions. And I never cashed out any employee plan until retirement age when it could rolled over into an IRA.
     
  3. crimsonghost747

    crimsonghost747 Senior Investor

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    Guess that is one way to go. It's definitely smart to take advantage of all the opportunities you can but I like to have some sort of an amount figured out in my head, just so that if I start getting close to that amount I can do some more detailed calculations and see if working less / retiring earlier could be a possibility.
     

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