The 75% statement is somewhat misleading. I assume you mean 75% of what you clear, otherwise your figures and analysis is way off the mark. For example, my wife and I had a pre-retirement income of $175K, now its at $107K; however I have more disposable income than when we were working - why? no deductions for social security taxes (7.45%), no deductions for state income taxes (5.75%), no deductions for federal taxes (average 22%), no deductions for 401K (15%) = 50.20% X $175K = $87,850. In my book $107K is more than $87,850 not to mention the savings on commuting, lunches, clothes, gifts to co-workers for various occasions. It all depends on one's standard of living and income at the time of retirement and the standard one wants to maintain after retirement. Also, in my case I will have my house paid off in about 10 years which will decrease my expenses by over $4500 a month. I have increased my standard of living since retirement, not to mention that I have been providing significant financial aid to 6 of my relatives (kids, grandkids, parents). So I don't understand when someone that is supposed to be a financial expert and states that one needs 75% to maintain a decent standard of living??? Please explain this to me.

Don't worry, people. Financial advisors like Solin aren't worth the time we give them. Learn basics of investing, don't take huge risks, and you will be fine. As Kurt said above, Solin's and other anal-ysts' numbers are way off. They want to scare you so you seek their advice and they get a big fee. Of course, they have to market themselves by doing blogs and sending brochures. Ignore them. If people didn't waste their money on these blowhards and full-service brokers, they WOULD have enough for retirement.

I've been saving money in a 401k since I was 21... I'm 45 now.. I haven't been saving 15% though... I'm just hoping I die before my money runs out.

Well, these advisors scared me too. Despite the fact that I should have a post-retirement income exceeding $120k, at 52 I am still working. The economy has me on edge for one thing. And for another, I'm hesitant to tap funds too early. Regardless, for a poor boy from Arkansas, I've lived in poverty and it scares the heck out of me. So I slog on and on. Really, there's never enough.

Sure, it would be nice to have all the money these experts advise you to have but in reality few of us will manage to put together these numbers. What is more important than HOW MUCH is how you spend it, if you live within your means and refrain from spending like a sailor on shore leave most people could retire and live quite comfortably on less.

Financial Advise should always contain two important words "it depends". I am not an author and have never earned $100,000, yet have managed to put three dependents through college/university and manage to live on a small pension of $2500 per month, GROSS, before all taxes. VERY FEW can save 5% let alone 15% of what is often called "disposable income". Sad but true. For those with pensionable earnings of 50,000-100,000 consider yourselves in the top 10% of pensioners. Are we to accept the advice of the so called experts with investments right now?? Good luck. Roland

Sounds like these financial advisors assume that everyone is in the top 5 to 10 percent of income earners that can actually afford to save money. Most of the people I know are struggling to eat and pay their bills on a weekly basis. What with the present situation on a large scale, of job layoffs, energy/food costs and home reposessions, where is all this extra money for retirement supposed to come from?

What all these financial experts don't tell you is to get out of any dollar based retirement funds. They do not have any vested interest in promoting physical precious meral investing, so have a tendency to ignore it.

Kurt Andolsun makes a pretty good argument or comment, I'm thinking of just reading the comments for a good source of information instead of reading what the author was trying to say

These are scare tactics, folks..Each person is different and will need to determine how they
budget in retirement.
My husband and I retired in our late 40s and we travel, dine out often and live well. Our home is paid off, we have plenty in investments and no heirs... We are now in our 60s and still saving some money monthly from our meager pension checks. I just hope I can spend it all before I go!

How can you save for retirement when your husband has been paying for child support for the past 10 years? Its over 800 bucks a month and his income is commission based. We barely make the bills and I work also to just get by. I have money put in the teacher retirement system but would have to work another 20 years for that to amount to anything. Need I say we both are in our 50's. Doesnt sound hopeful. Next year the child support ends. That 800 a month will go towards a car since we both havent been able to afford a new car in ten years and if we are lucky then maybe ther rest for retirement investments...but at our age I believe its almost too late for us to retire with hope of making it. I gave up hope long ago with all hubbys responsibilities the past ten years.

Thank you Terry. I'm so sick of seeing financial pundits saying we need to save 10% - 15% for retirement. Well that's nice but how am I going to do that? Gas is over $4/gal, my real estate taxes go up no less than 9% EVERY year. I have little debt but nothing left over any more. As for matching? Companies are discontinuing matches. My current company only ever matched $500. My last company discontinued matches after I left. I'll be working until I'm 70 - no joke, just a fact.

I've been reading lots of horror stories about either a spouse has to pay a lot of child support money OR how is someone supposed to save when gas is so high, etc etc, this is when you really need to know who you are marrying.

Remember their bills and credit will affect yours so watch out and be careful. I hate to say this but marrying just for love will not cut it, you have to look at these things regarding a person's credit because it will determine the lifestyle you will live in your later years. I'm not saying marry someone for money, not at all, what I am saying is if you marry someone with very bad credit and little income you're in trouble.

For the person that asked how are you supposed to save when everything is high, well that's when some people have to get better jobs to keep up, either go back to school to get a higher education or learn a good trade, not making enough money to save is not a good excuse and you will pay for it in your later years

More important than worrying about if you will be eating catfood in your retirement years, is to stay healthy. No matter how much you save, invest, etc., it will all be moot if you're sick !

LOL, I see so many experts here (not the Authors) that have no idea what their talking about. Here's something to think about, and these are facts. 1. Our economy doubles every 8 to 10 years. Meaning, the costs of things you buy today are going to double at the least every 10 years, maybe faster. The cost of fixed assets are going to double every 8 to 10 years. Now here's the problem. Most of you that say everyone is wrong are not looking into the future, your looking at today. What if you live to be 100. And the costs of everything doubles every 10 years? Is that $100,000 your so happy with now going to work out for you 10, 20, 30 or 40 years from now? I dought it. Also most people don't get into such great investments. Example: They say the stock market grows at better then 10% per year. But I look back 20 years ago and I see that many of the blue chip stocks have changed. To me, that means if you didn't guess right, your SOL.
Solution: Buy Real Estate. Yes, it goes up and down, but it always bounces back. You should buy in high employment areas, with lots of different kinds of business's going on so if one area of our economy goes down, it won't drag tyour real estate investments down.
I've got all kinds of Real Estate investment you can get into where you'll make up for lost time in prepairing your future. It's called using other peoples money. "The Banks". If getting returns on more then just your money sounds good to you, we should talk, because now it the time to buy real estate. Think about this. What's going to happen to the value of Real Estate when this foreclosure problem is fixed, and it will be fixed? Many estute investors are going to come out the other side millionaires. You just have to believe in America. Do you? You can only lose by not believing, and prepairing.
cme4realty@aol.com

Kurt,
I agree with nost of what you say. When the deductions for SS and retirement contributions are no longer taken out, a person does not need as much. Also house paid off, big expense gone. But where do you live that $107,000 is below the federal and state tax deduction limit?

don't buy into all this bullshit and use your own brain.
i doubled my house payment and got that paid off, vehicle is paid off, absolutling NO debt and i co-own a commercial building which i receive rent from monthy (oh, that building is paid off too). i am now 44 years old.
the key to everything is pay your sh*t off!!!!!
and also live within your means!!!
i have never made over 35k a year :)
life is good right now.....not waiting for "someday" to enjoy it.
here are some more things that helped me save
i don't waste money on cable, don't smoke and don't eat out alot.....not only money savers, but health savers. i am a member of a gym which is half the price of cable.
taking control over your own life is so powerful......don't give your power to someone else.

I HAVE BEEN READING SOME OF YOUR WRITINGS AND COMMENTS.

HAVING YOUR HOME PAID FOR AND NO CREDIT BILLS ARE NECESSARY IF YOU WISH TO RETIRE WITH MINIMUM PAIN...THE PROBLEM, IS NOT FINANCIAL, IS KEEPING YOURSELF BUSY..
I KNOW SO MANY PEOPLE THAT ARE RETIRED AND GOING INSANE FROM BORENESS.

WORKING PARTIME AND KEEPING BUSY IS GOOD FOR YOUR SOUL AND BODY...

MY EXPENSES ARE $2800 A MONTH..NO MORTGAGE, AND NO CREDIT BILLS..MY SOCIAL FOR ME AND MY WIFE WILL BE $2240. I WILL BE SHORT $560 A MONTH..MY SAVINGS ARE NOT MUCH.

REVERSE MTG, IS AN OPTION...SELLING AT THE RIGHT TIME AND MOVING TO A SMALL APT. IS ANOTHER...WORKING PARTIME IS THE BEST..

STAYING HEALTY IS YOUR BEST ASSETT.


JAIME

The naysayers in this blog are forgetting one key factor in calculating their income moving forward and that's the word inflation. You may be living comfortably now but if you live another 20 years, your fixed incomes will not increase at the same pace as the the current rate of inflation unless you continue to make wise decisions and proactively managing your portfolio. The reality is that a large majority of Americans are not saving money for retirement and will have very little to live on in their retirement years unless they make SIGNIFICANT changes to their spending and saving habits. People will have to start getting creative and taking risks or they're in big trouble. College costs are increasing at about twice the rate of inflation. People are also living much longer now than when the Social Security Act was established, the average life expectancy was 67 and is now 15-20 years longer. I believe the extra 25% that the first response to this thread is missing is inflation over time. Average price of a home in 1977, $37K. Everybody better start saving. "75% of workers age 55-64 have less than $56K saved for retirement, 58% of the same age saved $0 between 2006 and 2007, and 65% of Americans need their next paycheck to meet living expenses."- Federal Reserve, CRS Report for congress and the Dept of Labor

When I read columns such as Solin's I become aggravated that the average person is not the one they are referring to. I am a retired school teacher and at retirement I put money from a DROP account into an IRA. The DROP account is a program that the state of Louisiana has in place for its teachers nearing retirement. It's a wonderful thing! However, my retirement check isn't enough to make it in the real world so I am working part-time to earn extra. I think it all depends on how you plan. Even though I wish I did not have to work at times, I honestly enjoy being with others and getting out of the house. It's a win win situation for me. A question that I have yet to find an answer to is, "When do I know when the right time is to take money out of my IRA?" I didn't put the money there for my children. I put it there for me. I have a life ins. policy for them. I don't want to take it out too early and I don't want to die before I get to enjoy it. I'm only 59 right now so I do feel it's too early, but when? Hmmmm...