How Much Do You Need for a Comfortable Retirement?

I made calculations to determine how much I would need to save for retirement in order to retire comfortably. I assumed that every 5 years I would get a better job or promotion that would make me earn $10,000 dollars more except ages 35, 45, and 50. At ages 35 and 45 my raise is only $5000 dollars and at age 55 I don't get a raise. I am 20 years old and make 20,000 dollars a year. If I save 15% of my income every year until I retire at age 60 then I'll have saved $236,00 dollars for retirement. Now add that to the money I get from Social security I'll have 14,106 dollars + 15,733 a year if I live to 75. That's only 29,839 dollars. My question is, based on the fact that 72% of the people who make less than $30,000 a year believe they need more money to live comfortably, how can a person retire comfortably if saving 15% of one's income isn't enough to do so?? In addition, if I were to recieve 21,000 dollars a year ( the mean of the maximum and average social security benefit ) then I'd still only have about $35,000 a year.

Johnathon of CA 2:59AM August 29, 2012

I'm 73 my income is $32,000 a year. House paid for, new car paid for, rv paid for. Simple life although I have travelled all over the world, Rv travel to utah last year from Florida. Also Rv'd to Virginia and other states. Health great. Life's a ball

robert ackert of FL 12:25PM March 01, 2011

My wife and I retired in GA about five years ago with a combined annual income of about $145,000. We paid off our mortage five years before retirement. During our working years, we contributed about 15% of our gross income to 401k funds (including employer matches) for decades. We are finding that we now need only about $75,000 annual income before taxes to live comfortably and are actually still saving money as our combined Social Security incomes plus pensions more than pay us $75,000 annually. We will not need to touch our 401k money until we reach age 70.5 to avoid tax penalties. Our 401k investment portfolios are now about 10% above their previous highs reached when the Dow passed 14,000 during the fall of 2007. What contributed to this favorable outcome is that we held fast during the market drop, doing nothing but rebalance each January to maintain our allocation goals. Too many retreated from equities during the stock market drop and failed to get back in to ride the equities market back up, more evidence that timing the market doesn't work. An advantage of living in GA is low state income taxes. Our county also treats retirees well as respects property taxes. At age 65, we no longer pay the school support portion of real estate taxes.

Al in Forsyth County of GA 5:56PM February 22, 2011

I retired in 1997 with what I at the present time thought was a goodly sum of money. I made roughly $80,000 the last year I worked. I had put away 16% of my income for retirement for at least 20 years in a 401K. I went with Paine Weber to invest my money. They advised me to keep my mortgage which I did. Well the economy has tanked and took over 50 percent of my IRA. I have very little left and have a mortgage and Social Security. My wife works part time for our church and babysits1 child while his mother works. I can't find a regular job so I do what I can to make a buck here and there. Not what I had in mind for retirement. I suppose there are many out there like me. Now that I am on medicare my employer changed my insurance to a major medical policy which is useless for my needs. We have taken a medicare supplement which is expensive but I feel I have no choice. Its either that or bankruptcy. Greatest nation in the world though,

Bob Culbertson of LA 9:51AM February 22, 2011