https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Wed, 22 Apr 2026 13:25:44 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-92828 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:14:12 +0000 littlebug 92828@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We're hoping for about $3M. I have a 403b and it's still making me money (knockwood), but hubs' 401k isn't doing so well. We put the bulk of our wedding gift money into a 4-year raise-your-rate cd with Ally, and get a pretty good rate on it because we locked it in before the market really tanked. We also have a no-touch savings that gets a decent interest rate - it's no-touch for now but that will most likely be our kids' college funds. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-92826 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 17:08:51 +0000 tequiero21 92826@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Andrea: i agree. that's why i think i was okay about moving to fort worth (when that was in the running).... because it's got really low cost of living. you could buy a $1M house that in jersey would probably cost $10M+ </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-92746 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 14:51:16 +0000 hilsy85 92746@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Dh and I actually talked about this this weekend...the first number I came up with was 5M, which is a number that I feel would allow us to both retire, continue our lifestyle in NYC, have a second home, go on trips, etc and not give up anything. But then he reminded me that if we have multiple kids, and happen to send them to private schools, and then college, 5m will probably go pretty fast...so then we upped our number to 10M, Lol, it seems so far out of reach, so who knows, maybe we'll be working forever :P </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-92704 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:21:40 +0000 chopsuey 92704@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We want at least 7M in the bank for retirement. Hopefully we'll have more! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-92698 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 13:16:53 +0000 Andrea 92698@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@tequiero21: i don't think $3M is enough here in New York either. having enough money to retire is really one of my biggest worries. hmmmm, probably best to move away from new york to retire! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-92666 Tue, 13 Mar 2012 12:54:40 +0000 daniellemybelle 92666@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>UPDATE: So I get the Dave Ramsey newsletter, and just got this in my inbox today: "Can you really get a 12% return on your mutual fund investments?" <a href="http://www.daveramsey.com/article/the-12-reality/lifeandmoney_investing/?ectid=bitlyified031320120944" rel="nofollow">http://www.daveramsey.com/article/the-12-reality/lifeandmoney_investing/?ectid=bitlyified031320120944</a></p> <p>It's an interesting read... I know not everyone subscribes to Dave Ramsey's philosophies, but he's where I got the idea that we could reasonably expect a 6% return on our retirement investment over 30 years or so. @mrbee I'd love your opinion on this! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-46306 Wed, 04 Jan 2012 14:47:37 +0000 mrsjyw 46306@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Both of us are currently putting away 15% each in our 401ks. DH was putting away 30% for a couple years before we got engaged and has a huge amount saved up for his age (30).... we're hoping to continue saving and maxing out our IRAs each year as long as we are able to... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-43537 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 14:09:35 +0000 TJBee 43537@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@daniellemybelle: Actually, you'd be better off buying a house and paying it off in 30 years and putting the difference between a 15 and 30 year payment into retirement. It's because retirement investments grow over time tax free, so the sooner you start saving, the more time it has to grow. If you wait 15 years to start saving, your future potential is significantly lower.</p> <p>The best advice my father ever gave me was "retirement is the only expense in life that you can't borrow for, so it needs to be put first". You can get student loans, mortgages, home equity loans...etc, but once you're retired, you're on your own. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-43513 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:54:18 +0000 tequiero21 43513@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@daniellemybelle: i think it also depends on where you live. i don't think you'd need as much to retire in kansas, as you would in ny, you know? i live in ny and i really think even $3M wouldn't be enough. and i'm thinking $3M with the house all paid for. =T but we'll see. we may have nowhere near that amount. that's just what i'm hoping for. also, because i like to travel so i'd like to go somewhere at least once a year when i retire.... i like doing that now so i want to keep that up when we retire. also, if you have like $3M, i think you could live fairly comfortable just on the interest. that's why i picked that #. haha. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-43484 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 13:37:16 +0000 daniellemybelle 43484@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@tequiero21: Wow, $3 million! I just don't know how we could do that...</p> <p>@mediagirl: I know. :( I am just at a loss as to how to save more than that! Just 15% is close to $1,000 a month... that's a big expense. I'm hoping that when we buy a house we can pay it off in 15 years instead of 30, and then we can put what would have gone towards a mortgage payment into retirement for the next 15.</p> <p>@mrbee: You sound like you know what you are talking about! I'm crossing my fingers, too, though! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-43350 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 12:00:36 +0000 mrbee 43350@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@daniellemybelle: Yah historically, the market has performed pretty well! But I think this recession is more than a recession; the economy is transitioning away from manufacturing to services, and the transition has been masked until recently by all our recent bubbles.</p> <p>Crossing my fingers that I'm wrong! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-43347 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:58:50 +0000 mediagirl 43347@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We each save 15% of our paychecks in 401k and put up the allotted amount into our IRA's each year. This is a big reason I won't be a SAHM (which I'm fine with). I need to be able to continue to put towards our retirement.</p> <p>Honestly, though I don't think we'll ever be able to retire. The market has already taken half of our money and I just don't see us being able to afford to live without jobs when we hit retirement age. Costs are going up faster than they ever have before - gas, food, clothing - all of the essentials are growing too fast to keep up with. We won't have social security and health care costs will be through the roof. The good news is my husband and I won't have a mortgage (we're paying ours off now and won't buy another house unless we use cash) and we started saving early, so we are building that fund even though the market keeps taking it's share instead of helping it grow.</p> <p>In my opinion, $878k is not enough to live off of for retirement. You have to take into account how many years you will be alive (you never know you could live to 100)! You also need to plan for health care and a nursing home, if it comes to that. Those get expensive fast and who knows where medicare/medicaid will be in 30/40 years!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-43345 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:57:56 +0000 daniellemybelle 43345@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@mrbee: Haha, this is all assumptions! Like I said, we're not really doing this now. We just have a little bit sitting in DH's 401K. However, from everything I've heard, if you invest in growth stock mutual funds, over 30 years or so, 6% is a pretty reasonable rate of return to expect. I guess I'm just being hopeful that we're not in a recession for the next three decades! :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-43341 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:56:07 +0000 tequiero21 43341@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>6% is very aggressive in these markets nowadays. and honestly, i think the market will never go back to the 18% returns anymore. so i think 6% is too optimistic.</p> <p>i would like about $3M at least. but we'll see! we haven't really planned it out yet and our 401k keeps decreasing (because of the darn market!) so....dang market! we may have to invest in other things, like real estate (although that market sux boodie too)..... </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-43338 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:52:34 +0000 mrbee 43338@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@daniellemybelle: To me, 6% feels like an aggressive rate of return these days! What's your secret? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/spinoff-how-much-do-you-feel-you-should-save-for-retirement#post-43325 Thu, 29 Dec 2011 11:46:02 +0000 daniellemybelle 43325@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is a spinoff of the savings account thread. It seems that the vast majority were talking about relatively liquid funds rather than savings in stocks, mutual funds, etc. </p> <p>Right now we aren't saving for retirement, but my goal is for us to start putting 15% of our household income into our 401Ks soon. If we save this over 30 years, assuming our income stays pretty much the same (mine will go down, DH's will go up and it will all even out), and assuming a conservative 6% rate of return, we will have around $878K by the time we retire.</p> <p>That sounds like a lot, but adjust for inflation and its really not! This calculator (<a href="http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/retirementneed/retirementneed_plain.html" rel="nofollow">http://cgi.money.cnn.com/tools/retirementneed/retirementneed_plain.html</a>) says we should save $2.1 million to retire on 80% of our salaries at 60! I'm hoping our income increases and we are able to save more than that, but even 15% of what we make now seems like a lot. What are your retirement savings goals? </p>