Tuesday, November 28, 2017

Retirement Savings...Again

I wrote a post a few months ago about retirement savings.  The gist of the post was how much to save for retirement and whether I was on track.  Since then I have read a bunch about retirement savings on various personal finance blogs and various articles, etc about retirement savings. I noted that many of the articles that I read focused on saving a particular percentage of your income for retirement.  Some indicate 10-15% should be saved for retirement.  Dave Ramsey indicates that %15 should be saved for retirement. I saved $9,500 for retirement this year.  That was 11.7% of my gross income income (before my raise) and 15.6% of my net income (again before the raise). When I started saving for retirement I decided to start with approximately 15% of my net and try to work up to 15% of my gross income. 

However, at 35, I only have approximately $20,900 saved for retirement. Over the holiday break I was working on my goals for 2018 and I wondered if I should increase my retirement saving percentage since I have so little saved.  The increase would be short lived (a year or 2) and only to make up for the lack of savings in my 20s. 

Previously, I had convinced myself that I would make up any shortage by simply increasing my retirement contributions each year until I retire.  I still like that plan, but I feel a bit concerned about that lack of savings right now.

What do you think?  Do you think percentages are the appropriate measure for retirement savings?  Should I save more now and not focus on other financial goals? Or should I just be patient and increase my retirement savings each year? 

6 comments:

  1. I'm all about the security savings brings. If I were in your shoes, I'd increase my retirement.

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    1. Me too! I will probably increase my retirement savings.

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  2. It really depends on what you want the most. To me, retirement and the mortgage are the most important goals, and if you are willing to postpone secondary goals like remodeling, you should be able to save considerably more. Good luck! You can do this!

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    1. I agree, the retirement and my mortgage are the most important goals. Remodeling is sort of a maybe goal, especially because I do not see this as my forever home.

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  3. We are the world's worst about it, but I agree, I think you should bump up the retirement a bit. The remodel may take longer, but it will get there.

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    1. I think I will increase retirement savings, it makes me nervous that my retirement savings are so low.

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