8 Ways to Derail Your Retirement
How to avoid these easy ways to ruin your financial future
1. Failing to calculate your savings target. According to the Employee Benefits Research Institute (EBRI), only 44 percent of people have calculated how much they'll need for retirement. As the old saying goes. "People don't plan to fail, they fail to plan."
A retirement calculator can let you know both the grand total of assets you'll need at retirement as well as the amount you need to save each year to be on track for a successful retirement. It shows where you are now, where you need to be and what you need to do. Incredibly, it only takes minutes of your time to fill one out (a little more if you want to play around with several “what if” scenarios).
2. Putting too little away for retirement. According to the National Retirement Risk Index published by the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, 53 percent of U.S. households are at risk for not having enough savings to maintain their standard of living in retirement. And AARP says that 26 percent of older women rely on Social Security for 90 percent or more of their family income. Yikes!
These and a variety of other statistics paint a bleak picture for retirement security in America. Part of the reason for this may be that people don't know how much to save because they haven't used a retirement calculator. Hopefully they will wise up and take the time to calculate their “number.” Also it may be helpful to know a few rules of thumb.
