You've seen how many blog posts about retirement planning? It's not enough to make retirement goals, you have to make realistic retirement goals. Check out this presentation to answer the questions: What is your retirement number? What does retirement look like for you? How will you get to your financial goals and be ready for retirement? Click through to the PeerFinance101 blog for more great tips on retirement planning, saving money and making extra money. You can also share your personal finance questions and challenges with others so we all learn together. http://peerfinance101.com/good-debt-bad-debt/

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Getting to Your Sandy
Beaches: Realistic
Retirement Planning
Retirement planning is a mystery for a lot of people: http://peerfinance101.com/2015/02/realistic-retirement-
planning/

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Retirement planning is a mystery for a lot of people.
Nearly half (39%) of households admit to not having a
formal plan. While you probably don’t need to map out a
plan to every dollar you’ll need in retirement, you do
need a plan. Avoid the subject and you risk becoming
one of the 4.2 million Americans over the age of 65 living
in poverty.

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That number isn’t meant to scare you but it should open
your eyes a little if you haven’t thought about what life
will look like in retirement. This article, the third post in
our 5-week personal finance fix, will focus on the
retirement planning and what you really need to know for
your sandy beaches and drinks with umbrellas.

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What Does Retirement Look Like?
There are several questions to ask yourself when thinking about what retirement
looks like,
 Where do you want to live? Retiring to those sunny beaches might sound great
until you consider the cost of travelling to visit grandchildren.
 Do you enjoy travelling, how much and where to? There are a few places like
Hong Kong, Moscow and Egypt and the occasional road trip around the United
States. These trips are not going to be cheap.
 What do you enjoy doing for a hobby? I like to play pool and would probably
do that more often in retirement.
 What gives you a sense of purpose in your life? Retirement planning is just as
much about thinking about what your goals and direction will be during
retirement as it is figuring out how to get there.
Best Retirement Advice From The Experts: http://peerfinance101.com/2015/02/best-retirement-advice-experts/

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How Much Do I Need?
Budgeting out your expenses in retirement means checking out how much your
employer is currently paying to your health insurance and making sure you can
cover it.
The common advice is that you’ll need a nest egg of 25-times your retirement
expenses to not worry about running out of money.
It’s important here to talk about setting realistic goals for your retirement. If you
come to your retirement number and then find that you must either save more
than 20% of your income or earn a return of more than 9% annually to get there,
you may need to reevaluate what retirement will look like.
Will You Be Ready for Retirement (Infographic)?: http://peerfinance101.com/2015/02/ready-for-retirement-infographic/

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Saving more than 15% of your income for retirement is unrealistic for many
people. Living well in your golden years is one thing but not if it requires a
lifetime of living on pennies.
A retirement portfolio should have a mix of different assets. Over the twenty years
to 2013, real estate and private equity funds have both posted average annual
returns around 11%, followed by stocks (9.5%), bonds (6.5%) and commodities
(4.0%).
The percentage of each in your retirement portfolio will change as you get older
and your tolerance for risk decreases. As you transition to safer bond investments
in the last decades to retirement, your average return will likely drop to around 7
percent or lower.
How Keep it Simple Made Me $22,000 in a Year: http://peerfinance101.com/2015/02/keep-simple-made-22000-year/

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How Do I Get There?
The best advice is to start early.
Meeting your target for financial
security in retirement is a
combination of setting realistic
goals and picking the right
investments. Investing for
retirement is much more about
asset allocation and getting free
money than it is being lucky picking
stocks.
PeerStory: Riding the Retirement Roller Coaster: http://peerfinance101.com/2015/02/peerstory-retirement-roller-
coaster/

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Many people plan on social security as part of the money they will need to live in
retirement.
1. Social security really doesn’t pay that much anyway. The average benefit
is just over $1,100 which may cover a few expenses but certainly won’t
be enough to live on.
2. I plan on entering semi-retirement well before I am able to draw full
benefit from the government.
Take advantage of the company match on their 401K plan
 If you are in the 28% tax bracket, that $100 contribution really only cost you
$72 because you would have paid the rest to Uncle Sam anyway.
 Most companies offer some form of matching. Even if yours is only offering a
50% match, it’s free money.
 The profit in your 401K is not taxed like your other investments.
Veterans Win the War on Small Business Loans: http://peerfinance101.com/2015/02/small-business-loans-for-
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The graphic below compares the end value after
30 years for a 401K plan and a normal
investment portfolio. Contributing to the 401K
option means an ending value nearly three
times higher by age 65 given the assumptions
in the graphic.
To reach the same value in your
taxable investment portfolio
($665,219) and given the
assumptions, you would either
need to work until you are 79 years
old or boost your contribution from
6% to almost 17% of your
income. Please, take the free
money!
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