Based on the 75% to 80% rule, you'd need between $75,000 and $80,000 a year in retirement. But it's safer to assume that you'll need $90,000 annually—that is, $100,000 minus the $10,000 you are currently allocating to retirement savings—all things being equal.
The 4% Rule: A Simple Formula for a Complex Calculation
According to this rule, you'd need a nest egg of $1.25 million for a $50,000 annual retirement income. To generate $75,000 per year in retirement, you would need retirement savings of $1.875 million using the 4% rule.
Based on the 80% principle, you can expect to need about $96,000 in annual income after you retire, which is $8,000 per month.
10x your annual salary by 67
To fund an “above average” retirement lifestyle—where you spend 55% of your preretirement income—Fidelity recommends having 12 times your income saved at age 67, which is the normal Social Security retirement age.
What is the average and median retirement savings? The average retirement savings for all families is $333,940 according to the 2022 Survey of Consumer Finances.
The national average for retirement savings varies depending on age, but according to the Economic Policy Institute, the median retirement savings for all working age households in the US is around $95,776. This figure includes both employer-sponsored retirement accounts and individual retirement accounts (IRAs).
The average American spends $4,345 per month in retirement, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That's $52,141 per year.
If you earn $75,000 per year, you can expect to receive $2,358 per month -- or about $28,300 annually -- from Social Security.
For an income of $80,000, you would need a retirement nest egg of about $2 million ($80,000 /0.04). This strategy assumes a 5% return on investments, after taxes and inflation, no additional retirement income, such as Social Security, and a lifestyle similar to the one you would be living at the time you retire.
As of December 2023, the average check is $1,767.03, according to the Social Security Administration – but that amount can differ drastically depending on the type of recipient.
Top the amount with 401(k) savings, living on $3,000 a month after taxes is possible for a retiree. For those who only have social security benefits to rely on, there are many places where they can retire on their checks both in the USA and around the world.
While your Social Security benefits are indexed to inflation, interest and annuity payments are not. While comfortable in 2023, a $70,000 income does not have a lot of cushion. So you may want to invest for some growth, otherwise by the end of your retirement inflation might make this a very tight budget.
While people have different qualifications and different ideas of what constitutes a good salary, most would consider $75,000 per year to be good pay. Luckily, whether a person is just starting out in a new role or already has some experience, there are indeed many opportunities in this pay range.
The 80% rule: Some experts cite the "80 percent rule" of retirement planning, which states that you should plan to live on 80 percent of your pre-retirement income to maintain a similar lifestyle. So if you earn $100,000 per year, you should aim for a retirement income in the range of $80,000 per year.
In some regions with a lower cost of living, a $75,000 salary can provide a comfortable lifestyle and the ability to save for the future, making it a good income for your age. However, in high-cost-of-living areas, this salary might require careful budgeting to maintain the same standard of living.
If you delay taking your benefits from your full retirement age up to age 70, your benefit amount will increase. If you start receiving benefits early, your benefits are reduced a small percent for each month before your full retirement age.
While you may have heard at some point that Social Security is no longer taxable after 70 or some other age, this isn't the case. In reality, Social Security is taxed at any age if your income exceeds a certain level.
Still, your starting Social Security benefit is higher. That's how the government encourages people to postpone starting their benefits. Here's the starting benefit for each of those same final annual incomes, if you wait until age 70: Final pay of $80,000: benefit of $2,433 monthly, $29,196 yearly.
If the combination of Social Security, pensions and prudent draws from your savings is enough to cover the expenses on your retirement budget, then you're pretty much home free. Let your retirement adventures begin!
The rule of thumb is that you can expect your expenses to be 70% to 80% of what they were before you retired. So if you spent $1,000 each month before you retired, you could expect to spend about $700 to $800 each month in retirement.
Nearly 2 in 5 Retirees Have No Retirement Savings
The survey found that about 37% of retirees say they have no retirement savings, up from 30% in 2022, and only about 12% have at least the recommended $555,000 in savings.
Key findings. In 2022, the average (median) retirement savings for American households was $87,000. Median retirement savings for Americans younger than 35 was $18,800 as of 2022.
Nearly one in four (22 percent) U.S. adults said they have no emergency savings. Despite economic challenges, the percentage remains relatively unchanged year-over-year. In 2022, 23 percent of Americans had no emergency savings.