Retirement savings

[Anonymous]

I am 39 and only have around $100,000 saved in retirement - been a low earner for the past 10 years (only making around $65,000 a year). However I do have a pension and right now it says I can retire at 58 years old with $5700 per month.

I am currently saving a mandatory 5% each month (being matched by my employer) and also putting an additional $250 per pay check into a 403(b).

Give to me straight - is this super low in terms of retirement savings?

[Anonymous]

You are saving 10% of your salary and you get a solid pension (altho you don’t say if you get SS)— you should be fine.

If you really want to know figure our your spending in retirement as best you can, then figure out if there’s a gap from your pension (and SS) how much you need per year from savings then multiply that by 25 to get a target for your retirement savings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You are saving 10% of your salary and you get a solid pension (altho you don’t say if you get SS)— you should be fine.

If you really want to know figure our your spending in retirement as best you can, then figure out if there’s a gap from your pension (and SS) how much you need per year from savings then multiply that by 25 to get a target for your retirement savings.

Op - yes I assume I will get SS if that is still around when I retire!

[Anonymous]

Your pension alone is worth more than one million dollars.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your pension alone is worth more than one million dollars.

How do you calculate that out?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your pension alone is worth more than one million dollars.

How do you calculate that out?

DP: The safe withdrawal rate for retirement accounts is often cited as 4% (that is, you can withdraw 4% of the value of your retirement account in the first year. Every year after that you take that same initial 4% amount adjusted for inflation). The corollary to that is that you can estimate a pension amount by multiplying it by 25 to determine its value. It's a rough estimate of course.

[Anonymous]

Please make sure you are indeed eligible for SS. Some state, county and municipal employees have their own pension system and are not eligible for SS.

[Anonymous]

In your pension is inflation adjusted, then it guarantees you 100% replacement income at age 58. That alone is more than enough to retire. SS will provide another ~20k of inflation adjusted income. Your 100k will bring in another 16k a year with a safe draw down.

[Anonymous]

What % of your salary will the pension be?

You look on track. With a 65k salary, social security will replace a big chunk of your spending. Add the pension and you should be good. The savings can cover big purchases like when you need a new car.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 39 and only have around $100,000 saved in retirement - been a low earner for the past 10 years (only making around $65,000 a year). However I do have a pension and right now it says I can retire at 58 years old with $5700 per month.

I am currently saving a mandatory 5% each month (being matched by my employer) and also putting an additional $250 per pay check into a 403(b).

Give to me straight - is this super low in terms of retirement savings?

is that today's $ or then year $. if today's $, it seems high (even though i don't know where you work).

[Anonymous]

OP here - I now make $130,000 but for the past 10 years I have been making between $65-$75,000. I did double check and I qualify for social security.

My pension payment is based on the total years of service + 60 consecutive months at the highest creditable compensation. Given that I am 39 and plan on staying here until I retire (and hopefully make a higher salary) I would expect my pension amount per month to go up by the time I retire.

[Anonymous]

Public pension or private and if private, how well is it funded?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Public pension or private and if private, how well is it funded?

OP - no this is a public pension with the state

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am 39 and only have around $100,000 saved in retirement - been a low earner for the past 10 years (only making around $65,000 a year). However I do have a pension and right now it says I can retire at 58 years old with $5700 per month.

I am currently saving a mandatory 5% each month (being matched by my employer) and also putting an additional $250 per pay check into a 403(b).

Give to me straight - is this super low in terms of retirement savings?

You are all set.

- Your pension is worth about a million at the time you retire.
- You are saving about 15% of your salary (20K/yr). With another 19 years to go and adding in the 100K you already have and assuming an 8% avg. return you should be at about $1.2 mil by then.
- Add in SS

You are all set. Just don't quit your government job. That would be a big mistake.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am 39 and only have around $100,000 saved in retirement - been a low earner for the past 10 years (only making around $65,000 a year). However I do have a pension and right now it says I can retire at 58 years old with $5700 per month.

I am currently saving a mandatory 5% each month (being matched by my employer) and also putting an additional $250 per pay check into a 403(b).

Give to me straight - is this super low in terms of retirement savings?

You are all set.

- Your pension is worth about a million at the time you retire.
- You are saving about 15% of your salary (20K/yr). With another 19 years to go and adding in the 100K you already have and assuming an 8% avg. return you should be at about $1.2 mil by then.
- Add in SS

You are all set. Just don't quit your government job. That would be a big mistake.

OP - thanks! that makes me feel much better! And I plan on staying in my job till I retire. Just got promoted and this is it for me - unless its an internal promotion again. I don't plan on going outside the organization.

DH has his own retirement savings as well (higher than mine - more like $50,000+ per year being put away) but we are way way way behind in savings between paying off student loans and paying daycare. I think DH has something around $200,000-$300,000 saved? Maybe a little more? Which seems like not a lot given our age but his retirement savings is a mandatory $50,000 per year for the foreseeable future so he will quickly play catch up I think.