When you dream of your future, what is it like? Where are you living? How are you spending your days? How are you enjoying your free time? Most of us later in life want to be at least as financially comfortable as we are now. In fact, many people hope to steadily improve their financial prospects every year, so that one day they can afford to buy that beachfront home, take a luxury vacation or pursue a hobby full time. However, the future may cost more than you think.
To enjoy “the good life” when you’re retired, you’ll definitely need substantial savings. In fact, you’ll actually need a lot of money simply to afford the everyday basics. Count on needing as much as 80%-90% of your current annual income each year, or nearly the full salary you earned while working.
The money you may receive from Social Security each year will replace only a portion of what you’ll need in retirement. Today’s retirees, for example, receive only $475.70* on average each month from Social Security. In the past, Social Security and company pension plans were expected to fund an individual’s retirement. But as the retirement income gap grows larger, it is unlikely that these income sources will be enough for a comfortable retirement.
The graph below shows that current retirees receive 61% of their retirement income from a company pension plan and Social Security, while a current worker can expect only 29% to be funded from these sources. That means you may be responsible for over 70% of your retirement income through personal savings.
Survey of retirement income sources.
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Today's Workers
(Expected Sources of Retirement Income)
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Today's Retirees
(Actual Sources of Income)
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Source: Employee Benefit Research Institute, 2007 Retirement Confidence Survey.
Data present in 2007 Retirement Confidence Survey may not total 100 due to rounding and/or missing categories.
Morningstar, Inc., 2008.
If you’re currently contributing to your workplace retirement plan, you’ve made a good start. But that’s just one part of a complete savings plan. Today’s investor may require a mix of income sources to ensure a financially secure retirement. One of the most important components of that mix is an IRA.
Allegiant offers a variety of IRA solutions. Our no-fee Traditional, Roth and Rollover IRAs allow you to choose from our family of over 30 mutual funds with a wide range of style categories, including domestic and international equities, taxable fixed income, asset allocation and money markets.
* U.S. Social Security Administration, Office of Policy, SSI Monthly Statistics, January 2008, www.ssa.gov.
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