Comments on: Balancing Retirement with Short-Term Goals

By: 2010 Goals in Review | Well Heeled Blog

2010 Goals in Review | Well Heeled Blog — Wed, 22 Dec 2010 05:48:49 +0000

[...] for retirement. Ultimately, I decided not to max out the 401k. In seeking a balance between retirement goals and short term goals. I decided to save $15,000 in the 401K. I will meet this revised goal of saving $20,000 for [...]

By: RETIREMENT MYTHS AND REALITIES

RETIREMENT MYTHS AND REALITIES — Sun, 12 Sep 2010 17:25:48 +0000

[...] Heeled Blog discusses Balancing your retirement with short term goals, Len Penzo takes a look at why his children may not be getting inheritance, Daniel at Sweating the [...]

By: Life without a budget | Well-Heeled Blog

Life without a budget | Well-Heeled Blog — Sat, 11 Sep 2010 01:10:49 +0000

[...] If you are happily bumping along a certain level of expenses and find it manageable given your savings goals, however, then a strict budget may not offer as much [...]

By: Saving for Retirement: Love It? Hate It?

Saving for Retirement: Love It? Hate It? — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 02:45:22 +0000

[...] them – because I am afraid of mentally discouraging myself from saving! It is difficult to balance retirement with shorter-term goals, that is for sure. And although there are good, logical reasons to save for retirement, the [...]

By: P.E.P For Week of June 28- July 2, 2010 :: Prairie EcoThrifter.com

P.E.P For Week of June 28- July 2, 2010 :: Prairie EcoThrifter.com — Sat, 17 Jul 2010 15:04:41 +0000

[...] Balancing Retirement with Short Term Goals- great post. We are going through this very assessment right now. (@wellheeledblog) [...]

By: Financial Independence Principles | Money Smart Life

Financial Independence Principles | Money Smart Life — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:40:12 +0000

[...] Balancing Retirement with Short-Term Goals @ Well Heeled [...]

By: Benjamin Bankruptcy

Benjamin Bankruptcy — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 04:01:05 +0000

Look I put together a spread sheet to help you work it out. Is essentially agree with nyx, you need to know how much you need so you can have as much possible along the way. you can get it here http://www.debtmediators.com.au/wp-content/upload...

By: Financial Samurai

Financial Samurai — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:21:49 +0000

That's awesome your car has over 200K miles on it! Sounds like you are doing the right thing and have your head on straight.

15K/yr is pretty darn good if you ask me.

Best,

Sam

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:11:47 +0000

Thank you for that kind comment. I remember that NY Times article you mentioned – yes it's so hard (er, impossible) to know exactly how much you will need in retirement. I guess all we can do is the best we can.

By: WellHeeled

WellHeeled — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:10:06 +0000

I 100% agree that so much depends on the market – the first few years before, during, and after retirement are especially crucial to a portfolio. If a retiree retires during a recession (i.e. everyone who retired in 2008 and 2009), they may never recover from the withdrawals from a declining portfolio. On the other hand, I figured that's not something I have control over, and if I'm unlucky enough that my portfolio is going to take a 20% hit at retirement, I'd rather it be 20% of $5 million than 20% of $500,000.

By: Benjamin Bankruptcy

Benjamin Bankruptcy — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 01:50:29 +0000

It sounds like your just guessing on how much you have to put into your 401k (called super annuation in australia). I went through the same thing. The most important thing to do is to sit down and work out what you actually want to "earn" in retirement. Is it what your on now? Do you want to be on more? (remember you probably won't have accomodation costs because you'll have paid your house off soo you can factor that in) Then adjust for inflation (average over the last 50 years), then divide it by the government bond rate (average over the last 50 years). This will give you conservative balance that you need to retire. From there you can use investment calculators to identify how much you need to put away to retire.

By: TeacHer

TeacHer — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 23:10:48 +0000

To be honest, I really HATE saving for retirement. I just feel like no matter how much I save (which isn't much and it's only about to get worse…I'm favoring paying down debt right now, so retirement is taking a back seat) it will never be enough. And, I also feel like the actual amount of money I will actually have when it comes time to retire is, to some degree, out of my hands. So much depends on the markets and the economy at large.

So, for right now, retirement savings is a low priority for me as I'm paying off my debts and building a healthier cash savings fund. When I have both of those goals accomplished, I'll amp up my retirement savings.

By: savvy

savvy — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 20:12:56 +0000

For us, retirement savings come first. Everything else is second. But we got married later in life. We already had the houses, graduate degrees, etc. If we want more money to travel (or other fun stuff), then we have to figure out what to cut back on.

By: Tweets that mention Balancing Retirement with Short-Term Goals -- Topsy.com

Tweets that mention Balancing Retirement with Short-Term Goals -- Topsy.com — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 16:10:34 +0000

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By: nyx

nyx — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:45:22 +0000

I think its totally possible to live a good life while saving for retirement. You hear those stories on the news where some nice 85 year old lady recently died, the story is she usually lived very frugally, saved and invested and died with $4 million in the bank. I don't want to judge because perhaps they had simple desires and that's fine. But I do want to go on yearly vacations, shop without the need to hit the sales rack, and go out on nice dinners with my bf on the weekends.

Saving shouldn't have to mean deprivation. Some lady wrote her story about her frugal grandmother who was very frugal but wouldn't allow herself to have luxuries now and then, she said that had her grandmother given herself the permission to enjoy herself once in awhile she would have been better off. Here's the story.
http://www.stretcher.com/stories/03/03nov17c.cfm

I definitely want to have a great nest egg for when I'm a senior, but I don't t need to die with $10 million in my bank account. The NY Times had an article a couple of years ago that said some people were saving too much for retirement. Sometimes I think some people want to die with the biggest nest egg that they can. I don't know, I don't want to be too judgmental, but yea I guess my point is its okay to enjoy yourself as you save for the future.

Anyway I think you're making good choices, its nice to see someone else in their 20s, take retirement seriously. So many people say "oh my kids will take care of that" but you know adult children get into debt and can't help mom and dad, some kids turn out horribly its really sad and won't help their parents, there are all sorts of reasons why children can't always help their folks.

I once got accused of saying my portfolio was more important than a child, its ridiculous the things people say. I don't want kids but I have heard stories in financial magazines and blogs of people who had children and retired with very nice nest eggs and I admired that.

Anyway, Good luck to you =)