Planning your retirement hinges on one critical factor: knowing how much money you will need to live as you would like in your later years. This factor may seem obvious, yet many people overlook it as they evaluate the variety of retirement planning tools now available. It all comes down to this, if you don't know how much money you will need when you retire you won't be able to implement a plan to provide it. Costs 20 years from now will probably be significantly greater then they are right now. For example, if we assume an average annual inflation rate of 4%, you will need more than twice as much 20 years from now to cover the same expenses. This means that you will need $109,566 in 2017 to pay for what $50,000 covered in 1997 If you don't plan for inflation, you could end up with only half as much money as you need to maintain your lifestyle. While no one knows for sure what inflation will be, it has averaged 4% over the past 40 years. So an estimate in our calculator of 5% should be on the safe side.

So how do you come up with that amount? The good news is that the value of your savings, stock, real estate and other assets may also appreciate over the next 20 years. This means that if you set aside savings or other assets you can draw on in retirement, you already have some of what you need. Add on what you expect from social security benefits and you are a bit closer to your goals. Our formula lets you express your level of confidence in the Social Security system. Enter a percentage of income that you think that SSA will provide. The SSA system is designed at 40% for medium income individuals. The older you are the higher the chance that SSA will provide the projected percentage of income for you.

This interactive web page will give you an idea of the average annual contribution needed to some type of investment and savings plan to maintain you current lifestyle.

We can help you estimate the future value of your savings assets and retirement plans, and identify what you would need to make up any difference. We can help you maintain a level confidence in the realities of your financial situation. We are experts in using the various retirement planning tools available; Individual Retirement Accounts, 401(k) plans , life insurance, investments, to build solutions for your retirement needs.

Whatever your dream, if you haven't already started to implement a plan for realizing it, now is the time. The sooner you start planning for retirement the better. Even if you cant follow your plan completely right now, the main thing is to have a target.