If it is not only a great job but a high paying job (which I would call anything earning over 50K per year) it should be no problem to save 30-50% of what she makes and just live like a person who earns 30K per year until she meets that retirement dollar figure.

If after looking at it hard, she chooses not to do so, at least she is making a conscious choise. In that case she should pick another scenario and stick with that. Having a firm dollar figure (adjusted for inflation) for how much you need to save per year is better than a percentage guideline. But I do thing that mid-to-high income earners often don’t take good enough advantage of that income for their own future benefit.

Especially considering that many of us just a few years from retirement don’t even have jobs now because of the economy…and, because of our age and/or health, won’t be finding any new ones (A fact that is very hard to accept for many of us who WANT–not just need–to continue to work.)given the current economic situation.

The jobs just aren’t out there and even those part-time ones that used to be available to “seniors” are now going to the way younger folks who wouldn’t even consider them before, but who are now desperate.

All this talk about saving is great, IF you have an income to save from. Many people got let go in their 50s and 60s and are struggling to find jobs. You really can’t support a family on a minimum wage job in most major cities unless you’ve got one or more other incomes coming in. (and when you are single and self-supporting, forget about it) But that is what many who worked 35 or more years are now facing. It’s both economically and psychically devastating to not find work.

For some of us, as one friend who is a college professor and who has always worked several other jobs, there is no retirement. We will, as he puts it, work until we die. But then the majority of us never thought that we’d be living la vida loca if we did retire.

As one commentator noted, many of us will indeed be “working at least part time or suffering rather badly trying to make ends meet, right at the point in their lives when it is hardest to change their circumstances.”

And again, people have to have money to save. Not everyone is making big bucks from which to have money to save. A lot of people just barely make enough to take care of their families. That includes frugal, careful and responsible folks who don’t have thousands in credit card debt, etc.

You can’t save what you don’t have.

Having been “retired” due to disability, I had to undergo the process of finding something to do with my life. It’s tough–so I hope people start thinking about it now whether it be part-time work (hard to find right now) or volunteering.

Can somebody spell lemming?

So, yes I agreed, but also believed they were looking out for my account. NOT.

So, short of becoming the investment guru yourself, who do you trust.

Really dollars in the mattress is a better idea than letting those outfits rip you off.

First they are SALES people. They are looking to PROFIT off your hard saved cash.

They will tell you, “do this and you will have what you need when you retire”. The person doing that is 23 years old with no liability to the fact that the investments were not in your interest but THEIRS.

Don’t even mention Wachovia in your website – did they not belly up to be saved by Wells Fargo?

Nobody has sound advice.

I don’t know how much my 403B (TIAA-CREF) has dropped (haven’t wanted to look since July) but I’m hopeful that between my frugality and a new administration where the adults are in charge that my timetable is still okay.

I’m also an artist and while 2008 was lousy for painting sales, things have rarely been that bad in the past, so I have some potential for income there as well as doing workshops, etc. So, fingers crossed it will still work out. I have no interest in a jet-set retirement anyway. I’ll be meeting with the TIAA-CREF guy again in March and will get the scoop then. Like Mary, I now know I should have been much more aggressive in my early years.

My hope is that since going to 15% of gross, I’ve been buying really really cheap and when the market turns around, I’ll be pleasantly surprised at the result.

I had only done 2 smart things:
1) I always had a payroll savings plan – before there were IRAs, there was a US Savings bond plan. From my first day of full-time work (I saved nothing as a student), I saved 5% of my gross. Never saw it, never spent it, never thought about it as spendable.
2) once I was established in my career, starting somewhere in my 30′s, I directed half of every raise into my savings. If I got a 4% raise, 2% came off the top- into whatever saving plan was available through my employer.

This hard knock to the market has cost me about 20% of my capital, but since I’ve been taking only 4% of earnings as a payout and reinvesting 2-5% every year, I’ll be okay.

Save early, Save to an inaccesible location. Keep increasing the percentage of your salary that you save. Be prudent when you do retire about conserving capital.

Many of the boomers who are nearing retirement are in a similar situation, where they’ve kept the same allocation for years and never rebalanced.

That’s the best advice for her daughter – rebalance annually and reset your allocations every 5 or so years. The closer you are to retirement the less exposure to the stock market, the better.