Are You on Track With Your Retirement Plan Contributions? 3 Things to Do if Not
It's easy to put off retirement savings when other expenses monopolize your income. After all, if you're in your 20s, you're probably grappling with student debt payments that are due every month. In your 30s, you may be struggling to keep up with your mortgage. And in your 40s, you may be in the unenviable position of having to swing college tuition payments for your own kids.
It's for all of these reasons that Americans on a whole are behind on retirement savings. The median balance among all workers is just $50,000, according to a recent Transamerica survey, but when we break things down by age, we get a median savings of:
None of these numbers are particularly encouraging, especially given the fact that we're all supposed to be setting aside 15% of our income or more for the future. As such, while a $23,000 balance for a 25-year-old millennial is respectable, for a 34-year-old millennial, less so. And while $144,000 -- the median amount saved by boomers -- may seem like a lot of money, let's remember that we're not supposed to withdraw our entire nest egg at once in retirement. Rather, that money needs to last for years. And at an average annual 4% withdrawal rate, $144,000 allows for just $5,760 a year in income -- less, when we factor in taxes.
Source Fool.com
