How Much Should I Save for Retirement?

When we meet with someone in a retirement plan, one of the first things we talk about is how much one is and/or should be putting in the retirement plan.

We suggest a total contribution of 15%, which includes your employer’s match. This comes from research done by Fidelity.

They found that folks will need to spend between 55-80% of their preretirement income to keep the same lifestyle in retirement. So, someone earning $100,000 before retirement would need to spend between $55,000 – 80,000 in retirement to have the same lifestyle

However, when Fidelity looked at Social Security estimates it found that for most people, generating 45% of preretirement income ($45,000) ought to be a good target. Furthermore, if you start saving at age 25, saving 15% ought to be able to get you there.

Here is a link to a piece that Fidelity published on the subject: https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/retirement/how-much-money-should-I-save?