Is $1 Million of Savings Enough?

According to the 18th Annual Transamerica Retirement Studies Survey, about 64% of respondents indicated that they needed to save less than $1 million at the time of retirement in order to feel financially secure.  The median amount cited as being needed in the 2017 survey was $500,000.  To develop their response,

Recommended Financial Planning Process for Retirees and Near-Term Retirees

Several of our readers have asked us to briefly summarize the financial planning process that we have been discussing in the past few months in our posts.  So, this post contains our recommended seven-step process designed to help you make better decisions about:

Make Sure Your Retirement Plan Properly Funds Your “Lumpy Expenses”

While most retirement plans anticipate smooth, constant-dollar spending from year to year throughout retirement, most of us just don’t spend that way.  Our actual expenses in retirement can vary significantly from year to year and therefore, the pattern of our future expenses may be “lumpier” than expected by our plan.  Not only is it likely that we will incur unexpected expenses but it is also likely that some of our expected expenses won’t be incurred every year.   As we said in our post of February 7, 2019, if you aren’t separately budgeting for these non-recurring lumpy expenses, you probably don’t have a robust retirement spending budget (or plan).