Linda Stern debunks a few zombie thumbrules.
"That's a ridiculous figure, pulled out of thin air. Investment companies say they often use that number to "help" people who don't have any idea of how to plan their retirement savings. But it mainly helps to scare people into thinking they have no hope of saving enough for retirement.
In truth, they may spend more than that in the first couple of years after they stop working, but they're likely to spend far less, on average, over their entire retirement period. By the time they are 75, they're likely to be spending about half of what they did when they were 50, according to the Labor Department's survey of consumer spending."
That's interesting, although it doesn't match Jarhead's experience as our senior ER. I wonder how the Labor Dept adjusted those figures for inflation.
She also takes aim at: "The asset allocation rule. Many planners also tell people to subtract their age from 110 and use the remainder as the percentage of their nest egg that they should have in the stock market."
Apparently target funds are raising their equity allocations to improve the survivability of their client's accounts.
"That's a ridiculous figure, pulled out of thin air. Investment companies say they often use that number to "help" people who don't have any idea of how to plan their retirement savings. But it mainly helps to scare people into thinking they have no hope of saving enough for retirement.
In truth, they may spend more than that in the first couple of years after they stop working, but they're likely to spend far less, on average, over their entire retirement period. By the time they are 75, they're likely to be spending about half of what they did when they were 50, according to the Labor Department's survey of consumer spending."
That's interesting, although it doesn't match Jarhead's experience as our senior ER. I wonder how the Labor Dept adjusted those figures for inflation.
She also takes aim at: "The asset allocation rule. Many planners also tell people to subtract their age from 110 and use the remainder as the percentage of their nest egg that they should have in the stock market."
Apparently target funds are raising their equity allocations to improve the survivability of their client's accounts.