The 8% Solution - The Easiest Retirement Plan Ever (2024)

FAQs

The 8% Solution - The Easiest Retirement Plan Ever? ›

The 8% solution is built on the premise that regardless of what your earned income is, you save at least 8% of it every year for your entire working career. The other portion of the equation is that you also average an 8% rate of return for the duration of your working and retirement saving career.

Thinking Big. Recently, a radio talk show host named Dave Ramsey recommended that retirees invest 100% of their assets in equities, from which they would withdraw 8% per year of the portfolio's starting value, with each year's expenditures adjusted for inflation.

A 401(k) plan is one of the best ways to save for retirement, and if you can get bonus “match” money from your employer, you can save even more quickly. A 401(k) plan is one of the best ways to save for retirement, and if you can get bonus “match” money from your employer, you can save even more quickly.

Withdrawing an inflation-adjusted 8% from an equity portfolio is perilous at the best of times, but outright destructive for portfolios that start poorly. Such strategies misfire two thirds of the time if the first year's return is negative (again, after accounting for inflation). It only gets worse from there.

The 4% rule comes with a major caveat: It's not really a “rule” since everyone's situation is different. If you have a large retirement investment portfolio, you might not need to spend 4% of it every year. If you have limited savings, 4% might not come close to covering your needs.

When it comes to retirement, Dave Ramsey says you should be 100% stocks and that this will support an 8% inflation-adjusted withdrawal rate. It sounds wonderful. Certainly that allows for a lot more spending than what you would think possible if you're a regular reader of this blog.

Another popular theory says the ideal corpus for retirement should be 7-8 times one's salary by the start of one's 60s.

A SIMPLE IRA plan (Savings Incentive Match PLan for Employees) allows employees and employers to contribute to traditional IRAs set up for employees. It is ideally suited as a start-up retirement savings plan for small employers not currently sponsoring a retirement plan.

A Simplified Employee Pension Plan (SEP) is a relatively uncomplicated retirement savings vehicle. A SEP allows employees to make contributions on a tax-favored basis to individual retirement accounts (IRAs) owned by the employees. SEPs are subject to minimal reporting and disclosure requirements.

The post on Ramsey Solutions recommends going back to your traditional 401(k), 403(b) or TSP workplace retirement plan. Keep bumping your contribution up until you hit 15%. While you're there, make sure you have your account set up for automatic withdrawals.

How many people have $1,000,000 in retirement savings? ›

How Many People Have $1,000,000 in Retirement Savings? According to Fidelity's Q3 2023 report, about 378,000 people had more than a million dollars in their 401(k)s.

Using our portfolio of $400,000 and the 4% withdrawal rate, you could withdraw $16,000 annually from your retirement accounts and expect your money to last for at least 30 years. If, say, your Social Security checks are $2,000 monthly, you'd have a combined annual income in retirement of $40,000.

According to the 4% rule, if you retire with $500,000 in assets, you should be able to withdraw $20,000 per year for 30 years or more. Moreover, investing this money in an annuity could provide a guaranteed annual income of $24,688 for those retiring at 55.

One example is the $1,000/month rule. Created by Wes Moss, a Certified Financial Planner, this strategy helps individuals visualize how much savings they should have in retirement. According to Moss, you should plan to have $240,000 saved for every $1,000 of disposable income in retirement.

“This rule protects the retirement investors from improper investment recommendations and harmful conflicts of interest. Retirement investors can now trust that their investment advice provider is working in their best interest and helping to make unbiased decisions.”

Around the U.S., a $1 million nest egg can cover an average of 18.9 years worth of living expenses, GoBankingRates found. But where you retire can have a profound impact on how far your money goes, ranging from as a little as 10 years in Hawaii to more than than 20 years in more than a dozen states.

We recommend that by the age of 60, you have about eight times your current salary saved for retirement. So, if you earn $75,000 a year, you would have between $525,000 to $600,000 in retirement savings by 60.

Retirement may seem like a distant dream, but it's never too early or too late to start planning. The “golden rule” suggests saving at least 15% of your pre-tax income, but with each individual's financial situation being unique, how can you be sure you're on the right track?

So, if you're aiming for $100,000 a year in retirement and also receiving Social Security checks, you'd need to have this amount in your portfolio: age 62: $2.1 million. age 67: $1.9 million.