Consumers about to retire and even those who have already retired are asking the question, How Long Will Your Retirement Savings Last? Some people have already realized that they do not have enough and will need to work far longer than they ever thought they would have. If you did not save enough by the time you are 55, chances are that you will need to keep working for many more years. But the real question is how do you even calculate if you have enough to retire? We happen to think that you really need to answer the question, How long do you expect to live during retirement? Then you can look at whether you will have enough to retire on.
How Long Will Your Retirement Savings Last
We suggest that you start by looking at how long your parents and uncles/aunts lived, add 5 years to that life span to be conservative. We are all living longer now due to better health and better food. If your parents lived until they were 80, you should expect to live until at least 85 barring other ailments, accidents, etc. If you retire at 55, then you will need to have enough savings to last 30 years in retirement.
That is a lot of years to cover from a financial perspective. The next calculation can be really complex with interest rates, growth rates, and return on investments while taking into account withdrawal rates. You might even need help from an investment adviser to determine this detailed answer. There are also calculators available online that can also help to some degree.
If you are looking for a quick answer, take your current income level, subtract any pension income you expect to receive, and multiply that number by the number of years you will be in retirement to calculate how much you will need. This is probably the maximum number since it does not take into account the income you will receive on your investments. If this number scares you, then you will either have to work longer to decrease the number of years in retirement or take an income cut while in retirement. The decision is yours. make the right one.