How much do plan to have saved for retirement?

WRB426 said
I'm 15 years away from 65. And hoping to retire at 65 as well. I did manage to land a state job 5 years ago. A little late to the game but I'm still working with a pension. I should be getting about 50-55% of my pay at time of retirement. Plus I have enough time paid into social security to get a small % of that if it still exists in 15 years. And I also have a thing called the smart plan that I pay into every month. It is taken out before taxes and is invested in the stock market like an IRA. If that doesn't tank should be able to have about $100,000 in 15 years. I definitely feel behind on saving for retirement but at least on the right track now. Maybe when I retire I can afford a quality cardboard box and fancy cat food.

Keep in mind that 50 to 55% of your gross actually gives you a significantly higher percentage of take home pay, as a lot of employment taxes are no longer taken out once you retire.

You can estimate what your take home pay will be by starting with your average gross pay per pay period, subtracting just the state(if any) and federal taxes from the gross amount. That remaining balance represents what you can expect your take home pay to be, which is usually a much higher percentage than the 50-55%.

Keep I mind that those same taxes could be lower too, depending on how much other income you have coming in versus how many write off's.

The current wealth redistribution focused government of California takes over 11% right off the top. First thing I'll do at retirement is move to Nevada. That's like giving yourself an 11 % annual income increase, and you can always visit the overcrowded place. The $ grabbers are working overtime over there to invoke a state tax to fill their coffers and grow the government bigger. It's mostly the idiots that moved from California to get away from the very same taxes they want to induce in Nevada.