According to the Social Security Administration, the average retirement income for all individuals 65 and older is $20,481.* Despite some degree of individual financial planning, most individuals fail to achieve their retirement income security goals and force to work beyond retirement. Roughly 6.1 million people age 65 or older are in the work force today, compared to 3.8 million 10 years ago. No other age group has seen such huge jumps in employment in recent decades. Between 1977 and 2007, employment of workers 65 and over increased 101 percent.**

There are many reasons why most people can't afford to retire comfortably but the top seven are as follows:

1. Most people simply cannot afford or do not save enough.
2. Most people ultimately spend some portion of their "retirement savings" before it can be utilized for its intended purpose.
3. Most people lose money in the stock market or through other risky investments.
4. Most people miscalculate their return on investment (interest earnings and expected income from investments) during the retirement income planning stage.
5. Most people do not recognize the severe impact of inflation. Inflation is a silent killer to retirement income security.
6. Most people do not structure their retirement savings plans efficiently and end up paying too much in taxes.
7. Most people suffer from the hereditary ailment known as 'Procrastination'. Even though they understand the importance of savings for retirement but they do not start saving early.

So, it is very important that you begin planning for retirement early in life and properly calculate how much retirement income you will need at retirement with retirement calculator. There are several factors to consider when planning your retirement as per retirement planning guide but to maintain your current living standard you need is 60% to 70% of your pre-retirement income once you have retired. For example a 30 year old individual making $100,000 per year who retires at age 65 and plans for an 8% rate of return and wants retirement income for 20 years would need to save $800 dollars per month to maintain 60% of their pre-retirement income, if they start planning earlier, perhaps age 25, the amount per month drops to $600 dollars, if they wait until age 40, the cost nearly doubles. By rule of thumb, you should plan on saving between 10% and 20% (depending on your age) of your gross income for comfortable retirement.

Give one of our specialists a call at (866) 972-3262 today to talk about your retirement income planning need or complete this short consultation form now.