Key Retirement Concepts
All of these widgets help explain a key retirement concept. They cover saving, investing, planning, and monitoring your progress. Each one takes just a few minutes to run through.
Please take a look and leave your comments below. Which ones resonate with you? Do any of these need a tweak? If so, in what way?
Retirement Tools
The Power of Saving. “Save 1% More” widget Link
The single most powerful factor in your retirement success is how much you contribute (as a percent of your income).
Follow Up: Bump up your savings rate. If you contribute to a 401k plan that has an auto-increase feature, turn it on. If you have earned income, open up an IRA. If you have a brokerage account, set up an automatic monthly contribution. Even $25 dollars per month makes a difference.
Freeing Up Funds to Invest: Spending and Values Exercise Link
You can’t invest unless you can save, and you can’t save unless you can get a handle on spending.
Follow Up: Bump up contributions with the funds you have freed up.
Understand Where You Are Right Now: Ratios widget. Link
There are two key metrics that tell whether you are on track for a solid retirement.
Follow Up: Record your current metrics (see One-Page Plan below) and re-calculate annually.
What Age Should I Target for Retirement? Retirement Age widget. Link
There is little guidance on how to choose a target retirement age. This tool narrows it down.
Follow Up: Going forward, use your result above as an input for retirement plans and calculators.
Where Am I On My Savings Journey? Retirement Lifespan widget. Link
There is little guidance on how to choose a target retirement age. This tool narrows it down.
Follow Up: Going forward, use your result above as an input for retirement plans and calculators.
What Is the Star Rating of a Fund? Fund Quality widget Link
High quality funds earn significantly more than low rated funds.
Follow Up: Review your funds and replace low-rated funds (one- and two-star) with higher quality options.
Do Fees Matter? Yes they do. Here’s how much . . . Fund Fee widget Link
It’s not like with automobiles, where the more you pay, the better the product. With investment funds, usually the more you pay, the less you get.
Follow Up: Review your funds and replace high-cost funds with lower cost options.
Get the Fee Monkey Off Your Back: See how high fees can hold you back . . . Fee Monkey widget Link
As you progress through your retirement journey, high-fee funds slow you down. See how much by playing this game.
Follow Up: Review your funds and replace high-cost funds with lower cost options.
What Can I Expect to Earn When I Invest? Stock Market widget. Link
Click the spinner once for each year you have until retirement to see a random collection of real market returns.
Follow Up: Be sure you have the right mix of fund styles for your risk profile. A good mix includes large cap and small cap, domestic and international, growth and value, and the right asset classes like equity, fixed income, commodities, real-estate and cash. The jury is still out on bitcoin.
Why Start Now? “Juice Factor” widget. Link
Every dollar you save is more than just a dollar saved. Albert Einstein called time value of money the eighth wonder of the world.
Follow Up: Remember this concept as the powerful idea of “the time value of money” and get started saving now.
One-Page Retirement Plan. Template Link
The key items for a successful retirement can fit on one page.
Follow Up: Contact us with any comments or questions at info@theretirementchallenge.com
