My Two Dollars

Retirement: 10 years left, 0 savings – Money Magazine

Um, how scary is this? Walter Updegrave from Money Magazine is trying to help these people who have 10 years left until retirement…and no nest egg. First piece of advice? Start saving…like crazy. “If you save $500 a month for the next 10 years and earn an 8 percent annual return, for example, you’ll have a retirement kitty of more than $90,000 before taxes. If you can manage $1,000 a month, you’re talking $181,000. Neither sum is enough for living large. But both are better than going into retirement with nothing stashed away.”

I cannot imagine being 50 something years old and not having a dime for retirement. I imagine there are quite a few people that find themselves in this position, so hopefully this article will be of some help to them. But really, the part that got me, as well as Mr. Updegrave, is that these people actually think they WILL be retiring in 10 years; that is what their letter said. It actually says:

Question: My husband and I are retiring in 10 years, but haven’t set up any retirement accounts….

Um, maybe you won’t be?

Anyway, check out the article, if only to read their question and his first response. Scary.