Now's the time to max out your contributions to your retirement accounts (if you haven't already). The easiest way to choose an appropriately aggressive retirement plan is to invest in a "life cycle" or "lifestyle" fund—one that automatically adjusts your holdings to less risky investments based on the number of years until you retire, says Suze Orman. For a rough idea of how much you'll need for retirement, personal finance expert
Eric Tyson offers three scenarios:
- You'll need 65 percent of your projected preretirement income if you save 15 percent of your annual income, are a high-income earner (generally more than $100,000), will own your home debt-free when you retire, and plan to live modestly in retirement.
- You'll need 75 percent if you save 5 to 14 percent of your annual income and want to maintain your preretirement lifestyle.
- You'll need 85 percent if you save less than 5 percent of your annual income, have to pay a mortgage or rent in retirement, and want to maintain your current lifestyle.
