Plan Your Prosperity: The Only Retirement Guide You'll Ever Need, Starting Now--Whether You're 22, 52 or 82

Chapter 7

Can I Get There?

Now you know some basic concepts behind picking an appropriate benchmark. But how can you better know where you’re trying to go? And if you can even get there, based on how much you’re saving?

Many investors plod along, socking away a bit each year. But is the socking away sufficient to create a portfolio big enough to kick off needed/desired future cash flow? Or reach growth goals? Or both? And how big should that portfolio even be? The only guarantees in life are death and taxes (and that politicians will say one thing and do another). But you can reduce just a bit of uncertainty by having a portfolio goal and a savings plan. You may not stick to it, but at least you’ll know if you’re falling short some years and must make it up. Or if you’re able to accelerate saving in some years to compensate for some unforeseen trouble in the future. Or . . . or . . . or . . .

In this chapter, we’ll cover some easy exercises to help you:

• Figure out where you are now.
• Understand how to adjust today’s dollars for the future—by calculating for likely inflation.
• Calculate how big your portfolio will likely need to be to provide for whatever level of future cash flow you’ll want/need.
• Understand how much you should save now and into the future.