So, I have a financial advisor that I inherited from my parents and my husband has one he obtained through a friend at work. Since we have been married (4yrs) we have yet to combine our finances let alone financial advisors. I did however meet with his last month to see if she would give me different advice than mine. She advised that I change the funds I contribute to for retirement. She told me to switch to a "target retirement fund" for the year closest to when I estimate I will retire. I took her advice and for the first time in my 401b history my balance is dwindling. I lose money every week and so want to pull it out and back into my steady bond fund. I know I just have to ignore the short term loss if I want long term gain, it's just hard to watch it go down.
I am currently 36 years old and have 35K in my work 401b plan. I also inherited money from my parents when they passed away and that is in an IRA (i think) that has about 70k in it. My husband is also saving for retirement and has about 30k in his account as well as being eligible for a pension since he works in a school. I am thinking we are on track with our retirement and was just wondering what everyone thought.
And yes, someday we will combine our finances but for now it is really working for us.
Retirement on track?
November 30th, 2007 at 08:18 am
November 30th, 2007 at 08:28 am
For something long term like your retirement fund, it can and will ride out the ups and down.
November 30th, 2007 at 12:08 pm
November 25th, 2008 at 05:40 pm
Most retirement saving should be related to your expenses.
You have 35+70+30=135 set aside in retirement plans. Is this 1X, 3X, 6X, 12X or 25X annual expenses?
Most investment advice will be based on
1) your risk tolerance
2) how far along are you in terms of expenses saved (if you are 2X expenses the advice is different than if you have 12X expenses saved)
3) IRAs vs taxable accounts (to make sure your tax bill is low).
I have many other comments I will keep to myself unless prodded for more info. I see you are from western ny- I was born in cheektowaga and raised in fairport. Love that area and would move back except my wife does not want to leave ohio.