RETIREMENT GUIDES
Learn About Retirement
Straightforward guides to help you understand retirement income, spending, taxes, and the decisions ahead.
40 guides across 5 topics
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6 guides
How Much Do I Need to Retire? $1M–$1.5M for Most People (2026)
Most people need $1 million to $1.5 million saved to retire comfortably — the range depends on your spending, location, Social Security benefit, and retirement age. Find your personal number with the retirement calculator, then read on for the full breakdown.
11 min readHow Much Should I Save for Retirement Each Month?
Most financial advisors recommend saving 15% of your gross income for retirement each month — including any employer match. On a $60,000 salary, that's $750/month. On $100,000, it's $1,250/month. But 15% assumes you started saving in your 20s. If you're starting later, your required monthly savings rate is higher — sometimes significantly.
14 min readHow to Create a Retirement Budget: A Step-by-Step Guide (2026)
Creating a retirement budget requires six steps: calculate your expected income from all sources, list your essential monthly expenses, add discretionary spending, account for healthcare costs, build in inflation, and calculate whether your income covers your expenses. The gap — or surplus — between income and expenses is the number that determines whether your retirement plan works. Most people who do this exercise for the first time are surprised by the result — either they've overestimated what they need or underestimated healthcare costs. Either way, knowing the real number before you retire is the entire point.
20 min readI Haven't Started Saving for Retirement — Is It Too Late? (2026)
No. It is not too late. But the honest answer has a second half: the strategies available to you, and the retirement you can build, depend significantly on your age and your willingness to make some deliberate choices in the years ahead.
20 min readRetirement Planning for Beginners: Where to Start in Your 20s and 30s (2026)
If you're in your 20s or 30s and haven't started saving for retirement yet, the single most important thing you can do today is contribute enough to your 401(k) to capture your full employer match — then open a Roth IRA and contribute $625/month ($7,500/year). Everything else — asset allocation, Roth vs. traditional, investment selection — matters much less than simply starting. Time is the most powerful force in retirement savings, and every year you wait costs more than you think.
20 min readRetirement Savings by Age: Benchmarks for Your 30s, 40s, 50s, and 60s (2026)
The general benchmark is to have saved 1× your salary by 30, 3× by 40, 6× by 50, and 10× by 67. But these multipliers are a starting point, not a verdict. Whether you're ahead, behind, or somewhere in between, this guide breaks down what you should realistically have saved at every age — and what to do if the numbers don't match.
14 min readReady to put the ideas to work?
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